UCLA Defense B-Ruins Caleb's Home Finale, 38-20

The Bruins took advantage of two of Southern Cal's three turnovers while holding the Trojans to just three yards rushing.

T.J. Harden scored two touchdowns against Southern Cal. (Photo Credit: uclabruins.com)

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This afternoon at the LA Coliseum, the UCLA Bruins dominated their crosstown rivals all game long, holding the Southern Cal offense to a season-low 20 points. Meanwhile, Ethan Garbers returned to lead the Bruins offense to victory.

After UCLA won the toss and chose to defer to the second half, the Trojans got the ball first, and Caleb Williams found Tahj Washington for 15 yards on the first play of the game. But that was the only first down of the drive as the Bruin defense stopped Austin Jones on a fourth-and-one from the SC 49-yard line.

That gave Garbers and the Bruins a short field to work with. Six plays later, UCLA found itself in a familiar place — third-and-goal from the one. Unlike last week, Chip Kelly brought out the T formation and Garbers handed off to T.J. Harden off tackle for UCLA’s first touchdown of the game.

When the Trojans got the ball back, the Bruin defense shut down their offense again, holding them to a three-and-out. After the teams traded punts, Southern Cal started their third series on their own 5-yard line. Williams found Zachariah Branch twice in a row but, on the second completion, Branch had the ball stripped by Kenny Churchwell and the Bruins took over on Southern Cal’s 19.

Three plays later, Garbers found Hudson Habermehl for a 14-yard touchdown to put UCLA up, 14-0.

The Trojans’ next drive was also short. This time, Devin Kirkwood intercepted a ball from Williams on the SC 45-yard line, but UCLA couldn’t capitalize as they were held to a three-and-out. Will Powers’ punt was downed on the one by Ryan Cragun.

Williams led the Trojans 99 yards on just seven plays, finding Brenden Rice for a 74-yard touchdown with just over 14 minutes left in the first half and UCLA's lead was cut in half to 14-7.

UCLA’s next drive ate up a good chunk of the time remaining in the half as they moved 59 yards in just over six minutes down to the Southern Cal 17 when the drive stalled. Chip Kelly called on Blake Glessner to try a 36-yard field goal, but the kick hit the upright and fell back into the end zone no good.

The teams traded punts again and then the Trojans went on a long drive of their own, eventually getting down to the Bruin six-yard line. On second-and-goal from the six, William Nimmo snuffed out a pass to Rice for a two-yard loss. Following an incomplete pass, Lincoln Riley sent out Denis Lynch for a short field goal attempt, but he missed it from 25 yards out.

With less than a minute left, SC got the ball back again and quickly moved down to Bruin 11-yard line when Gabriel Murphy sacked Williams for a 6-yard loss, forcing another Trojan field goal attempt with only 2 seconds left in the half. This time, Lynch made it from 34 yards and the teams headed to the locker rooms with UCLA up 14-10.

After the break, UCLA came out and promptly drove 65 yards on 15 plays. On the 15th play of the drive, Garbers found Harden for a seven-yard touchdown pass, putting the Bruins up, 21-10.

While that would turn out to be enough points to win, they weren’t done yet.

On the ensuing kickoff, Southern Cal was called for an illegal block in the back which resulted in them starting the drive from their own 7. Williams handed off to MarShawn Lloyd on the first play from scrimmage, but Lloyd fumbled and Alex Johnson scooped it up and took it to the house for a touchdown to make it 28-10, Bruins.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the scoop and score gave the Trojans excellent starting field position on their next drive. Eventually, they got as close as the UCLA five-yard line when Laiatu Latu sacked Williams on consecutive plays to force another field goal try by Lynch which made it 28-13.

The Bruins got those points back with a 35-yard field goal by Glessner on their next drive and, after three quarters, UCLA led 31-13.

UCLA forced Southern Cal to turn it over on downs by stopping them on a fourth-and-two from their own 38.

Even though the Bruins had a short field to work with, they managed to take just over five minutes off the clock in the process with Garbers finding Habermehl from 15 yards out for another touchdown and putting the Bruins ahead by 25 again, 38-13.

With about nine minutes left, this game was over at this point, but Williams was able to lead the Trojans on one more drive. This one went 75 yards in 11 plays, culminating in a seven-yard touchdown by Austin Jones to cut it to 38-20, Bruins.

That’s how it ended as the Bruins were able to run the clock out in the final 3:59 just by picking up one first down after Lincoln Riley opted not to try an onside kick.

Garbers finished the game with 155 yards and three touchdowns after completing 18 of 31 passes while T.J. Harden carried 22 times for 142 yards rushing. Harden had two touchdowns with one on the ground and one through the air to go along with Habermehl’s two TD receptions.

While Caleb Williams was 31 of 42 throwing for 384 yards, the Bruin defense held Southern Cal to just three yards rushing total on 22 carries. It was another solid game by Williams, it certainly wasn’t enough to keep the Victory Bell from coming home to Westwood.


Go Bruins!!!

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