PASADENA, Calif. -- Aidan Mizell didn’t let the weather stop him from picking up right where he left off last week.
Six days after scoring two 75-yard touchdowns in the fourth quarter against Minnesota, Mizell had six catches for 176 yards — more than half of UCLA’s receiving — as the Bruins defeated Illinois 22-14 in a rainy atmosphere on Friday night at the Rose Bowl. At one point, due to negative pass plays for the rest of the team, he had more receiving yards than UCLA had passing yards.
Mizell’s night was highlighted by two plays. On UCLA’s first possession of the game, he got behind the defense for a 54-yard touchdown reception, a crucial tone-setter for an offense that earlier in the week had noted the Illinois defense’s ability to limit big plays. In the second quarter, he caught a pass on a simple six-yard out route before cutting all the way across the field for what turned into a 63-yard gain. In total, 100 of Mizell’s 176 receiving yards came after the catch.
“He’s a great receiver,” UCLA quarterback Ty Dieffenbach said. “You see what he does with the ball after he catches it.”
Over the last two weeks, Mizell has begun to find his footing in an offense where, partially due to his health, he was not considered a major part of the receiving corps at the start of the season. He only appeared in one of UCLA’s first three games, then had his first catch of the year in their fourth game. Appropriately, it was an 83-yard touchdown.
“We knew who he was, we knew what he’s capable of, and we just needed to get him healthy,” UCLA head coach Bob Chesney said. “And if you remember back, he missed a couple of the first games just because he wasn’t there yet, and now he is. So it’s what we thought.”
If Mizell’s slow start to his time at UCLA had one clear benefit, it was giving him a chance to develop chemistry with Dieffenbach. Both are transfers in their first year in Westwood — Mizell from Florida, Dieffenbach from Cal Poly — and both started the season as second-string players before being thrust into larger roles in the offense. So far, they’ve answered the call and made huge contributions to UCLA’s 10-0 start.
“Throwing on the weekends in January and then moving into spring ball, [we were] building that connection,” Dieffenbach said. “In fall camp, we really hit it off. We were both hooping with the twos.”
Mizell’s boom-or-bust style is blatantly obvious in his stats. He has just 15 catches all season. He has two games with zero catches and three games with one catch. But those receptions have gone for 501 yards — a remarkable average of 33.4 yards per catch.
Although Mizell would surely love the consistency that any receiver desires, he has provided UCLA with a much-needed deep threat to complement Dieffenbach’s strong arm. Dieffenbach looked for him repeatedly throughout the game, as Mizell was targeted on nine of the Bruins’ 27 pass attempts.
With Mikey Matthews missing most of this season and Brian Rowe missing Friday night’s game due to illness, Mizell is a larger part of the offense than he may have expected at the beginning of the season. But he’s handled it effectively, rounding out a UCLA offense that often leans on its running backs and opening up their passing threat. Last week, he helped Dieffenbach throw for 303 yards on eight completions. This week, he asserted himself at times when nothing else in the pass game was working.
“Just the way he’s been able to step up — guys are going down right now, and we need other guys to step up,” Dieffenbach said. “The way everyone steps up, Aidan in particular, it’s just awesome.”