Column: In its first two games, UCLA drags more than clicks

This strange, new world of heightened expectations has so far been an unfriendly place for UCLA, which is struggling to put together a complete effort that would justify keeping it in the championship conversation.

Two fourth-quarter mistakes against Memphis vaporized the Bruins’ 14-point lead over the Tigers on Saturday and drew boos from a restless crowd of 72,098 at the Rose Bowl. UCLA regained the lead for good on a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped by a touchdown pass from Brett Hundley to Thomas Duarte, but it endured some nervous moments before escaping with a 42-35 victory.

The Bruins this season are facing higher expectations than they have in a while, and they don’t appear to be comfortable with that pressure yet. Two games into the season, after an uneven effort in winning their opener at Virginia and after Saturday’s wildly inconsistent effort against less-than-fearsome Memphis, the Bruins have yet to assemble strong efforts from their offense and their defense and be the kind of team they were projected to become.

“We’re happy to get a win,” Coach Jim Mora said, “but there’s no satisfaction in the way we’re playing.”

They first heard boos Saturday during the first half of their breathless, run-and-gun game. What made the jeering noteworthy is that the Bruins were winning at the time, though not by much.

The volume of those boos understandably intensified early in the fourth quarter, when Memphis pulled even at 35-35 on a 40-yard run by Doroland Dorceus and Fritz Etienne’s interception and 17-yard return of a Hundley pass. Hundley later reignited the cheers but the Bruins’ inconsistency and habit of taking too many penalties kept the outcome in doubt for too long.

“We have a lot of work to do. A lot,” Mora said. “But we will get it done.”

This game should have been their chance to smooth out the offensive kinks that tripped them up at Virginia last week and to mount another strong effort by the defense, but the Bruins seemed to battle themselves at times as much as they battled the Tigers.

UCLA’s defense took a step back as Memphis racked up 469 yards, and its offense didn’t always click at crucial times. One of those occasions sparked a shower of boos late in the first half, with UCLA going three-and-out and squandering a chance to separate itself from Memphis. The Tigers got the ball back and didn’t score, but only because receiver Sam Craft dropped a pass over the middle, not because of a staunch goal-line stand by the Bruins. UCLA missed a chance to score in the final minute of the opening half when a long pass intended for Devin Fuller slipped through his hands in the end zone, a difficult play to make but not an impossible one.

“I was disappointed in the way we played on defense, especially coming out of last week,” Mora said. “I felt like at times, guys were trying to do too much instead of doing what they needed to do. And when you try to do too much, you get exposed.”

Myles Jack’s four-yard run up the middle and the extra point put UCLA ahead, 35-21, with 4:51 to play in the third quarter, but UCLA couldn’t hold that lead against the opportunistic Tigers.

“I hope we don’t see an offense like that for a while,” Mora said.

Still, there were some good notes for the Bruins.

Jack’s efforts, running back Paul Perkins’ two touchdown runs and Hundley’s performance (33-for-44 for 396 yards and three touchdowns) were praiseworthy. So were the fact Hundley was sacked only twice by Memphis after being sacked five times at Virginia, and that the Bruins’ offense — which produced only one touchdown last week — came alive with 540 yards.

But the Bruins never projected a sense of being in control, only of staying barely ahead — and sometimes straining to do that much. And for UCLA, being good simply isn’t good enough anymore.

As any coach would say, Mora afterward declared that outsiders’ expectations matter less than the standards he and his players set for themselves. The problem is they haven’t met their own goals yet. That has to change.

This won’t get easier. Next weekend they’ll face a weak Texas team — but on the road —followed by a visit to Arizona State on Sept. 25. They won’t be home again until Oct. 4, against Utah.

They could very well drop in the polls again this week, as they did after last week’s flawed victory at Virginia. What would be worse is if these two games become their standard, rather than blips on a radar screen that promised much sunnier prospects a few weeks ago.
helene.elliott@latimes.com

Twitter: @helenenothelen