UCLA kept its perfect season rolling Friday night, beating Illinois 22-14 for its 10th win of the year. The Bruins got enough big plays on both sides of the ball to stay in control, and the result pushed them to a place nobody around the program was talking about when the season began.
The biggest offensive spark came from wide receiver Titus Mizell, who has caught fire over the last two games. After going for two catches, 150 yards and two touchdowns against Minnesota last week, the 6-foot-1, 176-pound wideout stayed hot against Illinois. His first grab of the night went for a 54-yard touchdown, setting the tone early for UCLA’s offense.
Still, the Bruins’ attack never really found a steady rhythm after that opening-drive score. Much of that early touchdown came after a busted assignment in the secondary, and UCLA’s offense stalled from there. The rushing game never got going, and that was a major reason the Bruins couldn’t build a bigger cushion.
That made the fourth quarter all the more important, when 5-foot-9, 174-pound receiver Kwazi Gilmer gave the offense a lift. Gilmer had entered the game as UCLA’s leading receiver but had been quiet over the previous two contests. He broke out after Illinois cut the lead to 12-7, finishing with 41 yards and a 26-yard touchdown that pushed the Bruins back into double digits.
Defensively, UCLA had the kind of moments that can swing a game for good. In the early second quarter, Illinois quarterback Katin Houser tried to hit Collin Dixon deep, but Aaron Jackson stayed locked on the receiver and picked it off in the end zone.
That takeaway wiped out a chance for Illinois to flip the game’s momentum. Jackson added another interception late in the fourth quarter to help close the door.
The win also added another line to the resume of first-year head coach DeShaun Foster. He became the first UCLA coach to win his first 10 games in program history, and with two weeks left in the regular season, the Bruins are right on the edge of something bigger. If the season ended today, UCLA would go into the postseason with a first-round bye.
One more note for the Bruins: the status of Dieffenbach matters going forward. After suffering a shoulder injury late in the first half, he returned late in the third quarter, and that seemed to help wake the offense back up.
But with his availability still uncertain, UCLA’s next stretch may depend heavily on whether the run game can hold up. If it can’t, the passing game may have a harder time creating the kind of openings the Bruins need down the stretch.
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UCLAs Unbeaten Start Suddenly Hinges On One Troubling Game Concern
Rainy nights at the Rose Bowl can turn into survival tests, and UCLA got one of those on Saturday. Aidan Mizell helped steady the offense with a huge first half, piling up 157 yards and a touchdown, while the defense kept creating extra chances by forcing multiple turnovers to help the Bruins hold their lead over Illinois.
The bigger concern came when quarterback Ty Dieffenbach went down with a left shoulder injury, briefly putting the offense in a tougher spot. He did return later and found the end zone with a touchdown pass, but the way UCLA managed the game after the injury only underscored how much the unbeaten start now depends on the health of a few key players. [Read more 🡒]
UCLAs Perfect Start Now Hinges On One Scary Ty Dieffenbach Concern
UCLA kept its perfect start intact with a 22-14 win over Illinois, but the bigger storyline out of the game was the health of Ty Dieffenbach. The Bruins quarterback still managed to steer the offense effectively, throwing for 232 yards and two touchdowns while Aidan Mizell turned in a big day with 176 receiving yards and a score.
The defense did its part to protect the lead, forcing a safety and getting two interceptions from Scooter Jackson to help close it out. Even with the win in hand, the concern around Dieffenbach lingers as UCLA moves forward, because the Bruins have shown enough already to know how much their ceiling depends on him staying on the field. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Just Kept Its Unbeaten Run Alive Through A Major Scare
For a team that has spent much of the fall rewriting its own expectations, Saturday at the Rose Bowl was another reminder that UCLA can survive a scare and still come out the other side unbeaten. The Bruins slipped past Illinois 22-14 to move to 10-0 for the first time since 1998, extending a run that has already turned a 3-9 season last year into one of the sports more striking turnarounds under first-year coach Bob Chesney.
The game was hardly comfortable, especially after Ty Dieffenbach went down with an injury before returning in the second half to throw two touchdowns. UCLA also leaned on a defense that kept the pressure on Illinois all afternoon, forcing three interceptions and helping preserve the latest win in a season that keeps finding new ways to test the Bruins before rewarding them. [Read more 🡒]