By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 27, 2021
Dorian Thompson-Robinson passed for 251 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another two scores to lead UCLA to a 35-24 victory at Stanford on Saturday afternoon.
Thompson-Robinson played through pain in the second half to hand the Cardinal football team its fourth straight home loss in the hosts’ first performance in front of home fans since Nov. 30, 2019. Stanford played five of six games on the road in 2020 and was coming off of a school-record seven game road swing, including three straight to open 2021. The Cardinal, now 2-2 (1-1 in the Pac-12), has not won on campus since defeating Arizona, 41-31, on Oct. 26, 2019.
Zach Charbonnet ran for 118 yards and a touchdown and Kyle Phillips made five catches for 120 yards and a pair of scores. The Bruins (3-1, 1-0) had 340 rushing yards as UCLA’s defense limited the Cardinal to 67 yards on the ground.
Even so, a feisty Stanford squad overcame early mistakes to climb back into contention. Sophomore quarterback Tanner McKee threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns, both career highs, as he helped the Cardinal tie the score early in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the home fans, the defense allowed touchdowns on both of the Bruins’ next two possessions.
The game at first appeared as if it were going to be one-sided in favor of the visitors, who took a 14-0 first quarter lead. Following a Stanford three-and-out to start the game, junior Ryan Sanborn punted from the home 20 to the UCLA 28. What followed was an utter disaster for the Stanford special-teams unit, which is generally a solid part of the team.
First, tight end Bradley Archer was blocked away from Phillips, the punt returner, by UCLA sophomore linebacker JonJon Vaughns. Approaching the Stanford 45, Phillips juked inside linebacker Ricky Miezan, causing the Cardinal senior to fall to the turf. Around the home 28, Phillips slipped out of an attempted tackle by junior outside linebacker Stephen Herron. The Bruins might have scored on their first touch of the game had not sophomore long snapper Bailey Parsons made an ankle tackle on the return man.
By that point, most of the damage was done. Phillips’s 59-yard runback set up the visiting offense at the Cardinal 13. Charbonnet advanced the ball to the 2-yard line over the course of three straight carries before Thompson-Robinson scored on a run-action keeper.
Stanford’s offense produced a pair of three-and-outs over its next two drives, which were sandwiched around a Bruins three-and-out. But the third time UCLA got the ball, head coach Chip Kelly’s squad showcased some of the offensive prowess that could make them the team to beat in the Pac-12 South. UCLA reeled off an 18-play, 88-yard touchdown drive that consumed eight minutes, the kind of grinding series that the Cardinal once took pride in mounting and now seems almost helpless to defend against.
Over the series, UCLA converted three of four third downs. The only failure saw Charbonnet gain 16 yards on third and 18. The Bruins capitalized by quickly moving up to the line of scrimmage and yet again handing off to Charbonnet, whose five-yard gain refreshed the downs. Charbonnet ran nine times for 46 yards, including a five-yard touchdown carry to give the visitors a 14-0 lead.
Each team’s next two possessions ended in punts, including two more three-and-outs by Stanford and one from the Bruins. When the Cardinal offense got the ball with 8:36 to go in the second quarter, the home team had compiled 20 yards through five series spanning five minutes and 52 seconds. McKee, who had never started in front of a crowd of his classmates at the collegiate level, seemed slightly rattled.
That would start to turn around on the second play of the Cardinal’s sixth possession, which saw McKee connect with junior wide receiver Elijah Higgins for a 25-yard gain and the Farm gridders’ first first down of the contest. Shortly afterward, McKee lofted the ball over a pair of oncoming defenders toward Bryce Farrell, who gathered the ball in seven yards behind the line of scrimmage and darted upfield for a 28-yard gain. This was the sophomore receiver’s first collegiate reception.
A few plays later, McKee dropped back on third and eight and coolly lofted a 19-yard throw to wide receiver Brycen Tremayne in the left corner of the end zone. As he has all season long, the six-foot-four, 207-pound senior played the fade perfectly. Tremayne used his size advantage and agility to make the catch over an extremely attentive defender before dropping a foot to the turf inbounds for a Stanford touchdown. Tremayne’s scoring reception — he now has one in each game this season — cut the visitors’ lead to 14-7 with 4:31 remaining in the second quarter.
The Cardinal defense forced a quick UCLA punt, but the Stanford offense also relinquished the football quickly.
Thompson-Robinson, a senior out of Las Vegas who wears No. 1 for the Bruins, trotted out with 1:40 left before break and ran the two-minute drill to perfection. After a seven-yard rush, DTR threw to Charbonnet on three straight plays for gains of 11, 11 and 16 yards. The first two throws to Charbonnet seemed to be carbon copies of one another, with the junior running back making the catch near the right sideline each time.
After the Bruins lost 15 yards for a crackback blocking penalty, Thompson-Robinson made a 12-yard throw to Charbonnet and an 11-yard completion to junior tight end Greg Dulcich, which set up third and goal at the home two. DTR easily converted with a two-yard run-action rushing touchdown to give UCLA a 21-7 advantage with 23 seconds on the clock. The play was successful in part because redshirt-senior outside linebacker Gabe Reid bit on the fake handoff to Charbonnet.
On the kickoff, Farrell ran the ball back 40 yards to give the Cardinal excellent starting position, at their 45, with 16 ticks remaining in the half. McKee dropped back, surveyed his options and dumped the ball off to Nathaniel Peat — seemingly the lone available running back following a rash of injuries at the position this week for Stanford. Fortunately for Cardinal fans, Peat was able to pick up 19 yards before veering out of bounds.
After McKee threw incomplete to Archer, sophomore kicker Joshua Karty came on to attempt a 51-yard field goal. The try had plenty of leg but hit the right post roughly four-fifths of the way up. Oddly, this was the second time this season that the sophomore, who entered 2021 with just a single kickoff to his credit on the NCAA level, hit the right pole on a three-point try.
UCLA had the ball to start the second half and moved 50 yards on 12 plays in a drive that spanned 6:16. The series included a 17-yard Dulcich reception that moved the sticks on third and 11. However, after senior defensive end Thomas Booker sacked Thompson-Robinson for a nine-yard loss on third and seven at the home 16, sophomore kicker Nicholas Barr-Mira hooked a 42-yard kick wide left. That gave the Cardinal defense its fourth hold in the past five UCLA drives.
Stanford’s offense couldn’t capitalize, turning in its sixth three-and-out on seven possessions. But UCLA also quickly punted, setting up a new Cardinal series at the home 44. McKee took his first snap in a shotgun formation, stepped back and zipped the pigskin to Higgins crossing the field near the visitor 43-yard line. The Austin, Texas, native turned upfield and outraced the UCLA secondary for a much-needed 66-yard touchdown that cut the Cardinal deficit to 21-14. That gave Higgins his second touchdown both of the year and of his collegiate career.
On the ensuing series, Thompson-Robinson was harassed by Miezan into throwing incomplete on third and four, forcing another Bruins punt.
McKee soon found sophomore receiver John Humphreys for a 25-yard gain. A few snaps later, on third and 12, with protection collapsing around him, McKee threw over the middle for Farrell, who was near the center of the field by the visitor 27. The Thousand Oaks, Calif., native made the catch in stride and angled away from a pursuer and into the end zone for a 52-yard touchdown, Farrell’s first as a collegian. Karty’s extra point knotted the score at 21-21, with 13:06 to play in the first quarter.
UCLA’s next play wound up being decisive. Thompson-Robinson took the snap, set his feet, and waited for a moment before unleashing a well-thrown ball that Phillips caught just past midfield. The fleet-footed Bruin then zoomed away from defensive backs Alaka’i Gilman and Kyu Blu Kelly for a 75-yard touchdown that visiting fans acclaimed raucously. The scoring play may have been enabled by a moment of inattention by safety Noah Williams. The redshirt senior, seemingly concerned about a running play, let Phillips rocket past him in the earliest moments of the play and afterward was never able to become a factor.
On the next series, McKee threw to Higgins for 12 yards and converted third and three with a 30-yard run-action keeper around right end. But on third and eight, McKee made a slightly underpowered throw Higgins, who was tackled two yards shy of the line to gain. Karty then boomed a 48-yard kick to make the score 28-24 with 9:10 on the clock.
The ensuing action was reminiscent of the Stanford offense in its heyday. With the game on the line, the Bruins consumed six minutes and 40 seconds, traveled 75 yards and scored with a five-yard Phillips reception with 2:30 to go. Amazingly, Thompson-Robinson threw the touchdown immediately after sitting out a play because his throwing arm was in pain following a tackle. At any rate, the combination — long drive plus touchdown — bumped the Bruins lead to 35-24, putting the game all but out of reach for Stanford.
For the second time in two games against the Bruins, the Cardinal needed a miracle. Unlike 2020, this time it never came. Stanford used two minutes and 20 seconds to advance 38 yards to the visitor 36, where Karty attempted a 54-yard field goal. He pulled the ball wide right by a short distance, officially sinking Stanford’s slim chances.
UCLA was assessed a meaningless unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for celebration before kneeling out the final four seconds of clock.
The Cardinal return to action Saturday with another home game, this time against Oregon, which entered the weekend ranked third nationally. The winner will likely have the inside track to the Pac-12 North Division title.
Helpful links
UCLA-Stanford team statistics — ESPN
UCLA-Stanford box score
UCLA-Stanford play-by-play
UCLA-Stanford video highlights
UCLA-Stanford interactive box score — GoStanford.com
UCLA-Stanford statistics (PDF) — GoStanford.com
Stanford 2021–22 football roster
UCLA 2021–22 football roster
@memomoment game tweets
UCLA-Stanford video highlights — Matthew Loves Ball
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