Saturday’s loss to Arkansas State at the Rose Bowl stung. There’s no sugarcoating it, falling 20-17 in front of our home crowd.
Our defense came out with energy and held tough for three quarters. We were physical at the point of attack, tackled well in space, and gave ourselves a chance to win. But when it mattered most in the fourth quarter, we couldn’t get off the field. We gave up two touchdowns late and couldn’t generate a turnover or get enough pressure to tilt the momentum back in our favor.
Offensively, we’re still searching for rhythm. Our quarterback passed for 208 yards and a touchdown, but the three interceptions were costly. We’ve now had back-to-back weeks of tough sledding through the air, and it’s clear: we need to recalibrate.
That starts with me. I need to commit to the run game, period. We have the backs. We have the line. And right now, we need to lean on them more to control tempo, stay ahead of the chains, and give our defense a breather. We’re asking our defense to do too much when we can’t sustain drives, and that showed late in this one.
We’re going to get this right. This group works hard, they care, and they’re going to respond. Our locker room isn’t hanging its head—we’re learning, we’re adjusting, and we’re going to come back tougher.
We’ve got a lot of football left to play, and I still believe in this team. But belief without action means nothing. It’s time to get back to work.
The Red Wolves traveled to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA.
UCLA would open with a nice drive to cross mid field but would get stopped about an centimeter short on 4th and 2. Replay confirmed the Red Wolves stood tall and forced the turnover on downs.
Ark St. would convert three first downs ad get to the Bruins 5 but would be stuffed on a 3rd and 1 and have to settle for the tricky left hash field goal which would hit the post and sneak in. 3-0
UCLA would convert a first down to end the first quarter.
2nd QTR.
UCLA would get another first down and get into the Red Wolves territory. Charles Willekes would make a great read and float back to pick off the pass and get the ball back to the Red Wolves offense.
Ark St. would get to the Bruins 38 but get stopped on 3rd and 4 setting up a big decision by coach. Coach elected to punt instead of taking a shot at the 55 yarder.
UCLA would make him pay for it by hitting a deep one on one go route for 54 yards. Five plays later the Bruins would go up 7-3 as Jones would go in from 9 yards out as Taylor would wiff on open field tackle.
Ark St. would shake it off and put together a nice drive to get to the Bruins 4 but fail to convert on 3rd and 2 and be forced to take the 3 from 27 yards out. 6-7
UCLA would run out the rest of the half after getting the ball with roughly 30 seconds left.
3RD QTR
Red Wolves would open the quarter converting a third down before being forced to punt.
UCLA would get sacked on the first play putting them behind the chains and would toss a pick trying to convert a long third down as Justin Parks would by centerfield and come from the left hash to the right hash to snag the seam to the TE.
Ark St. would fail to convert on third down and than doink their go ahead 43 yarder off the upright.
UCLA would be forced to punt after converting one first down.
Ark St. would go three and out as Ja'Quez Cross would fumble and the Wovles would be faced with a third and long.
UCLA would convert two first downs and put a nice drive togehter to end the quarter.
4TH QTR
UCLA would convert two more first downs and get to the red zone but the Red Wolves D would stand tall and force a 30 yard field goal to stay within a score at 10-6.
The Red Wolves would finally break through as they would score on a 49 yard run by Zak Wallace to take the lead at 13-10 with 3:30 left in the game.
UCLA would see their drive end abruptly as Mahoney would break on the cross and make a nice catch going against his momentum.
Ark St. anticipating a strong run blitz would get a quick strike to the tight end McCrumby in the vacated middle and after a missed tackle, McCrumbly would rumble in from 32 yards out to go up 20-10 with 2:01 left in the game.
UCLA would not be detered and would score on the seam route for 48 yards as the Red Wolves Saftey was stuck flat footed and let Mokiao-Atimalala burn by him. 20-17.
Ark St. knew they needed to convert a first down to seal the game. They opened with an 8 yard run and anticipating a all out rush attack would slip a screen out to Cross in the flat for 14 to get the first and seal the game.
Good Game Noles, thats back to back games that were to the wire. Best of luck the rest of the season.
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