UCLA’s defensive statistics won’t jump off the page, but one quality they do have, and not all teams have this, is they are able to get a stop when they absolutely need one.
The offense is dynamic to be sure, but the Bruin defense has to ability to step up and set the offense up for success at any time. But against the two teams with play-making abilities, Washington and Utah, the Bruin defense had some trouble.
Now UCLA is going to face the best offense they’ve played against in Oregon and unlike those other games against the Huskies and Utah, this won’t be in the Rose Bowl. It’ll be against the very hostile environment of Autzen Stadium. This is no doubt, the biggest test the Bruins will face until they meet USC towards the end of the season.
Transfers are all over the place in Los Angeles, especially with the Trojans, but perhaps the biggest transfer in that town goes to UCLA in linebacker Darius Muasau. He came to the Bruins from Hawai’i after the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder left the Rainbow Warriors with 274 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 26.5 tackles for loss, and two inceptions over the last three seasons on the island.
The two-time First Teamer All-Mountain West performer has kept on playing at a high level as a Bruin. Muasau leads UCLA with 38 tackles, half of those being solo and one interception.
While Mausau is a ball hawk, UCLA’s other linebacker, Laiatu Latu goes after the quarterback. He leads the team with 6.5 sacks.
Oregon might want to try to exploit the Bruins’ secondary if the weather conditions allow it. UCLA gives up 245 yards through the air. Nickel back JonJon Vaughns has two of their seven interceptions. They play a lot of zone defense and their scheme impresses Oregon coach Dan Lanning, but as with any zone defense, there are some holes.
“They’ve done a good job. I think they play really good defense. They’re sound you can tell they’re well-coached,” he said. “They play a variety of coverages. They’re gonna play a little bit more solid than some of the teams that we played, which means they have good vision break on the ball, and usually, when you play more zone, it’s going to create more opportunities for interceptions. There are also holes in that zone.”
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