UCLA DL Takkarist McKinley says Colorado offensive line plays ‘dirty’
UCLA defensive lineman Takkarist McKinley noticed something about Colorado’s offensive line when studying the Buffs’ game tape.
“Colorado and their offensive line, I feel like if we get off with speed, we can beat them,” McKinley said per the Los Angeles Times. “They’re dirty, but if you use your hands, use your speed, rip and dip, we can beat them with speed.”
Dirty? What did he mean when he said Colorado’s line plays dirty?
“They try to chop block you,” McKinley said. “They try to tear your ACL. To me, that’s dirty. But to them, it’s their job. To me, it’s pretty dirty.”
McKinley is just a redshirt freshman who has never played against Colorado during his time at UCLA, though he was on the sideline for the Bruins’ home win over the Buffs last November. That game became pretty chippy when UCLA was flagged numerous times for roughing Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau while up big in the fourth quarter.
Liufau said the animosity from last year’s game could carry over to Saturday’s game at Folsom Field in Boulder.
“Maybe it’ll be chippy again,” Liufau said. “I have no idea.”
When asked about McKinley’s comments, CU offensive line coach Gary Bernardi told the Denver Post that his players are taught to play with “aggressiveness within the rules.”
“We would never teach them to ‘high-low’ a defender. Generally speaking, that’s what injuries result from. We don’t teach it, and we haven’t been called for a penalty for it all year,” Bernardi said.
It remains to be seen whether McKinley’s comments will add a bit of extra juice to this game. The 2-5 Buffaloes are 0-4 in Pac-12 so far this year, while UCLA (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12) rebounded from back-to-back losses last week in a win over Cal.
The game will kick off at 2:00 p.m. ET.
For more Colorado news, visit BuffStampede.com.
For more UCLA news, visit BruinSportsReport.com.
– – – – – – –
Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
