UCLA Scores Late Touchdown to Beat Fresno State, 20-13
After being painful to watch all year, the Bruins' season is now mercifully over.
Only 35,018 fans bothered to show up for today’s UCLA game against Fresno State. I can tell you that all of you other Bruin fans out there didn’t miss much.
It was the same bad football we saw all season long.
The UCLA offense struggled to get into the end zone again. Meanwhile, the defense kept the Bruins in the game and held the Fresno State offense just enough for UCLA to get by with a 20-13 win to end another mediocre football season.
It was a foreshadowing of things to come when both teams opened the game by punting on each of their first drives. In UCLA’s case, it was more of the same. Three false start penalties conributed to the Bruins having to punt on their first drive.
When Fresno State took over, UCLA was called for a 15-yard facemask penalty on the first play of the drive. Following a one-yard pass and a two-yard run, Mikey Keene’s third down pass went incomplete and the Bruins took over on their own 38-yard line.
In typical UCLA fashion, the offense got down into the red zone and stalled on the Fresno State four. Enter Mateen Bhaghani for a 23-yard field goal to give UCLA a 3-0 lead.
The teams traded punts again, but after fielding Brody Richter’s punt at the Fresno State 5 and running it back seven yards, Jalen Moss fumbled and UCLA’s Jayden Marshall recovered.
Following a Garbers incompletion and a Keegan Jones run for no gain, Garbers was sacked for a ten yard loss. That brought out Bhaghani again and he made it 6-0, Bruins.
As we’ve seen so often this season, Bruin field goals don’t mean much in the big scheme and this time was no different. Fresno State got the ball back and marched 76 yards on 14 plays with Keene finding Raylen Sharpe for a seven-yard touchdown reception to put the Bulldogs up, 7-6.
The Bruins punted on each of their next two possessions and the Bulldogs punted once in between.
When Fresno State took over on their own ten-yard line following that second UCLA punt and a minute eighteen seconds left in the half, they moved down the field quick enough and far enough for Dylan Lynch to try a 48-yard field goal on first down with four seconds left. It was good and the Bulldogs led 10-6 at the half.
Fresno State got the ball to start the second half but went three-and-out, giving the Bruins the ball with good field position on their own 44.
UCLA actually moved the ball efficiently on their first drive of the second half. TJ Harden gained seven yards on first down. Ethan Garbers connected on a pair of consecutive passes, first to Kwazi Gilmer for nine yards and then to Moliki Matavao for 35, giving the Bruins a first down on the Bulldog 5-yard line. This time, the offense didn’t stall in the red zone and TJ Harden found the end zone on the first down play for five-yard TD run. That put the Bruins up 13-10 and, while no one knew it at the time, UCLA would be up for good.
And it would be the last anyone would see of TJ Harden in this game. He left the game in favor of seldom-used running back Anthony Frias II, who until this point, had carried just twice all season.
For the next 19 minutes of the game, the teams would go back and forth with nothing to show for it. After Fresno State’s first punt of the second half, UCLA actually pieced together a nice drive, moving all the way down to the Bulldog 9-yard line. On fourth-and-one, DeShaun Foster decided that he wanted more than three points but Garbers pass to fullback Leo Kamp fell incomplete and the Bruins turned it over on downs. It was a shame. It was, arguably, one of the most creative play calls UCLA had all season, and it was certainly the least Chip Kelly play call on fourth down we’ve seen this year.
The teams traded punts again on the next three drives. After Fresno State’s second punt of that series, the Bruins took over on their own 22 with 7:50 to go.
The UCLA offense took their time. They slowly moved down the field and, eventually, found themselves with a first-and-goal on the Bulldog four. But UCLA has proven time and again this season that being in the red zone doesn’t mean much. Heck, we saw that earlier in this game already.
This time was different.
After channeling their inner Chip Kelly, Foster and Eric Bienemy called Frias number on first down for a one-yard gain. Then, they did it again on second down, also for a one-yard gain. On third-and-goal, as if to show neither is Chip, they called a pass play. Garbers found J. Michael Sturdivant in the back of the end zone for a two-yard touchdown pass to put the Bruins up 20-10.
You might think that the game was over, but, of course, it wasn’t. The Bulldogs got it back with 1:38 to go and they moved downfield both quickly and efficiently. Soon, they were on the Bruin 24-yard line. After an incomplete pass from Keene on first down, Lynch came in and nailed a second down field goal attempt with 31 seconds left on the clock to close it to 20-13, Bruins.
That meant that the game would come down to an onside kick.
Lynch’s kick went out of bounds, giving the Bruins the ball at the Fresno State 47. That allowed Garbers to go into Victory formation to take a knee and seal the win.
Garbers finished the day going 26 of 40 for 289 yards and a touchdown while Frias carried 13 times for 43 yards. Harden carried just four times for 28 yards and Keegan Jones carried seven times for just eight yards.
UCLA now heads into the off-season with lots of question marks. How will recruiting go? Which coaches will be back? Should Eric Bienemy be kept? I will look at that last question tomorrow. But there are definitely more questions than answers about this program right now.
But, for now, the season has mercifully concluded with a Bruin win.
Go Bruins!
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UCLA sitting with the #50 recruiting class in the country near the end of NSD.
We gotta break this notion that Foster is a good recruiter because the results have not been there, and given how poor the NIL fundraising for football has been (where Foster has a role in selling the program) it seems from the outside that this continues to be doomed.
Don’t forget ND beating USC