Virginia has watched tape of Rosen in high school, but otherwise will rely on its knowledge of UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone’s schemes for its preparation. He put up big numbers in his junior year and was an eventual second round pick. But if history is any indication, Rosen’s chances of leading the Bruins to a conference championship and a playoff appearance are not very good.
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On his first play from scrimmage, he stood firmly in the pocket amid a five-man rush and launched a 50-yard skinny post route down the left seam that landed perfectly in his receiver’s hands. Here are the grades for each UCLA position group in the season opener against Virginia. He said the team needs to work on cleaning up penalties, and while he was happy with the consistency on defense, there are some areas which need improvement.
Each team would add field goals before the half to make it 17-9 at the intermission. “We’ll just continue to stress that”. And despite the fact that Virginia’s top trio of receivers – senior Canaan Severin, junior Keeon Johnson and sophomore Andre Levrone – are all listed as at least 6-foot-2 and over 205 pounds, neither had the ball thrown their direction in the end-zone. Both have been touted as part of the team’s expected identity for 2015. They couldn’t establish the run on offense where they hoped to use the ground game to set up play-action and misdirection opportunities.
As Rosen’s teammates shouted his nickname to him during the interview, “Chosen Rosen”, he said he was “incredibly nervous” before the game, but that “once I get my hands on the ball, I settle down”. “He came to the sideline and was able to communicate information to the coaching staff and was able to absorb information we gave him”, Mora said Sunday. (Rosen) is just so focused all the time, and that is what separated him from other freshmen. A lot wasn’t working at certain times. (He finished 28-of-35 for 351 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.) Cue the hyperbole.
The Hoos started the day on a good note with a scoring drive on their first possession. The Bruins are quietly thrilled by Rosen’s maturity and aptitude in practice, but it’s finally time to see how quickly it will translate into games.
The Bruins also ran effectively, gaining 152 yards on 34 carries, 4.5 yards per run. Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes, all to Kenny Lawler, and the Bears used six different tailbacks to rack up 185 yards rushing.
The SEC West dominated the rankings for much of last season then ended it with a thud, going 2-5 in the bowls. The Cavaliers managed to get one sack against the Bruins, but it was for a mere one-yard loss.
BYU: The first Hail Mary victor of the season goes to the Cougars, who spoiled Mike Riley’s coaching debut at Nebraska with this thriller ending. On the second drive, the Bruins predicted UVa pressure on third down and gashed the defense with a 30-yard screen play. He went 44-of-60 for 511 yards with three touchdowns in a 52-28 rout of South Carolina, but was out of a job by November. After he got going, UCLA backed up the pass with a strong second-half running attack.
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Freshman tailback Soso Jamabo rushed for 79 yards for UCLA, and returning Pac-12 rushing champion Paul Perkins had 9. The Cavaliers averaged just 3.6 yards per play on first down Saturday.
