A Cactus Bowl bid wasn’t the tier of bowl that the UCLA Football team had in mind when 2017. With the return of first round talent Josh Rosen at QB and a promising new set of offensive coaches there was a small hope that this team would at least be able to challenge the top teams in the PAC-12 and maybe even surprise with some unforeseen victories.
It wasn’t the offense that was a problem though and the defensive issues really put this squad behind the eight ball in games. That forced UCLA into a shootout no matter who the opponent was which obviously isn’t the ideal situation.