If there was ever a time for UCLA to turn around its season, it was against Minnesota at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the return of Ethan Garbers, who missed last week’s game against Penn State because of an ankle injury, wasn’t enough to halt their downward spiral.
UCLA’s 21-17 loss to Minnesota left coach DeShaun Foster visibly dejected. He didn’t mince words about how he felt.
“This one’s going to sting. I’m going to be pissed off for a little bit,” Foster said. “It’s hard to sit up here and try to be positive.”
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A lack of discipline and an inability to finish were at the heart of UCLA’s failure to secure its first Big Ten win.
With 6:54 remaining, Garbers connected on a 42-yard touchdown pass with receiver J.Michael Sturdivant to give UCLA a 17-14 lead.
However, the Bruins couldn’t stop a seven-play, 61-yard drive by the Golden Gophers that ended with Darius Taylor scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a four-yard pass from quarterback Max Brosmer with 27 seconds left. Garbers’ final pass was intercepted as time expired to seal UCLA’s fifth straight loss.
“We didn’t do the stuff we wanted to do and didn’t do the stuff we’ve been coached to do,” Foster said. “We got to find ways to stop shooting ourselves in the foot… It’s hard to beat good teams when you’re getting in your own way.”
The result was especially frustrating for UCLA after a successful first half.
Garbers, who said after the game his ankle felt fine, was stellar on the opening drive, connecting on four passes for 59 yards before Keegan Jones scored on a one-yard run.
Displaying mobility out of the pocket and throwing effectively on the run, Garbers completed 10 of his first 12 passes for 110 yards. He finished completing 25 of 36 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw three interceptions.
Sturdivant, a redshirt junior, was Garbers’ primary target, catching six passes for 94 yards and a touchdown.
“We were working on it all week in practice,” Garbers said about his chemistry with Sturdivant. “Mike was just getting open, as simple as that. You get open, you get the ball. He was doing a great job tonight.”
Despite its early success, the offense encountered some hiccups. After its first touchdown, the Bruins were ineffective on third down, gave up sacks and Garbers tossed an interception that limited their halftime lead to 10-0.
“Offensively, we still got guys not doing their job, including me,” Garbers said. “I can’t turn the ball over like that. We’ll never win games like that, but I just got to be better.”
The UCLA defense thrived in the first half. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger led the way with 12 tackles, including 4½ tackles for loss and two sacks.
However, in the second half, Minnesota pounced with back-to-back scoring drives. A costly pass interference call put the Golden Gophers in the UCLA red zone before Brosmer found Elijah Spencer wide open on a 12-yard touchdown pass. After picking off Garbers on the ensuing drive, the Golden Gophers took advantage of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a pass interference call on the Bruins to set up a two-yard touchdown run by Taylor, giving Minnesota a 14-10 lead.
Schwesinger’s assessment of what went wrong on defense was simple: penalties.
“We gave up too many yards on penalties,” Schwesinger said. “Penalties are a discipline thing we need to clean up.”
The Bruins ultimately couldn’t match Minnesota’s ball movement and efficient clock management, with Golden Gophers coach P.J. Fleck calling three timeouts during UCLA’s penultimate drive to secure enough time for his team to score the winning touchdown.
“We want to make plays and get a win,” Schwesinger said. “I think losing in that fashion just makes it hurt a little bit more, especially when you’re a tight-knit group.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
