Josh Rosen could not lead the Bruins to a 4th quarter comeback for the second time as the 25th ranked Bruins fell to Memphis 48-45. The last quarter had tons of excitement. After Rosen threw in an interception in the redzone, Memphis marched down the field deep into UCLA territory with three minutes left to play. Memphis lined up for a field goal, but instead of kicking the ball, head coach Mike Norvell ran the boldest fake in football history. The Memphis freshman kicker received a pitch from the placeholder where he then attempted to throw a pass to the end zone that was intercepted by Octavia Spencer.
Memphis tried the fake field goal…it didn’t end well. #UCLAvsMEM pic.twitter.com/tBLzegH5Yw
— Chat Sports (@ChatSports) September 16, 2017
UCLA had a clear drive to potentially tie or win the game, however, Memphis’s defense stiffened with Francis’ breakup on 4th and 5 with 56 seconds left to prevent another fourth-quarter comeback by Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen, who finished the game with 463 yards on 34 of 56 throws and four TD passes.
Rosen had an amazing game that was diminished by questionable decision-making that turned into two huge interceptions. Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson outplayed his Heisman contending counterpart, throwing for 398 yards and six touchdown passes. The UCLA defense did not have answer for Memphis’s offense as their defensive front was pushed around and Memphis receiver Anthony Miller beat anyone who tried to cover him catching 9 passes for 185 yards and a pair of TD’s. UCLA could not generate any type of pressure once freshmen phenom Jaelan Phillips was sidelined with an injury. The Memphis Tigers have beaten a ranked Power 5 conference team in the Liberty Bowl for the third year in a row. The Tigers will be one of the favorites to contend for the Group of Five New Year’s Six Bowl bid at the end of the year.
Things do not get any easier for the Bruins. After falling down to (2-1), UCLA will have to prepare to play a good Stanford team next week. Jim Mora will have to get a lot better on both sides of the ball if they want to snap their losing streak to the Cardinal next week.