If there was ever a time for UCLA to show round its season, it was in opposition to Minnesota within the Rose Bowl.
Sadly for the Bruins, the return of Ethan Garbers, who missed final week’s sport in opposition to Penn State due to harm, wasn’t sufficient to halt their downward spiral.
In a hard-fought contest, UCLA didn’t safe its first Massive Ten Convention win at school historical past, dropping 21-17 to Minnesota on its house discipline Saturday night.
Regardless of taking a 17-14 lead within the fourth quarter on Garbers’ 42-yard reference to J.Michael Sturdivant, the Bruins couldn’t fend off a Minnesota rally.
The UCLA protection obtained one cease, however the Bruins’ offense was pressured to shortly punt and the Golden Gophers scored a landing with 27 seconds remaining. Garbers’ closing go was intercepted as time expired to seal UCLA’s fifth straight loss.
UCLA coach DeShaun Foster mentioned he has to determine easy methods to train his gamers to ship a whole sport and keep away from late-contest errors which have haunted the Bruins.
“We’ve just got to find ways to stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” he mentioned. “… This is a tough loss. This is going to sting a little bit.”
The outcome was particularly irritating for UCLA after a potent first half.
Garbers delivered a stellar efficiency on the opening drive — going four-of-four passing for 59 yards and main the Bruins to the aim line earlier than Keegan Jones capped the drive with a one-yard landing run.
Whereas the Bruins’ protection thrived within the first half, the offense confronted early hiccups. After the primary quarter, the group was ineffective on third down, gave up sacks and Garbers tossed interceptions that restricted the Bruins’ halftime benefit to 10-0.
UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers seems to go within the first half Saturday on the Rose Bowl.
(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Photographs)
Within the second half, Minnesota pounced with back-to-back scoring drives. A pricey go interference name put the Gophers within the UCLA crimson zone and on third down, the Bruins yielded a 12-yard landing go to a wide-open Elijah Spencer, narrowing the hole.
One among Garbers’ second-half interceptions arrange Minnesota deep in Bruins territory.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the Gophers into the crimson zone and one other go interference name ultimately zone positioned Minnesota on the aim line. Darius Taylor then powered via for a landing, giving the Golden Gophers a 14-10 lead earlier than the Bruins rallied within the fourth quarter.
UCLA obtained the ball on its 11-yard line with 12:38 left within the fourth quarter and Garbers evaded stress whereas steering the group towards the top zone.
Garbers accomplished passes to T.J. Harden and Logan Loya earlier than discovering Sturdivant for a 14-yard reception. With 6:54 remaining, Garbers hit Sturdivant for the 42-yard catch that briefly gave the Bruins the lead.
Sturdivant, a redshirt junior, completed with six receptions for 94 yards and the landing. Garbers accomplished 25 of 36 passes for 293 yards, with one landing and three interceptions.
The Bruins finally couldn’t match Minnesota’s ball motion and environment friendly clock administration, together with Golden Gophers coach P.J. Fleck calling three timeouts throughout UCLA’s penultimate drive to safe sufficient time for his group to attain what grew to become the game-winning landing.
