A sideline fight between head coach Jim Mora and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was a microcosm for UCLA’s disappointing performance against Oregon last weekend and the downward trend the Bruins’ season has taken.
After starting off 4-0, the Bruins lost consecutive games at the Rose Bowl — first an upset loss to Utah, and then a blowout loss against the Ducks. Oregon went up 42-10 before the Bruins ended the game with three touchdowns to make the final score look respectable, but not reflective of the true flow of the game.
During the second quarter, Mora and Ulbrich were shown by TV cameras in a confrontation after an Oregon touchdown made it 15-3. Now we can give you a little background on what led to the confrontation.
Oregon started with the ball at their 28 and drove to the UCLA 21, gaining most of their yards on short runs and penalties by the Bruins. The Ducks threw two straight incompletions on first and second down from the UCLA 21 and were setting up for their third down play. That’s where things started.
Larry Brown Sports is told that UCLA set up for a blitz on third down, and Oregon appeared to audible to a screen pass that likely would have burned the Bruins. UCLA called a timeout in response. After the timeout, UCLA again called a blitz, while Oregon ran a screen play that went for a 21-yard touchdown to make it 15-3 (seen below).
The exact thing UCLA feared when it called a timeout the first time transpired the second time they lined up for the third down play.
We’re told that after Oregon scored on the screen following UCLA’s timeout, Mora remarked to Ulbrich something along the lines that he was getting played by Oregon. As you can see from the video, Ulbrich was angered by Mora’s comment and threw a fit on the sideline, even going so far as to hand over his play sheet in a way of saying to Mora, “you think this is easy? You think you can do better? Here you go.”
Some others have reported that Mora overruled Ulbrich and got burned, and Ulbrich was upset over that. From our understanding, that’s not what happened.
Mora’s comment on the incident after the game also coincides with what we’re reporting.
“If you don’t have that fire, then something’s wrong,” Mora said via The Los Angeles Times. “We’re fighting to win, and we love each other dearly…. I challenged him a little bit and he responded.”
If Mora had overruled Ulbrich and taken over a playcall, then Ulbrich wouldn’t be challenged to stop Oregon’s offense; that would be Mora trying to take over. Mora challenging Ulbrich is him saying (and I’m quoting hypothetically, not factually) something like, “Oregon’s owning you. Step it up!”
Ulbrich admitted after the game that he did not take Mora’s jab/challenge well.
“I just responded in the wrong way, I should have responded better,” Ulbrich said. “Obviously I lost a little control, I can’t do that, that’s not a good message for my players, I got to handle it better.”
Mora has downplayed the incident and said it’s just a part of sports and competition. While that is true, it’s still a bad look to have UCLA get smacked at home in a big game and see the coaches fighting on the sideline. It gives the appearance of disorder and discord, which is just what the final score indicated.
UCLA still has Arizona, Washington, USC and Stanford as their final four games of the season. While fans were expecting a double-digit win season, now an 8-4 finish looks like it would be an achievement.
