As DeShaun Foster’s 1-5 UCLA Bruins head cross country to meet the 4-2 Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, it’s hard not to think of two things simultaneously. There’s of course the game at hand in anticipating how the Bruins front seven will match up against Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai, with his 739 yards rushing over six games, seven touchdowns, and 5.5 yards per carry. But there are also determining the larger existential question – whether this five-game losing streak is a scheduling anomaly for UCLA or a precursor of things to come in the DeShaun Foster era?
Has DeShaun Foster Painted Himself Into A Corner?
It’s hard not to have doubts, particularly if one goes down some pretty reasonable rabbit holes. It seems absolutely critical for Foster to reach a bowl game in year one given how much he’s tentatively been on his heels since that fairy tale-esque emotional opening press conference.
There was the infamous BIG-10 media day freeze that saw Las Vegas, in an unprecedented scenario, drop the Bruins’ projected win total by two full games. After that fateful introduction, there was the underwhelming Hawaii nail-biter opener where the UCLA Bruins were shut out at halftime, preceded by the Bruins’ longest losing streak in six years. Furthermore, the team’s failure to score 20 points in any game this season is also an early indictment of hiring Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator
Foster needs a bowl game to build his core with an additional 15-20 practices, enable a national platform for recruiting, and also restore confidence in a fanbase that’s dazed and confused about his ability to get the job done.
But that would require a seemingly miraculous 5-1 finish down the stretch and a remaining schedule that includes road trips to Nebraska and Washington in addition to Saturday’s New Jersey tilt.
Without such a monumental flurry, Foster faces the prospect of going into next year without an experiential foundation to build upon from a roster losing nine of its top 10 tacklers including his unquestioned three most physical defensive players in Kain Medrano, Jay Toia, and Femi Oladejo, it’s two best offensive linemen in Spencer Holstege and Josh Carlin, two of its top three running backs in Keegan Jones and Jalen Berger, it’s starting quarterback in Ethan Garbers, its most productive tight end in Moliki Matavao and its two most polished wide receivers in Logan Loya and J. Michael Sturdivant. All of whom are seniors, with the exception of Sturdivant, who will most certainly declare for the NFL draft.
Such a retooling of the roster without a decorated incoming recruiting class nor a NIL war chest yet mature enough to be serious movers and shakers in the transfer portal means next year is UCLA’s true rebuilding year. For a coach on only a three-year contract, it then requires 2026 to have almost unattainable expectations in making up for the presumed battle scars of years one and two. So, I ask, from an employment standpoint, is DeShaun Foster already a lame duck?
