UCLA Football Set to Host Washington in Battle of Pac-12 Unbeatens

The Bruins will face their first true challenge of the season when the 4-0 Huskies come to the Rose Bowl on Friday night.

Under the Friday night lights, only one unbeaten team will survive.

Through four weeks, the Bruins are undefeated with an average margin of victory of 23.8 points. The Huskies, meanwhile, are also undefeated and boast an average margin of victory of 25 points.

Both teams blew out a MAC opponent in their season opener, took care of an FCS team in Week 3 and are fresh off dismantling an outmatched Pac-12 foe in Week 4. The blue and gold, as well as the purple and gold, are both averaging over 40 points per game while allowing fewer than 20.

Friday night at the Rose Bowl, UCLA football (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) will face off against No. 15 Washington (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) to decide which team's perfect season gets to live on one week longer. Although both sides have taken similar paths to the Week 5 showdown, it stands as the first real test for the Bruins so far this season.

Washington is so high up in the rankings and advanced stats because its Week 3 win came over then-No. 11 Michigan State. UCLA still lags behind the Huskies and several other Pac-12 companions because its Week 3 win came by one point over South Alabama in Pasadena.

The Huskies are a far more daunting challenger than the Jaguars, according to the stats, the polls and the media conglomerates who have scheduled Friday night's game to be broadcast on ESPN. Through four weeks, the Bruins have only played on Pac-12 Networks, a regional channel with dwindling viewership numbers routinely outdone by cable cooking shows and reality TV.

Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson said he wasn't going to be shook by the bright lights, rather that he was looking forward to such a high-profile matchup taking center stage, even if it won't impact his team's mentality heading into the game.

"Yeah, it's gonna be fun," Thompson-Robinson said. "Again, I say it every week, we're gonna see if they can run with us and compete with us. We're just gonna go in and do our game."

Across his last 13 games on national TV, Thompson-Robinson boasts a 152.3 passer rating with 37 total touchdowns and only nine interceptions. In his 10 career games against ranked opponents, he has a 158.7 passer rating with 27 total touchdowns.

UCLA's defense, on the other hand, has allowed 42.1 points per game against ranked opponents since coach Chip Kelly took over in 2018. The Bruins' defense is posting some of its best numbers of Kelly's tenure four weeks into 2022, but that's after facing continuous waves inferior competition rather than the high-powered Husky offense.

Coach Kalen DeBoer joined Washington last offseason after a successful run at Fresno State that included a 40-37 win against UCLA at the Rose Bowl in September 2021. He immediately brought his staff and that same fire power with him up to Seattle, giving the Huskies a top-10 offense in the nation right off the bat.

Kelly said that being able to look back on last year's Fresno State film has been valuable, but that Washington's offense is a whole different beast thanks to its offensive playmakers – namely quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

"He's really running the show, and I think he's playing as well as any quarterback in the country right now," Kelly said. "He's extremely accurate, he can make all the throws, he's got a really, really strong arm. ... Just watching tape, he's impressive."

Penix has thrown for 1,388 yards, 12 touchdowns and just one interception with a 64.3% completion percentage and 172.2 passer rating so far in 2022. He has had three top receivers to spread the ball around to – Jalen McMillan, Rome Udunze and Ja'lynn Polk – who account for 53.1% of the team's receptions, 62.1% of their receiving yards and 75% of their receiving touchdowns.

The Indiana transfer quarterback played under DeBoer when he was the offensive coordinator in Bloomington in 2019, giving the pair a built in familiarity before this season even began. Thompson-Robinson and Kelly have been together for five years straight, though, so the Bruins have the leg up in that category.

Thompson-Robinson will have to deal with a Washington pass rush that ranks No. 3 in the country with 15.0 sacks through four games. Penix, meanwhile, be under constant pressure by defensive end Laiatu Latu, a transfer from Washington who ranks No. 3 in the country with 5.0 sacks on the season.

The two dueling quarterbacks and opposing pass rushes will be on full display Friday night, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT. The winner will head into Week 5 with a still-unblemished record, while the other could be left to wonder what their 4-0 start was really worth.

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