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UCLA vs. Bowling Green Week 1: Live Updates, Highlights, Analysis

Stay right here for all of the latest updates on the Bruins' season opener versus the Falcons.

Sam Connon

In this story:

UCLA football is playing Bowling Green in Week 1 of the 2022 college football season, pitting the Bruins and Falcons against each other at the Rose Bowl for the first time ever.

Stay tuned for injury and personnel updates, highlights and other key events to keep an eye on all day long.

FINAL: UCLA 45, Bowling Green 17

3:05 p.m.: Check out All Bruins' game wrap here!

Bruins trying to cover, win seemingly locked up

2:47 p.m.: Thompson-Robinson picked up another 8-yard rushing touchdown and padded his stats a bit more on the next drive. Barr-Mira missed a kick from 44 yards out, and the Bruins are still up 21.

The Falcons haven't been able to do anything on offense, though, so with 8:39 to play, this one is pretty much set in stone.

END Q3: UCLA 31, Bowling Green 17

2:23 p.m.: The Falcons have had probably a dozen players exit with injuries just this half, and although the score doesn't show it, the Bruins are pretty much in cruise control.

Linebacker Darius Muasau neared made it a 21-point game with a scoop-and-score, but a block in the back penalty brought it back and Barr-Mira wound up missing a 26-yard field goal try.

The attendance was officially announced to be 27,143, a new record-low for the program at the Rose Bowl. The previous low was 32,513 against Oregon State on Nov. 7, 1992.

Bowling Green falling apart, UCLA extends lead

1:48 p.m.: Zach Charbonnet has found the end zone for the first time today, and the Bruins are now up two scores.

It took the Bruins eight plays to go 58 yards, with Charbonnet accounting for 33 of those yards.

All throughout the drive, Falcons were dropping like flies. There was a stretch of seven plays that had four injury stoppages to deal with Bowling Green's bumps and bruises.

UCLA tight end Hudson Habermehl came up limping after a short catch on the left side, but was unable to get off the field while Thompson-Robinson ran the hurry-up offense. Habermehl caught it again on the very next play, scurrying up the field for another 10 yards before hobbling off the receive help from the training staff.

The Bruins are leading 31-17 with 11:03 on the clock in the third.

Injuries revealed after the half

1:33 p.m.: The Bruins have returned to the field for the second half, and receivers Kam Brown and Logan Loya are not dressed. Zach Charbonnet looks fine, and he may have just been given a break during the last two series.

Bowling Green will get the ball to start.

HALFTIME: UCLA 24, Bowling Green 17

1:15 p.m.: The Bruins had a chance to tack some more points on the board before the half, but had their last-minute drill stall out at midfield.

Here are the statistical leaders halfway through the contest:

TOTAL YARDS: UCLA 369, Bowling Green 102

PASS YARDS: UCLA 208, Bowling Green 61

RUSH YARDS: UCLA 161, Bowling Green 41

FIRST DOWNS: UCLA 12, Bowling Green 9

PASSING LEADERS

D. Thompson-Robinson (UCLA): 22-of-30, 208 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT
M. McDonald (BGU): 7-of-16, 61 yards, 1 TD 

RUSHING LEADERS

Z. Charbonnet (UCLA): 14 carries, 82 yards
J. Johnson (BGU): 7 carries, 28 yards

RECEIVING LEADERS

K. Allen (UCLA): 6 receptions, 50 yards, 1 TD
C. Sims (BGU): 1 reception, 22 yards, 1 TD

One play puts the Bruins back on top, Keegan Jones breaks out

12:59 p.m.: Another 3-and-out by Bowling Green set UCLA up at midfield, and they took advantage right away.

Thompson-Robinson checked it down to running back Keegan Jones in the left flat for the first play of the drive. Jones made one cut to the inside, making a man miss, and then won a footrace to the front left corner of the end zone for a 52-yard touchdown.

UCLA now leads 24-17 with just over two minutes to go in the opening half.

UCLA tries it up, Kazmeir Allen finds the end zone

12:51 p.m.: After the Bruins' defense forced a 3-and-out – and Jake Bobo inexplicably caught another punt without calling for a fair catch – the offense had a chance for redemption with solid field position.

Thompson-Robinson and Charbonnet continued to switch off making plays, with each star senior picking a couple first downs. Kazmeir Allen made a catch in the flat to convert on a 4th-down conversion, and he was the centerpiece of the scoring play to end the drive as well.

Allen caught a screen out of the right slot, then cut towards the middle of the field and sprinted into the end zone for the 20-yard touchdown.

UCLA and Bowling Green are tied 17-17 with 4:04 left on the clock before halftime.

Delay of game costs Bruins points deep in red zone

12:38 p.m.: UCLA finally got some more points on the board, just not as many as they would have hoped.

A hold by Garrett DiGiorgio nearly halted the drive before it even got going, but a 3rd-down strike to Jake Bobo kept it alive. Tight end-running back hybrid Carsen Ryan then recorded his first catch as a Bruin, which was followed by a few Zach Charbonnet carries that got the offense inside the 10.

A couple of run stuffs led to a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line, and Chip Kelly kept his offense out there to try and steal back six points. Thompson-Robinson initiated the play a hair late, though, and UCLA was flagged for delay of game.

Nicholas Barr-Mira came out for the 24-yard field goal instead, which he hit to make it a one-score game.

UCLA still trails 17-10 with 8:28 to go in the first half.

Tight end Michael Ezeike appeared to get injured on the drive, and he was being attended to by trainers on the sidelines while Ryan stood in for him.

Slip screen score widens gap

12:22 p.m.: It seemed like the Bruins could finally get to Matt McDonald for the sack, but he dumped one off over the middle and made the defense pay.

Tight end Christian Sims slipped up to the line of scrimmage to catch the lobbed screen pass, and he sliced his way through several defenders for a 22-yard touchdown.

Bowling Green went 73 yards in eight plays, and now have a two-score lead on UCLA. The Bruins are down 17-7 just over a minute into the second quarter.

END Q1: Bowling Green 10, UCLA 7

12:15 p.m.: The Bruins had a chance to answer the Falcons' field goal, and they were unable to capitalize.

UCLA was moving the ball efficiently down the field, then faced a 4th-and-4 at the 27. Bowling Green took a timeout, dialed up an all-out blitz and swatted down Thompson-Robinson's pass at the line when a clean delivery would have gone to Kazmeir Allen for a first down and more.

The Falcons are now in Bruin territory, on the outskirts of field goal range.

UCLA had a punt blocked, a muffed punt, an interception, a turnover on downs and countless missed tackles in the first quarter alone.

Bobo returns to muff a punt, give up more points

12:05 p.m.: Jake Bobo returned to the field after his prior injury, but not in the way he would have hoped. 

The receiver muffed a punt inside the red zone, and the Falcons recovered at the 11. After a few trick plays, Bowling Green nailed a 24-yard field goal to retake the lead.

UCLA trails 10-7 with 4:29 to go in the first.

Thompson-Robinson tosses ill-advised interception

11:55 a.m.: For all the strides Thompson-Robinson took forward the past few years, he still is not immune to the early-season turnover bug.

Thompson-Robinson was looking to hit receiver Titus Mokiao-Atimalala on 3rd-and-long, but a linebacker was camping out over the middle waiting for it. The interception was returned to midfield, and the Bruins had coughed up the ball for the second time in three drives.

Early in that same set of downs, Thompson-Robinson looked to dial up a long bomb to tight end Hudson Habermehl. The defender got there early and created contact, but no flag was thrown for defensive pass interference. Instead, right tackle Garrett DiGiorgio was flagged for ineligible man downfield, and that set up the eventual interception.

Jake Bobo goes down after kick catch interference

11:49 a.m.: The Bruins are already down their No. 1 receiver.

The Duke transfer went back to return a punt in the first quarter, and then UCLA had to burn its first timeout because he was one of two No. 9s on the field. After giving him the No. 87 jersey, the teams resumed play.

Bobo waved for a fair catch, but still got hit by two defenders at once, both in the midsection. There was a flag on the play, giving the Bruins some favorable field position, but Bobo ripped off his helmet and stayed down until the training staff guided him off.

He was not on the field for UCLA's next offensive drive.

DTR weaves downfield for a big score

11:44 a.m.: On the verge of going 3-and-out for the second time in a row, Dorian Thompson-Robinson had other plans.

The Bruins were facing a 3rd-and-3, and a designed pass play broke down as Thompson-Robinson stepped up in the pocket. The fifth-year stater barely outran one defender to pick up the first down, then barely stayed in bounds as he picked up even more yardage.

All of a sudden, Thompson-Robinson made a cut to the middle of the field and followed a few blockers into the front left corner of the end zone. The 68-yard touchdown run was not the longest of his career, but it was much-needed for the Bruins to halt the Falcons' momentum.

The game is now tied at 7-7 with 12:20 to go in the opening quarter.

Slow start leads to mishap, Bowling Green points

11:34 a.m.: The first punt of Nicholas Barr-Mira's career didn't go exactly as planned.

After the Bruins went 3-and-out on the opening drive of the day – the Falcons won the toss and deferred – the true kicker came out to punt on 4th-and-11. PaShaun Wimberly blocked it at the 11, and Charles Rosser scooped it up and ran into the end zone untouched.

Barr-Mira took quite a while releasing, and that delay led to the Bruins going down by seven early.

Chip Kelly’s headwear, attendance looking shaky

11:10 a.m.: More so than any personnel notes, coach Kelly’s hat has drawn the side eye from fans at the Rose Bowl.

Kelly wore a baseball cap to every game his first three years at UCLA, and the team went 10-21. In 2021, when the Bruins switched their apparel provider from Under Armour to Jordan and Nike, Kelly went back to the signature visor he wore at Oregon, and the team just so happened to finish 8-4.

Saturday morning, Kelly came onto the field in a baseball cap, reverting to his pre-2021 ways. If the Bruins somehow get upset, there is now an easy scapegoat to blame.

As for the players themselves, there don't appear to be any surprise injuries.

The forecast in Pasadena calls for temperatures over 100 degrees, and it appears that may have scared off some fans. The reported attendance is expected to outpace the 32,982 from the 2021 opener against Hawaii, but there are sure to be quite a few no-shows Saturday.

The upper sections above both end zones are completely tarped off, doubling the amount of blocked off seating from 2021. There also aren't more than a dozen or so students in the student section, given that the quarter is still a few weeks away from starting.

The Los Angeles crowd will surely take its time filling in the stands, but that final number will certainly be one to keep an eye on.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon was the Publisher and Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s All Bruins from 2021 to 2023. He is now a staff writer at Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s Fastball. He previously covered UCLA football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country and golf for The Daily Bruin from 2017 to 2021, serving as the paper's Sports Editor from 2019 to 2020. Connon has also been a contributor for 247Sports' Bruin Report Online, Rivals' BruinBlitz, Dash Sports TV, SuperWestSports, Prime Time Sports Talk, The Sports Life Blog and Patriots Country, Sports Illustrated and FanNation’s New England Patriots site. His work as a sports columnist has been awarded by the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon graduated from UCLA in June 2021 and is originally from Winchester, Massachusetts.

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