Bruins Come From Behind For First Win of DeShaun Foster Era; Beat Hawai'i, 16-13

The offense struggled out of the gate, but played a solid second half to win the game.

Keanu Williams and the UCLA defense allowed just one touchdown to the Rainbow Warriors, setting up the Bruins’ comeback win. (Photo Credit: Greg Turk/uclabruins.com)

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To say that the first half of today’s UCLA game was ugly might be a bit of an understatement.

Ethan Garbers completed just six of his 19 pass attempts for 69 yards in the half. Meanwhile, after gaining 24 yards on the ground in the first quarter, the Bruins gained just one rushing yard in the second quarter. That gave them just 94 yards of offense at the break.

UCLA’s first half possessions went like this: punt, interception, punt, missed field goal, punt and interception. Ugh.

Meanwhile, on their first possession, the Rainbow Warriors looked very efficient. They moved 73 yards on nine plays to score the game’s first touchdown. The key play on the drive came on a fourth-and-six from the Hawai’i 31-yard line. Punter Lucas Borrow lined up to boot the ball, but after he took the snap, he saw the Bruins all drop back into punt coverage quickly. So, Borrow took off and ended up gaining 19 yards on the run. That got the Warriors a new set of downs, and on first and ten from the UCLA 19, Brayden Schager found Pofele Ashlock for a touchdown.

The good news was that it would end up being the only touchdown the Bruin defense allowed all game.

In fact, the rest of the half went pretty well defensively for the Bruins. They held Hawai’i on their next four possessions, and if it wasn’t for an interception Garbers threw with time running down in the first half, they would not have added an easy field goal as time expired.

Schager looked good in the first half for Hawai’i, completing 18 of 26 pass attempts for 140 yards and that touchdown.

I might be inclined to give the Bruin defense credit for holding the Rainbow Warriors to 38 yards rushing in the first half, but the running game is really an afterthought in the Run and Shoot offense. So, they weren’t really trying to gain much yardage on the ground.

The script flipped in the second half. The Bruin defense forced a three-and-out as Hawai’i actually lost four yards on their first drive after the break and Borrow’s 65-yard punt gave UCLA the ball on their own four.

When Garbers took the field for UCLA’s first possession, he looked like a different quarterback. He had moved the Bruins 57 yards downfield on eight plays when he found transfer receiver Rico Flores, Jr. for a 39-yard touchdown pass just as he ran past safety Peter Manuma and into the end zone, cutting the lead to 10-7, Hawai’i.

When the Rainbow Warrior offense came back onto the field, Hawai’i was able to extend their drive due to multiple Bruin penalties on third-and-seven. Hawai’i declined the pass interference call in favor of a 15-yard roughing the passer call on Devin Aupiu, which gave the ‘Bows a first down on their own 43. Eventually, they got as close as the UCLA 10, but the Bruin defense held and forced Hawai’i to settle for another field goal, extending their lead to 13-7.

After UCLA added a a 22-yard field goal by transfer Mateen Bhaghani, the defense came back out and D.J. Justice picked off a Schager pass at the Hawai’i 35 to set up a 37-yard field goal by Bhagani to tie the game, 13-13, in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

The teams traded punts on the next three series, giving the Bruins the ball of their own 36 with about three minutes to go. Three consecutive completions by Garbers put the Bruins at the Hawai’i while two runs by him got them to the 14. Facing a fourth-and-one with 59 seconds left, DeShaun Foster demonstrated he is not Chip Kelly by sending Bhagani out for another field goal attempt, which he promptly nailed from 32 yards out, giving the Bruins their first lead of the game.

Schager’s first down pass was incomplete and Ale Kaho sacked him for an 11-yard loss on second down. On third-and-21, Schager found Nick Cenacle for 15 yds with the clock ticking down. The Rainbow Warriors hurried to the line and Schager for Ashlock for 10 yards, but he fumbled and Bruin Bryan Addison recovered the ball as time ran out to end Hawai’i’s last hope.

UCLA could have easily folded in this game, but they didn’t. After a terrible first half, Garbers was completed 13 of 19 for 203 yards and a touchdown in the second half. Rico Flores was the leading receiver for the Bruins with 102 yards and a touchdown on three receptions.

The Bruin rushing attack still only gained 46 yards in the second half, but that may be a reflection of the fact that they were playing from behind. Garbers was also the leading rusher for UCLA, gaining 47 yards on seven carries. TJ Harden was ineffective throughout the game with just nine yards on nine carries while Keegan Jones managed to gain 13 yards on just three carries. Clearly, UCLA has to do a better job running the football if they are going to play well through the season.

So, while the outcome was positive, there remains a lot of room for improvement on the offensive side of the ball. We’ll have to keep an eye on the offense when the Bruins come home to face the Indiana Hoosiers at the Rose Bowl when UCLA plays their first Big Ten game in two weeks because, after that, the schedule gets really rough very quickly with a three-week stretch of games that includes road games against LSU and Penn State sandwiching a home game against Oregon.

Let’s hope that the offense plays well out of the gate in those four because it looks like the defense may have picked up where they left off last season, despite losing a bunch of guys to graduation and the NFL.


Go Bruins!!!

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