UCLA rises above criticism — and its crosstown rival

PASADENA, Calif. — UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley, who continues to have critics despite leading the Bruins to a 9-2 record with some pretty impressive passing statistics, threw his first touchdown pass Saturday night to a Southern California linebacker.

USC's Anthony Sarao caught a terrible Hundley throw on the Bruins' second offensive play and ran 17 yards with it for a touchdown.

But that was one of very few mistakes Hundley made, and one of very few Trojans highlights, as Hundley and UCLA won for the third consecutive time in the intense intra-city rivalry.

The score — 38-20 — wasn't as lopsided as last year's score of 35-14. But the game was way more lopsided.

"We definitely were more dominant tonight," said UCLA receiver Thomas Duarte, who caught a 57-yard touchdown pass from Hundley, one of three for the UCLA quarterback in the game. "We were more physical than they were. That was the game plan, and it worked."

Hundley threw for 326 yards, but the successful UCLA passing game was matched by the stellar play of the Bruins' defensive line, which held the USC run game to 62 yards and consistently defeated the Trojans' offensive line, flushing USC quarterback Cody Kessler from the pocket and sacking him six times.

Duarte called it a complete game for the Bruins, who have displayed a lot of warts this season despite winning nine of 11.

With the win, the No. 12 Bruins improved to 6-2 in league play and can clinch the Pac-12 South with a victory Friday against suddenly mediocre Stanford. If they can beat the Cardinal, then it would off to the Pac-12 title game Dec. 5 in Santa Clara, Calif., and a rematch with Pac-12 North champion Oregon.

The Ducks dominated UCLA in early October in the Rose Bowl, leading 35-10 after three quarters and winning 42-30.

Since then, the Bruins have won five in a row. But until the terrific performance Saturday against USC, they had barely beaten Cal, took two OTs to beat Colorado, scored only 17 against Arizona and allowed 30 to Washington.

Saturday, they answered some critics.

"I heard some NFL scout saying Brett needs to work on his accuracy," UCLA coach Jim Mora said. "Hey, the guy's a 73% passer. Maybe you should work on your evaluations."

Hundley shook off his first throw and went on to have a great game.

"After that, I came to the sideline and that was probably the calmest I was the whole game," said Hundley, a junior who has thrown 20 touchdown passes and five interceptions. "We didn't panic. Stuff like that happens. You can't be afraid to make a mistake."

Hundley, already the UCLA career leader in touchdown passes, overtook Cade McNown as the school career leader in total offense.

"It's a blessing," he said.

On the flip side, USC's secondary seemed cursed. Or at least terribly outmanned.

UCLA receivers roamed free through a secondary that split its safeties and simply got ripped apart.

"I could see the way their safeties were playing that we were going to be wide open," Duarte said. "I came to the sideline and said, 'Hey, we've got to take advantage of that.' Sure enough, it was wide open, and I was able to get one.

"We saw some inexperience (in the USC defensive backfield). We saw some things we could take advantage of, and we did."

Duarte's long catch-and-run made it 14-7. USC came back to tie it 14-14 and, trailing 17-14, the Trojans were driving toward the end of the second quarter, striving for a score that could have given them a halftime lead.

But then, the game turned on a Kessler pass from the Bruins' 33-yard line that was deflected near the sideline. It looked like it would fly out of bounds, but UCLA linebacker Eric Kendricks made a one-handed stab and hauled in the interception as he landed out of bounds. After a replay review, the interception stood — a clutch, athletic play by Kendricks, who also had a game-high 14 tackles. UCLA then went 68 yards the other way and scored a touchdown with 14 seconds left in the half, taking a 24-14 lead to the locker room.

Then, some Bruins luck. On the first UCLA possession of the third quarter, Hundley threw the same bad pass as he did in the first quarter and Sarao had another pick six staring him in the face. But he dropped the ball. UCLA then finished a nine-play, 84-yard drive for a 31-14 lead. Then USC went three and out, UCLA drove for another TD and that was the ballgame.

It was a brutal loss for No.24 USC, which was overwhelmed statistically (461-276 in total yards) in a game most people thought would be a close shootout type of game.

"Obviously, the game plan we had in all three phases wasn't good enough," said first-year Trojans coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team fell to 7-4 overall and was eliminated from the Pac-12 title race. "And we didn't play well enough to win."

Not by a long shot. Now they need to find a way to bounce back against Notre Dame next week.

"We've got to get back on the horse," Sarkisian said. "It's going to take a lot of leadership, and that starts with me."

Though it wouldn't have made a difference given the final score, Sarkisian's growing number of critics will find fuel in the coach's decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 5 while trailing 14-7 early in the game. Sarkisian called a running play that failed badly.

"We've been aggressive all year," Sarkisian said. "You don't change your personality from game to game. I wish I had called a better play, but I don't question the decision to go for it."