UCLA in the Pros: Laiatu Latu Forces Gets Best of Old USC Rival Caleb Williams in Colts Win

Eva Geitheim | 2 Hours Ago

Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

Former UCLA football defensive end Laiatu Latu forced his first career NFL sack and fumble — against old USC football rival Caleb Williams.

With the Chicago Bears trailing the Indianapolis Colts by five points in the fourth quarter, Williams was getting set to lead his Bears on a comeback drive. Williams' attempted heroics were stunted on the first play of the drive when Latu came from behind and forced a strip sack on the rookie quarterback.

Laiatu putting his stamp on this one.

📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/Eyg3varmAu

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) September 22, 2024

The Colts recovered the fumble and gave the ball back to the offense, who capitalized with another touchdown score. This gave the Colts a two-possession lead over the Bears midway through the fourth quarter.

This moment was reminiscent of the success Latu saw against the former Heisman Trophy winner in college. Over two games between Latu and Williams, Latu sacked the No. 1 overall pick 3.5 total times, including two sacks and a rivalry win against Williams last November. With the two inter-conference teams and old college rivals facing off early in the 2024 season, it was only fitting for Latu to earn his first NFL sack against Williams.

Heading into Sunday's game against the Bears, Latu and the Colts had gotten off to a slow start. They dropped both of their first two games to the Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers, who were without starting quarterback Jordan Love. Meanwhile, Latu had just one tackle and one fumble recovery as the Colts defense struggled to stop the run and get to the quarterback consistently.

The Colts did sack the Texans four times in Week 1 but did not earn a sack against the Packers the following week. Their run defense has also struggled, giving up over 150 yards to Joe Mixon and Josh Jacobs over the first two weeks.

The trajectory only appeared to be getting worse for the Colts, who placed defensive tackle DeForest Buckner on injured reserve. With Samson Ebukam already out because of a preseason injury, the Colts' defense did not seem like they would come out with such a strong performance in the near future.

Instead, the Colts overcame the injuries and held the Bears to under 70 total rushing yards. They sacked Williams a total of four times, and earned their first win of the season.

Latu was among the injured Colts during the week and almost did not play on Sunday. Latu did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday because of a hip injury and was a limited participant on Friday. He ended up playing and made a pivotal play for the Colts to come up with the win.

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