UCLA’s key to victory against Washington State in Week 6

UCLA has to beat Wazzu to have any slight chance of remaining in the Pac-12 race.

The UCLA Bruins have already lost to Utah in Pac-12 football action this year. They can’t pick up another early loss if they want to compete for the conference championship. They still have to play USC and other really good teams in the conference. They have no margin for error when they face unbeaten Washington State this Saturday in Pasadena.

We asked our Pac-12 experts about the main key for UCLA.

Ducks Wire editor Zachary Neel told us, “I think UCLA just needs to try and avoid some mistakes, namely from QB Dante Moore. He’s a very talented player, but still a true freshman. The defense is good enough to keep the Bruins in this game, they just can’t give Ward extra possessions.”

Ducks Wire writer Don Smalley said UCLA needs to win the turnover battle and “establish the run game in order to win the time of possession. If Cam Ward isn’t on the field, he can’t score.”

Our big key for UCLA:

Get to Cam Ward. UCLA’s defense was very good against a limited Utah offense. Can that UCLA defense make life difficult for Cam Ward? Oregon State’s defense could not. UCLA has to punch Ward in the mouth and make him feel jittery in the pocket. If the Bruins achieve that, they’ll probably get one or two turnovers and some short fields which will enable their offense to not have to do everything. UCLA has to win this game with its defense, and that starts with slowing down WSU’s surprisingly strong offense.

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