Here are the three biggest narratives to keep an eye on before, during and after the Bruins’ game against the Panthers.
No. 18 UCLA football (9-3, 6-3 Pac-12) is scheduled to kick off at the Sun Bowl against Pittsburgh (8-4, 5-3 Pac-12) on Friday just after 11 a.m.
The Bruins started the year 6-0 before tailing off towards the end of the season with losses to Arizona and USC, although they are still within striking distance of some major program benchmarks. The Panthers, meanwhile, enter the postseason on a four-game winning streak but are without many of their top contributors due to the NFL Draft, the transfer portal and injuries.
Heading into the Sun Bowl, here are the most pressing questions we want to have answered by the final whistle.
Can DTR go out with a bang?
Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson has absorbed his fair share of criticism and praise over the past five years, from fans of both the Bruins and their rivals.
The narratives are tired at this point, such as how he didn’t start at quarterback until his senior year of high school and how he has yet to play in a bowl game. Anyone watching games on TV is probably sick of the same old fun facts announcers bring up when he takes the field.
But he has also cemented himself among the most productive quarterbacks in UCLA history, and he has a chance to climb even higher Friday against Pitt.
Thompson-Robinson is already the program’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns, total touchdowns, total yards and quarterback starts. If he throws for 285 yards or more at the Sun Bowl, he’ll move into the No. 1 spot for that category as well.
A win would also make him 1-0 in bowl games for his career, since he and his teammates didn’t get to face NC State at the Holiday Bowl in 2021 due to a COVID-19 breakout.
A full dive into Thompson-Robinson’s accomplishments and best moments will be a must after Friday’s game – win or lose – since his impact on this program should not go overlooked. It goes beyond his stats, and beyond his vivacious personality.
The Chip Kelly era has been full of disappointments, and it certainly started with a lot of losing. The 2018 and 2019 seasons definitely anchored people’s opinions on Thompson-Robinson, but he has actually been one of the most efficient, dynamic and entertaining quarterbacks to watch in the entire country since he became an upperclassman. Now, he has a chance to lead the Bruins to 10 wins for the first time since 2014.
Thompson-Robinson has also been a leader on this team longer than any quarterback ever has been, which has been key in turning around the image and attitude of UCLA football as a whole.
There are plenty of other veterans walking out the door after Friday, but Thompson-Robinson will be the most difficult and surreal to finally say goodbye to. The bittersweet energy will only be boosted if he can break another record and lead his team to a win on the national stage.
How much will Charbonnet add?
Even if running back Zach Charbonnet was a fully healthy underclassman, he would be facing an uphill battle on Friday.
Pitt boasts the best run defense in the ACC, allowing 95.5 yards per game on 3.2 yards per carry. Both of those marks rank top-12 in the country, and they are better than any defense UCLA has faced all year.
Of course, the Panthers are missing four starters from their front seven, and that will likely diminish the team’s effectiveness against the run. This is still a Pat Narduzzi defense, though, and he has spent the past 20 years building solid defenses with countless waves of personnel at several different levels.
Charbonnet, meanwhile, has missed two games with mysterious injuries earlier in the year, and he has routinely been subject to load management in games and practice over the past two seasons. Add in the fact that he is likely to declare for the NFL Draft in the coming weeks, as well as how the Bruins could end up winning this one in blowout fashion, and it becomes very likely that Charbonnet doesn’t get a particularly heavy workload Friday.
That would be a shame for fans who want to watch their All-American ball-carrier wreak havoc one more time, especially since they only got two years with him. If Charbonnet had committed to UCLA straight out of high school instead of starting his career at Michigan, he could be joining Thompson-Robinson in breaking records Friday – in just 22 games, Charbonnet ranks No. 12 in program history with 2,496 rushing yards, and he could break into the top 10 with 88 more in El Paso.
Charbonnet, with his personality and relatively short time in Westwood, may not have enough of a built-in legacy to warrant an all-out capstone to his Bruin career. He and the staff have to value his health and winning the game, and giving Charbonnet 30 touches may not be the best for either of those given the situation.
With his talent and strength, he’s bound to string together at least a couple signature dominant drives, but he may not do it from start to finish.
What does the Sun Bowl mean?
Obviously, the Bruin faithful will take any victory at this point. It’s been eight years since they’ve witnessed their team winning a bowl game, which is more than enough waiting for a fanbase following a program of this caliber.
But there is something odd hanging over the 2022 Sun Bowl, and it isn’t exclusive to this game alone.
Pitt has had plenty of opt-outs for the NFL Draft, including All-ACC First Team running back Israel Abanikanda, All-American defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, top linebacker Sirvocea Dennis and defensive end Deslin Alexandre. Quarterback Kedon Slovis and defensive end John Morgan are transferring, which means the Panthers will be without their leading passer, leading rusher and leading tackler, as well as their four leaders in tackles for loss and three leaders in sacks.
This isn’t to say a UCLA win would deserve an asterisk, but simply to point out a wider issue – if you can call it that – facing college football.
The transfer portal is, overall, not a bad thing for the sport. Players preserving their health when millions of dollars at stake is nothing to criticize either. But with one team coming in at virtually full strength – UCLA – and the other coming in full of spare parts and backups – Pitt – the whole value of bowl games comes into question.
The powers that be in college football won’t care if Friday turns out to be an ugly, boring blowout, which is certainly in the cards. But they will care if attendance is down, or if TV ratings drop off, which is also a possibility considering the competition and storylines that were diminished by so many outside factors.
Between this widespread devaluation of bowl games and the upcoming expansion of the College Football Playoff, bowl season will surely change in the near future.
Maybe the Sun Bowl becomes a valuable cog in the 12-team bracket, or maybe one of the nation’s oldest and most storied postseason games falls by the wayside moving into the modern era. The timeline for the transfer portal could change, as could the deadlines and rules surrounding the NFL Draft.
If the 2022 Sun Bowl is ugly and boring, with only die hard UCLA fans caring if or when their teams wins by 30 points in a remote location, that might be the latest example of why things may need to change moving forward.
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