Following the Bruins’ first two victories of the season, UCLA coach Karl Dorrell harped on the lack of discipline by his team.
In each of the games, the number of penalties the Bruins committed was glaring – 16 penalties for a loss of 145 yards, while their opponents combined for seven and a total of 59 yards lost.
UCLA defensive coordinator Larry Kerr reiterated Dorrell’s disturbance over penalties committed after the win over Oklahoma, when three of the eight penalties, which were late hits and personal fouls, resulted in each of the Sooners’ three scoring drives.
“The only thing us coaches can do is keep enforcing to the players that the penalties are hurting us,” Kerr said. “We show them film, and show them where we could have sustained drives that were stopped by penalties.”
The Bruins currently average the second-most lost yards (71.7) due to penalties in the Pac-10. On the other end of the ball, UCLA’s opponents are committing the second-fewest penalties in terms of average yards lost with 38.
Against the Aztecs, the Bruins were tagged with two personal fouls on special teams and a pair of false starts. During the Rice game, UCLA’s 10 penalties for 95 yards came on a bevy of mistakes varying from roughing the passer, illegal blocking and offsides to holding violations.
“Those late fouls, personal fouls and 15-yard penalties definitely take you out of your groove,” senior safety Jarrad Page said. “We’ve done some of those things, but luckily it hasn’t hurt us as much, especially on third downs. We need to do a better job of playing smart.”
Compared to last season, however, the Bruins seem to be heading in the opposite direction. One season ago, UCLA was ranked No. 1 in the Pac-10 in fewest penalized yards, committing 43.4 yards per game.
Junior running back Maurice Drew believes it’s been due to one aspect of the Bruins’ game that hasn’t been as sharp.
“It’s mostly just mental,” Drew said. “But the coaches are doing a great job making us real tired in practice to mimic those conditions. We need to stay more mentally focused.”
UCLA knows this weekend’s opponent, Washington, although only 1-3, will not beat itself, as the team averages the second-least penalized yards per game in the conference.
“There’s not going to be any letup and we know we’re going to have to take care of the ball and play smart on both sides of the field,” Drew said.
OTHER OLSON GETS NOD: Coach Dorrell announced on Thursday that redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Olson, nearly fully recovered from the injury on his left hand, will be the backup for Saturday’s game against Washington, and could see playing time if the situation permits.
With reports from Sagar Parikh and Seth Fast Glass, Bruin Sports senior staff.