PASADENA, Calif. — The best college quarterback in Los Angeles threw the ball against a harrowing blitz, threw it while furiously backpedaling, threw it perfectly and poetically.
In a warm Saturday afternoon glow at the Rose Bowl, Dorian Thompson-Robinson dumped the ball to Logan Loya and into UCLA history.
Loya sprinted 70 yards around frozen Utah defenders for the clinching touchdown in the Bruins’ stunning 42-32 victory, at which point the best college quarterback in Los Angeles wonderfully lost his mind.
Thompson-Robinson wildly skipped and jumped and danced to the end zone. He tore off his helmet and screamed to the sky. He stalked the Bruins sidelines and pumped his fists.
He had just passed Brett Hundley as the Bruins’ career leader in touchdown passes with 76. He had just accounted for five touchdowns in leading the Bruins to their best start in 17 years, a 6-0 record that should include a spot in the nation’s top 10.
And, believe it, even with the great Caleb Williams playing across town, Thompson-Robinson had just staked his claim as the best quarterback in Los Angeles.
“We want more. We want more,” Thompson-Robinson said afterward in his usual postgame rasp, his voice stripped bare after three hours of shouting. “You said top 10. I want top five. Want top two. We want it all. We want more. I promise you we want more. This is nothing compared to what we want.”
In his fifth season here, Thompson-Robinson just keeps giving more — 15 touchdown passes, two interceptions, a 75% completion rate, 231 yards rushing and four rushing touchdowns so far.
In his latest Saturday masterpiece, he misfired on only five of 23 passes for 299 yards with four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and just the one mistake of a late interception.
He owned the Utes, he owned the moment and then, walking off the field ahead of his teammates while howling at the high sun, he owned the Rose Bowl.
What was he saying exactly?
“I said, ‘This is our house,’” he said.
Of course he did. His skill and experience are buffeted by his passion. So much passion. Such powerful swagger. So many marvelous moments punctuated by screams and gestures and inspiration.
He has hurdled guys into the ground. He has juked guys into collisions. He has thrown countless perfect passes through tight windows into the arms of grateful receivers.
And he has done it with a selflessness that, when asked in the postgame news conference about breaking Hundley’s record, he literally answered in tears.
“It’s great to have my name there, but I think the thing, the one that’s made me most emotional from right now, is seeing how happy my guys in my locker room were for me, the coaching staff, everybody that’s been here since I was a freshman,” he said, blinking hard through watery eyes. “Just re-thinking all the hard times that I went through, all the bickering back and forth, all the transitioning going on throughout the program. Again, I just can’t say how thankful I am and how grateful I am to be on this team right now.”
On Saturday against the favored and defending Pac-12 champion Utes, he was making magic again, from beginning to end, starting with the Bruins’ third possession in a scoreless first quarter.
He threw a perfect sideline strike to Michael Ezeike for 49 yards. He then threw a perfect 23-yard slant strike to Titus Mokiao-Atimalala. Four plays later Thompson-Robinson sprinted outside for seven yards that ended in a dive across the goal line for an eventual 7-0 lead.
Fist-pumps. Joyful jumps. Tone set.
“Really happy for him, to see how he’s grown as a person and how he’s grown as a leader,” coach Chip Kelly said. “It’s cool to watch and it’s well deserved.”
The Utes continually fought back, but Thompson-Robinson countered every punch with a dramatic jab.
After a Utah field goal, a seven-yard touchdown slant to Jake Bobo. After a Utah touchdown, a five-yard touchdown fastball to Kam Brown. After another Utah touchdown, a 10-yard touchdown laser to Bobo. And Thompson-Robinson is doing it all while balancing this enormous chip that just gets larger every week. Keep ignoring UCLA, and he’ll just keep strapping on that ignorance and running with it.
“It’s even bigger,” he said of the chip. “It’s going to be even bigger in two weeks when we go to Oregon and it’s going to be bigger after that. I don’t care who we’re playing, everybody’s going to mean business this year.”
He repeated his mantra from last week’s win against then-unbeaten Washington. He knows what the football nation thinks about the long-ignored Bruins, and he’s using it as fuel.
“I read all of it and it hurts when other people don’t give my boys credit and I’m going to do everything that I can to get these boys enough credit that they deserve,” he said.
There is no part of this compelling UCLA season that is more overlooked than Thompson-Robinson himself. He’s yet to be included in a Heisman Trophy race … until now. And even in his own city he’s been totally overshadowed by the arrival of USC’s Williams … until now.
I asked Thompson-Robinson whether he felt he was personally being overlooked but, before he could answer, he was interrupted by Bobo, who has caught five touchdown passes in the last four games after catching just three in his previous four seasons at Duke.
“Yes,” Bobo exclaimed.
Yet Thompson-Robinson was like, Heisman? What Heisman? He not only does all the right things, he says all the right things.
“It’s really my first time thinking about it, I’m focused on this team, that’s the reason I came back,” he said. “I didn’t come back for anything personal, I came back to make sure that these boys were in a good spot when I leave here and to make sure I leave a legacy that’s well known to remember and I think I’m a doing a pretty good job of that now and I’m just trying to keep it going forward. I’m here for these boys, I’m not here for myself.”
No matter why he’s here, Dorian Thompson-Robinson is here, and how. Undefeated leader. Heisman hopeful. The best college quarterback in Los Angeles.
