PASADENA, Calif. — UCLA scored on their first offensive play of the game and never let up as they demolished HBCU North Carolina Central, 59-7.
Freshman Dante Moore, making the second start of his collegiate career, opened the scoring up by finding senior wide receiver Kam Brown down the sideline for a 67-yard catch and run touchdown.
The Bruins would score again quickly after NCCU quarterback Davius Richard’s pass was intercepted by UCLA defensive end Laiatu Lau and returned for 25 yards to the NCCU 1-yard line. UCLA running back Carson Steele would score on the next play making it 14-0.
Moore would throw his second touchdown of the game on the Bruins next drive when he found wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown pass. Moore didn’t play any snaps in the second half finishing the game 8 for 12 with 182 yards passing to go along with his two touchdowns.
Moore has been a positive for this team which has led to the team’s three wins including today’s big time performance.
“When you have great teammates around you, great fans, shoutout to the fans of course, and Westwood, a beautiful area, with beautiful weather every day, it’s a lot of things that bring positivity around me” said Moore.
The offense was record-breaking today as UCLA scored 35 points in the first quarter. It is the first time UCLA has done such in any quarter in their illustrious programs history.
UCLA’s backfield combined to rush for six rushing touchdowns led by junior Anthony Adkins who carried the ball 10 times for 96 yards and a score.
“We pride ourselves on running hard, playing physical and playing aggressive every week, week in and week out,” said junior Adkins. “Doing our jobs, we take the load off the quarterback a little bit, and we pride ourselves on that.”
After this lights out performance the Bruins will move on to their toughest test so far this season when they face-off against the defending Pac-12 champions, the Utah Utes.
“It looks like we are relatively healthy coming out of this. We’ve got to be ready to go. League play starts this week, coming up,” said UCLA head coach Chip Kelly. “There are eight teams in the Pac-12 who are in the top 25 in the country. So this conference play for everybody is going to be a battle.”
With UCLA’s non-conference schedule finished, the Bruins will now be tested as they enter Pac-12 play for the final time, beginning with Saturday’s game at No. 12 Utah, followed by a home game against No. 23 Washington State on Oct. 7 and a road game against No. 16 Oregon State on Oct. 14.
