UCLA by the numbers: A review of Saturday's season opener

The UCLA Bruins had a good Week 0. They beat Hawaii 44-10, and head coach Chip Kelly got his first non-conference win at the helm for the team. 

But upon further review, the Bruins win is even more impressive because they played a clean game, something that they failed to do in each of their other three openers under Kelly.

As Pac-12 reporter Jon Wilner pointed out, they had nine turnovers in Kelly’s other three opening games, and they had zero turnovers on Saturday.

Prior to tonight, the Bruins opened with Cincinnati twice and Colorado during Kelly’s tenure. In those openers, they were outscored 98-73. They had four turnovers in both the 2019 Cincinnati game and last year’s game against Colorado. 

Instead of giving up the ball, the Bruins forced turnovers. Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro threw two interceptions. UCLA also had a special teams touchdown. Linebacker Ale Kaho blocked a punt that David Preibe recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.

Some of the Bruins numbers were similar to last year, while some where much improved

Obviously, the sample size is small, but the Bruins showed improvement in multiple categories on Saturday. 

UCLA finished the game with 392 total yards, 244 of which were on the ground. Last season, the Bruins averaged 455 total yards per game. Their 230.6 rushing yards per game in 2020 was second in the Pac-12. 

They exceeded last season’s 35.4 points per game, albeit against Group of Five competition. In Kelly’s four games as the Bruins coach against G5 competition, the opponents averaged 27.6 points per game.

LSU comes to town next weekend

The LSU Tigers come to Pasadena next week for a non-conference showdown with implications for both Kelly and LSU head coach Ed Orgeron. 

The LSU defense struggled mightily last season, allowing 492 yards per game. That was second-to-last in the SEC. Expect UCLA to face a different defense anchored by cornerback and future first-round draft selection Derek Stingley. They return nine starters in total. 

On the offensive side of the ball, Max Johnson is set to start for the Tigers. Johnson appeared in six games, starting two late in the season after TJ Finley was benched. He completed 58.7 percent of his passes while throwing for 1,069 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception. 

UCLA has the benefit of already having played in a real game, but they will need to show up next weekend if they want to take down the more-talented Tigers.