If There Was Ever a Time University of California To turn its season around, it faced Minnesota in the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the return of Ethan Garbers, who missed last week's game against Penn State with an ankle injury, wasn't enough to stop the downward spiral.
UCLA's 21-17 loss to Minnesota left coach DeShaun Foster visibly dejected. He didn't mince words about what he felt.
“This one will sting. I'm going to be pissed for a while,” Foster said. “It's hard to sit here and think positive.”
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A lack of discipline and an inability to finish the competition were responsible for UCLA's failure to capture its first Big Ten win.
With 6:54 left, Garbers connected with receiver J. Michael Sturdivant on a 42-yard pass to give UCLA a 17-14 lead.
But the Bruins were unable to stop the Golden Gophers, whose seven-play, 61-yard drive 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, sealing UCLA's fifth straight loss.
“We didn't do what we wanted to do and we didn't do what we were trained to do,” Foster said. “We have to find a way to stop shooting ourselves in the foot… It's hard to beat good teams when you get 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 outstanding in the opening drive, completing four passes for 59 yards before Keegan Jones scored on a one-yard run.
Showing mobility and throwing effectively on the run, Garbers completed 10 of his first 12 passes for 110 yards. He completed 25 of 36 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown, but also had three interceptions.
Garbers' main target was Sturdivant, a redshirt junior who caught six passes for 94 yards and a touchdown.
“We've been working on it all week in practice,” Garbers said of his chemistry with Sturdivant. “Mike was just opening up, just like that. You get open, you get the ball. He did a great job tonight.”
Despite initial success, the offense encountered some problems. After their first touchdown, the Bruins were unsuccessful on third down, surrendered, and Garbers threw an interception that cut their halftime lead to 10-0.
“Offensively, we still have players that aren't doing their jobs, including myself,” Garbers said. “I can't turn the ball over like that. We'll never win games like this, but I just have to be better.
UCLA's defense flourished in the first half. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger led with 12 tackles, including 4½ for loss, and two sacks.
However, in the second half, Minnesota attacked with series of points. A costly pass interference put the Golden Gophers in the UCLA red zone before Brosmer found Elijah Spencer wide open on a 12-yard pass. After sacking Garbers on the next play, the Golden Gophers took advantage of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a pass interference call on the Bruins to score a two-yard touchdown to Taylor, giving Minnesota a 14-10 lead.
Schwesinger's assessment of what went wrong defensively was simple: penalties.
“We gave up too many yards on penalties,” Schwesinger said. “Penalties are a matter of discipline that we need to sort out.”
Ultimately, the Bruins were unable to match Minnesota in terms of ball movement and effective clock management, and Golden Gophers coach P.J. Fleck called three timeouts on UCLA's penultimate drive to give his team enough time to score the winning touchdown.
“We want to make plays and win,” Schwesinger said. “I think losing like that just makes it hurt a little more, especially when you're a tight group.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
