If there was ever a time for UCLA to turn around its season, it was against Minnesota in the Rose Bowl.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, the return of Ethan Garbers, who missed last week’s game against Penn State because of injury, wasn’t enough to halt their downward spiral.
In a hard-fought contest, UCLA failed to secure its first Big Ten Conference win in school history, losing 21-17 to Minnesota on its home field Saturday evening.
Despite taking a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter on Garbers’ 42-yard connection with J.Michael Sturdivant, the Bruins couldn’t fend off a Minnesota rally.
The UCLA defense got one stop, but the Bruins’ offense was forced to quickly punt and the Golden Gophers scored a touchdown with 27 seconds remaining. Garbers’ final pass was intercepted as time expired to seal UCLA’s fifth straight loss.
UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said he has to figure out how to teach his players to deliver a complete game and avoid late-contest mistakes that have haunted the Bruins.
“We’ve just got to find ways to stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said. “… This is a tough loss. This is going to sting a little bit.”
The result was especially frustrating for UCLA after a potent first half.
Garbers delivered a stellar performance on the opening drive — going four-of-four passing for 59 yards and leading the Bruins to the goal line before Keegan Jones capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.
While the Bruins’ defense thrived in the first half, the offense faced early hiccups. After the first quarter, the team was ineffective on third down, gave up sacks and Garbers tossed interceptions that limited the Bruins’ halftime advantage to 10-0.
In the second half, Minnesota pounced with back-to-back scoring drives. A costly pass interference call put the Gophers in the UCLA red zone and on third down, the Bruins yielded a 12-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Elijah Spencer, narrowing the gap.
One of Garbers’ second-half interceptions set up Minnesota deep in Bruins territory.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the Gophers into the red zone and another pass interference call in the end zone placed Minnesota at the goal line. Darius Taylor then powered through for a touchdown, giving the Golden Gophers a 14-10 lead before the Bruins rallied in the fourth quarter.
UCLA got the ball on its 11-yard line with 12:38 left in the fourth quarter and Garbers evaded pressure while steering the team toward the end zone.
Garbers completed passes to T.J. Harden and Logan Loya before finding 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, finished with six receptions for 94 yards and the touchdown. Garbers completed 25 of 36 passes for 293 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions.
The Bruins ultimately couldn’t match Minnesota’s ball movement and efficient clock management, including Golden Gophers coach P.J. Fleck calling three timeouts during UCLA’s penultimate drive to secure enough time for his team to score what became the game-winning touchdown.
