Ethan Garbers wasn’t scheduled to start an hour before Saturday’s kickoff.
But on the Bruins’ first drive, the redshirt senior quarterback took the field.
And on UCLA’s final drive – with 27 seconds left on the clock – Garbers was the team’s last hope.
However, the seasoned signal-caller was depleted of his magic tricks by the fourth quarter.
With seven seconds to play, Garbers tossed deep into the night – and right into the hands of defensive back Koi Perich – for his third interception of the game.
As UCLA football (1-5, 0-4 Big Ten) lived and died by its veteran quarterback, Minnesota (4-3, 2-2) emerged victorious 21-17 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
“This is a tough loss, so this one’s going to sting a little bit,” said coach DeShaun Foster. “We really wanted to come out and put on a good showing for our home crowd. We haven’t really played the way that we wanted to play in the Rose Bowl.”
Redshirt sophomore Justyn Martin was listed to start Saturday, but Garbers assumed duties under center as kickoff neared – returning from a high-ankle sprain sustained Sept. 28 against Oregon.
The Newport Beach, California, local went 9-for-10 in the first frame, leading the Bruins through an 11-play touchdown drive on their first possession and finishing the first 15 minutes of action with 92 yards through the air.
Things took a turn to begin the second quarter.
Garbers threw his seventh pick of the year to start – and has yet to close out a game with a blank entry in the interception column.
But UCLA’s defense held strong. Redshirt senior defensive lineman Siale Taupaki sacked Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer on first down, and redshirt junior linebacker Carson Schwesinger tackled running back Darius Taylor for a one-yard loss. After an incomplete pass, the Golden Gophers were forced to punt.
Minnesota advanced to UCLA’s 25-yard line on its next drive, but kicker Dragan Kesich’s kick veered far right, leaving the Golden Gophers scoreless.
The Bruins would add a field goal to end the half – courtesy of sophomore kicker Mateen Bhaghani – but Garbers’ performance had noticeably dipped, completing just 5-of-11 passes for 69 yards in the frame.
Garbers escaped his first interception somewhat safe, but the second time around – in the third quarter – the Bruins’ defense cracked.
Following Perich’s first pick, it took Brosmer all of seven plays to award Minnesota its second touchdown of the half – thereby granting the team its first lead of the night.
“I can’t turn the ball over like that, we’ll never win games like that,” Garbers said. “I got to be better, everyone else has to be better. But, yeah, we just got to play assignment-sound football.”
But after a sack from redshirt junior linebacker Carson Schwesinger cut Minnesota’s next drive short, UCLA retrieved the ball on its own 11.
“Maybe I’m the one getting on the stat sheet, but what people don’t see is the front line just eating up double teams, allowing run-throughs, DBs (defensive backs) holding down in the back end, so we don’t have to worry about the pass,” Schwesinger, who finished with two sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss, said.
The Bruins continued on a nine-play touchdown drive, culminating in back-to-back receptions to J.Michael Sturdivant.
The redshirt junior wide receiver went without a single target in Beaver Stadium last week.
But Saturday, Sturdivant racked up seven receptions for 107 yards – and hauled in Garbers’ deep floating pass at the edge of the end zone to give the Bruins a momentary 17-14 advantage in the fourth quarter.
UCLA maintained its three-point lead through to the two-minute timeout – just about when the defense caved in.
The Golden Gophers traveled 61 yards in seven plays, largely shouldered by a 27-yard completion to wide receiver Daniel Jackson – who finished the game with 10 receptions for 89 yards.
On third-and-goal from the UCLA four-yard line, Brosmer’s formula was simple: dump off a pass to a wide-open running back, Darius Taylor, to give his team the lead for good. And so he did.
The Bruin defense forced the Golden Gophers to punt on four of their first five possessions – and tallied three sacks and seven tackles for loss by Saturday’s conclusion. But when it arguably mattered most, the Bruins crumbled.
“Just a nondisciplined team, basically,” Foster said. “We didn’t do stuff that we wanted to do, didn’t do the stuff that we’ve been coached to do. So we just got to find ways to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”
