Saturday night’s 2024 Victory Bell edition, a crushing 19-13 loss at the hands of the archrival Trojans, certainly wasn’t a game for the ages, yet for this resilient, gutty, and unified UCLA Bruins bunch, piercingly painful nonetheless. While there were 117 total plays in the game and UCLA managed to outgain USC 376-351 in total yards, outrush the Trojans 111-91, and also win the time of possession battle, the game was ultimately decided in exactly nine minutes. The final nine minutes
As the game clock struck 9:00 to go in the 4th quarter, Ethan Garbers had just connected with J. Michael Sturdivant for their third 25+ yard deep connection of the half, getting the Bruins out from their 1-yard line to UCLA’s 26. To that point, the Bruins had reeled off 10 straight points in the second half to take a poetic (see 2006 Victory Bell) 13-9 lead epitomized by a Garbers-Sturdivant 29-yard back shoulder fade that set up the Bruins-only touchdown: a beautiful 10-yard inside screen pass to Moliki Matavao, immediately preceded with a 45-yard play-action deep slant from Garbers to Sturdivant inside the Trojan 10 that led to the subsequent field goal.
To that point, the Bruins’ defense was ‘bend but don’t break,’ holding USC to three field goals despite the Men of Troy reaching 1st & Goal from at or inside the 5-yard line on each possession, along with being repeatedly resilient to short Trojan fields. As the Bruins held the ball and a four-point lead with exactly 540 seconds left to play, ESPN gave UCLA a 74% chance to win the game at that moment.
And that’s where it fell apart from there, as UCLA’s final 11 offensive plays spanned three possessions and netted just seven total yards while getting outscored 10-0.
We shouldn’t be surprised when unpacking what went catastrophically wrong, because the root causes were behaviors that have plagued this 2024 Bruins edition all season long.
UCLA Bruins Offensive Line Wilted
Two plays after the last of Garbers’ three massive completions to Sturdivant, en route to the latter’s 5 reception 117-yard performance, the senior signal caller was sacked by Easton Mascarenas-Arnold. On the Bruins’ next possession, they failed to get one yard on two successive plays, a power run from Keegan Jones on 3rd & 1 followed by a Garbers sneak on 4th & 1.
Finally, on the Bruins’ last-gasp possession, Garbers was hurried and hit by Trojan Sam Greene as the ball fluttered away on 4th & 10, essentially ending the game. An offensive line that was struggling with quality of talent and injury decimation, unfortunately reverted to the version of itself in the season’s first half, namely, one of the worst units in all of Power Four college football.
Jumpy Garbers
As was the case all year, related to the offensive line’s ineptitude was Garbers getting habitually unsettled, and nowhere was that more epitomized than the Bruins final possession. Despite getting stopped on the previous two aforementioned possessions and giving up consecutive USC scores, the Bruins found themselves with the ball down 19-13 and 2:09 to play.
Garbers had the ball at the end of the game 75 yards from crafting an immortal Bruin legacy…becoming just the 4th UCLA quarterback to beat USC in back-to-seasons over the past 80 years. However, given the porous play of the line, Garbers went 0/4 on that drive after going 11/11 to start the second half. Most balls weren’t close to their targets as he was forced out of the pocket flustered and dazed. The story of this forgotten team will be how good Garbers was when given time, unfortunately, that requisite time was few and far between throughout this 12-game stanza.
Gashed Secondary
After the Bruins gave the Trojans yet another short field courtesy of a shanked Brody Richter 25-yard punt, USC head coach Lincoln Riley dialed up a trick play with wide receiver Makai Lemon throwing a gorgeous 39-yard bomb to a wide-open Kyron Hudson that ultimately broke the game in the Trojans favor, never to be relinquished again.
The Bruins’ secondary once again lost gap containment in a coverage bust that left Hudson all alone inside the UCLA 15-yard line as he subsequently generated another 10 yards after the catch. Even in UCLA’s wins over Rutgers, Nebraska, and Iowa, the Bruins were systemically susceptible to coverage lapses, and those mental mistakes reared their ugly head once again in the most inopportune of times.
The Bruins now wrap up their season hosting Fresno State as DeShaun Foster has work cut out for himself heading into year two without the recruiting, development, or momentum benefit of a bowl game and with a mass exodus of key contributors highlighted by Jay Toia, Femi Oladejo, Kain Medrano, Logan Loya, Matavao and Garbers. Hopefully, these Bruins can mentally rally one last time and close the season right…a tall order given the heartbreak of 2024’s self-realization.