Dawgs Play Host To No. 18 UCLA Saturday

November 03, 2014 | Football

By: Washington Athletics

The Game: The Washington football team (6-3 overall, 2-3 Pac-12) enters the final stretch of the season, a run that will see the Dawgs play alternating home and away games over the final four weeks. This Saturday, the Huskies play host to UCLA (7-2, 5-2) in a 4:00 p.m. game at Husky Stadium. The game will air live on FOX Sports 1. The Bruins are ranked 18th in the latest AP Top 25 and No. 18 in the coaches' poll. Following Saturday's game vs. UCLA, the Huskies travel to Tucson to face Arizona, return home to play Oregon State and then close out the season with the Apple Cup vs. Washington State in Pullman Nov. 29.

Quick Slants: Washington leads the nation with seven defensive touchdowns (four by Shaq Thompson, two from John Timu, one from Travis Feeney) ... Temple has scored six and nine other teams have four ... Washington ranks second (tied) in the nation with 37 sacks, two short of the national leader, Utah (39) ... senior Hau'oli Kikaha, who has broken both the UW season and career sacks records, leads the nation with 15.5 sacks ... no one else has more than 12.0 ... Kikaha also leads the nation in tackles for loss (21.5), 3.0 more than the next-most ... with 20 takeaways and nine turnovers, the Huskies' turnover margin of plus-11 is tied for eighth in the nation ... the Huskies' 13 fumble recoveries are third-most in the nation (FIU and Temple share the national lead with 16 each) ... Husky QB Cyler Miles ranks No. 29 in the nation (out of 113 ranked QBs) with his 147.45 pass efficiency rating ... UW opponents have just 14 punt returns yards on eight returns, a 1.75-yard average, third-best in the nation ... Danny Shelton shares the national lead (with just one other player) for fumble recoveries, with four ... Thompson is tied for third with three ... Thompson has scored four defensive touchdowns this season (plus two more on offense) ... Thompson's 100-yard fumble return at Cal is one of just four 100-yard plays in UW history ... freshman Dante Pettis scored on an 87-yard punt return at Colorado, the first punt return for a TD by a Husky since 2003 ... Pettis has 271 punt return yards this season while UW opponents have just 14 in total ... UW has had eight true freshmen play this year: DB Budda Baker, DL Will Dissly, DB Darren Gardenhire, DB Naijiel Hale, DB Sidney Jones, WR Brayden Lenius, WR Pettis and PK Tristan Vizcaino ... Baker, Jones, Hale, Pettis and Lenius have started ... vs. Hawai'i, John Ross caught a 91-yard TD pass from Jeff Lindquist, the second-longest pass play in UW history (Jake Locker to Marcel Reece, 98 yards, 2007, is the record).

Television: The Washington-UCLA game will air live to a national audience on the FOX Sports 1 with Tim Brando (play-by-play) and Brady Quinn (color) providing the commentary.

Radio: The Washington IMG College Network, with its flagship station KOMO AM-1000 and FM-97.7, will carry the live broadcast of every football game on 18 Northwest radio stations. Longtime play-by-play man Bob Rondeau and color analyst Damon Huard are joined by sideline reporter Elise Woodward. The UW broadcast of the game will also air on Sirius (84) and XM (84) satellite radio. Touchdown Radio (Taylor Zarzour, Gino Torretta, Charlie McNerney) will also carry a syndicated, national broadcast.

Huskies vs. Bruins History: UCLA enjoys a nine-game edge in the series, with 39 wins, 30 losses and two ties in 71 all-time games against Washington. The Bruins have taken that lead relatively recently, having won 12 of the last 15, with many recent games having been comebacks. Last season in Pasadena, UCLA held on for a 41-31 win despite the Huskies out-gaining the Bruins in total offense. Cyler Miles came off the bench for injured starter Keith Price and threw for 149 yards and two scores while UCLA's Myles Jack rushed for four touchdowns. Prior to that, the Huskies and Bruins hadn't played one another since 2010 (UW didn't face UCLA or ASU in 2011 and 2012). That last meeting was a rare Thursday night contest in Seattle, with the Huskies beating the Bruins, 24-7, as UCLA was held off the scoreboard after the first quarter. Chris Polk rushed for 138 yards and Jesse Callier added 107 in what was mostly a defensive game (UW out-gained UCLA 321 to 163 yards). In 2009 in Pasadena, the Bruins held off the Huskies' comeback attempt for a 24-23 victory. In 2008, UCLA pulled away late for a 27-7 win. But in 2007 in Pasadena, the Bruins beat the Huskies, 44-31, in a game that featured 41 combined points scored in the fourth quarter after a 10-10 tie at the half. The Huskies got the win in 2006 in Seattle, coming back from 16-0 behind to win, 29-19. In 2005, the Bruins needed a fourth-quarter comeback to secure a 21-17 win as the Huskies led 10-0 at half and 17-7 after three quarters. In 2004 in Seattle, Maurice Drew ran for 322 yards and five touchdowns as the Bruins came back from a 24-7 deficit to win, 37-31. In 2003 at the Rose Bowl, 18th-ranked Washington built a 16-7 halftime lead, but the Bruins stormed back to win going away, 46-16. UCLA's 39 second-half points were the most ever against a Husky team in a second half. In 2002, the Bruins parlayed a 24-14 halftime lead into a 34-24 win. In 2001, the Bruins won, 35-13, as tailback DeShaun Foster rushed for 301 yards in a game the Huskies played without injured starting quarterback Cody Pickett (the only game Pickett missed after separating his right shoulder the previous week vs. USC). In 2000, with a 35-28 win, Washington broke the Bruins' three-game winning streak in the series. UCLA had won games in 1997, 1998 and 1999 to take the series advantage, which, prior to the '97 meeting was tied at 27-27-2. In 12 of the last 17 meetings (all but 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007) between Washington and UCLA, one or both of the teams has been ranked. Going by ranking alone, the Bruins managed to upset the Huskies in four of those games – most notably the 1990 loss at Husky Stadium that knocked aside the UW's national title hopes. In that '90 game, the unranked Bruins handed No. 2 Washington a 25-22 loss. In the next meeting in 1993, 22nd-ranked UCLA beat the 12th-ranked Dawgs, 39-25. Prior to 2004, the most recent “upset” was in 1999, when an unranked UCLA team beat No. 22 Washington, 33-20. The UW-UCLA series first got underway in 1932, when the Huskies posted the first of four straight shutouts against the Bruins. UCLA got its first win in the series in 1938 with a 13-0 win in Los Angeles.

Washington-UCLA Ties: There are many ties between the UW and UCLA programs. Most obviously, Bruins head coach Jim Mora played at Washington, lettering from 1981 through 1983. He also began his coaching career as a GA at the UW. Additionally, his father, Jim E. Mora, was also an assistant coach at Washington under Don James. Two members of the Bruins coaching staff, Demetrice Martin and Eric Yarber, have coached at Washington. UCLA OLBs coach Mike Tuiasosopo, is a cousin of former Husky football players Marques, Zach and Trenton Tuiasosopo (as well as volleyball player and coach Leslie Tuiaososopo Gabriel). UW offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith was a GA at Oregon State when UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone was on the Beavers staff. As for players, the Bruins roster includes two players from Washington, both of them graduates of Bellevue High: Michael Carlson and Myles Jack. UW's roster includes eight Bellevue grads: Budda Baker, Shane Bowman, Sean Constantine, Jake Eldrenkamp, Michael Kneip, Morgan Richey, Max Richmond and Mitch Johnson, who spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons as a kicker at UCLA. Washington's roster includes 38 players from what could loosely be considered southern California: Brandon Beaver (Compton), Keishawn Bierria (Carson), Derrick Brown (Winchester), Jesse Callier (Downey), Deontae Cooper (Perris), Dane Crane (Irvine), Mike Criste (Mission Viejo), Greg Gaines (La Habra), Darren Gardenhire (Long Beach), Naijiel Hale (Long Beach), Marvin Hall (Los Angeles), Jaylen Johnson (Corona), Sidney Jones (Diamond Bar), Brandon Lewis (Rancho Murieta), Jermaine Kelly (Los Angeles), Cory Littleon (Spring Valley), Joe Mathis (Ontario), Jojo McIntosh (Canyon Country), Jaydon Mickens (Los Angeles), Connor O'Brien (Trabuco Canyon), Joshua Perkins (Cerritos), Dante Pettis (San Clemente), Matt Preston (Corona), John Ross (Long Beach), Coleman Shelton (Pasadena), Jesse Sosebee (Garden Grove), Colin Tanigawa (Pasadena), John Timu (Long Beach), Siosifa Tufunga (Long Beach), John Turner (Los Angeles), Damion Turpin (Compton), Azeem Victor (Upland), Tristan Vizcaino (Chino Hills), Jake Wambaugh (San Diego), Dwayne Washington (Lakewood) and Troy Williams (Carson).