UCLA continues search for first Pac-12 road win of the season
LOS ANGELES — UCLA football is still looking for its first Pac-12 road win this season, and it has an opportunity to find it this weekend at Stanford.
“We want to get it bad,” defensive lineman Gary Smith III said. “We want to win every game, so hopefully we can get one on the road this week. And we’re excited for the challenge.”
The Bruins’ two road losses of Pac-12 play this season have come against Utah and in its most recent game against Oregon State. Utah plays exceptionally well at home and currently owns a 17-game win streak at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The volume of Oregon State’s crowd and environment proved challenging as well.
UCLA also has back-to-back road games in Oregon State and Stanford, shortening the window of time available to have a productive week of practice and recovery.
“You don’t get that extra Friday to really recover,” said running back Carson Steele, who carried the ball 22 times against the Beavers.
“You’ve gotta get on a plane and go out and so it’s just another day where you’ve got to really take advantage of coming in as early as you can and getting that recovery and then recovery after football, after practice, after school.”
Stanford is winless on its home field this season, but is also coming off a comeback win over Colorado in which receiver Eric Ayomanor finished with 294 yards and three touchdowns. UCLA’s defense has limited opponents to an average of 205 passing yards per game this season.
“I was watching that game,” Smith said. “It was crazy. They’re definitely rolling right now. We’ve got to create turnovers, create havoc and limit X plays.”
Bruins happy to see Kaho back
The Bruins could be regaining a piece of their defense soon. Linebacker Ale Kaho was seen participating in individual drills for the second day in a row on Tuesday morning. He was the last player in line to proceed through the drills, but appeared to move comfortably.
Kaho was spotted at the Rose Bowl on Oct. 7 during UCLA’s game against Washington State walking without the boot that he had been wearing in the prior weeks.
“When I first got here, Ale was one of the first guys I met,” Smith said. “So just seeing what he can bring to the table and hopefully getting him back soon, it’s amazing. I’m excited for him.”
Kaho was injured for the 2022 season but tallied 32 tackles, three sacks, a pass deflection and a forced fumble in 11 games in 2021.
In other injury updates, Collin Schlee was not seen at practice for the second straight day after leaving the Oregon State game early due to injury.
Homecoming game sells out
The Bruins’ homecoming matchup against Colorado is sold out, as UCLA announced on social media on Tuesday morning. UCLA athletics announced on Monday that the game would be played at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 and will be televised on ABC.
Seats situated on the 50-yard line were listed for roughly $240 on SeatGeek, a ticket resale website, on Tuesday morning shortly after the sellout was announced.
Attendance at UCLA’s most recent home game against Washington State was 35,437. The highest attendance of the season at the Rose Bowl was the Bruins’ season opener against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 2, which reached 43,705.