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Dense fog hung over the Rose Bowl on Saturday night, adding to the gross-out factor of what just happened for the home team.
A punt stabbed at the worst possible moment. A solid defense fooled by a trick play. An offense that couldn’t gain a yard had a chance to win the game.
It was the most crushing loss of the season.
“It sucks,” UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers said after the The Bruins’ 19-13 loss to USC in their latest intercity rivalry game. “It really sucks.”
Read more: USC overcomes early mistakes to defeat rival UCLA and become bowl eligible
Garbers participated in two critical sequences that ensured UCLA (4-7 overall, 3-6 Big Ten) will finish the season with a losing record.
The first came on a failed fourth attempt. The second came when he suddenly couldn’t find any rhythm after completing all previous passes in the second half.
It left Bruins fans with an equally sickening feeling from previous close losses to Minnesota and Washington.
Here are five takeaways from a loss that will largely frame UCLA coach DeShaun Foster’s first season:
bad ending
It was the kind of moment that can forge a legacy.
With a chance to go 2-0 as a starter in the rivalry game while keeping the Victory Bell painted blue, Garbers stepped to the line of scrimmage at his own 25-yard line with 2:09 left and his team needed a touchdown to win. .
He had already thrown for 156 yards and a touchdown in the second half while completing all 11 of his passes.
The next four plays: incomplete, incomplete, incomplete, incomplete. Some of the pitches didn’t even come close to connecting with their targets.
“It’s just hard to find the rhythm,” Garbers said of his struggles in the final stretch.
UCLA’s offense gained 376 yards but couldn’t make plays in crucial moments. The Bruins converted just three of 11 third downs and were 0 for 3 on fourth downs.
The game film should be listed in the horror section for anyone associated with UCLA.
The longest yard
Having long expressed his belief in his team’s ability to gain a yard, Foster went for it on fourth-and-one at the UCLA 34-yard line with five minutes remaining and the Bruins trailing by three points.
Not the most imaginative play, Foster said it was his decision, and not offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s, to make a quarterback sneak play.
“I thought it was a good decision and every decision that’s made in certain situations, I’m making it,” Foster said.
Garbers was stopped for no gain, but both Foster and his quarterback said the play failed prematurely.
Said Foster: “That was the first time I saw a quarterback be declared dead, you know? They usually let that play run its course; “They stopped him, they blew the whistle, so who knows where we would have ended up.”
Garbers said: “I was looking at the scoreboard and thought I had beaten it. But I guess they ruin early progress. So, I can’t control that.”
Here’s one thing that’s indisputable: UCLA will need to strengthen its offensive line through the transfer portal to ensure it can gain a yard in similar situations next season.
Same old story
Almost every week, Foster has said he will fix his team’s disciplinary problems.
Then the next game comes and it’s more of the same on the field.
Saturday’s low point came at halftime, when UCLA wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer, safety Bryan Addison and an unspecified assistant coach were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct as both teams headed toward the locker room facing each other.
Foster said he was told the rampage was precipitated by a USC player hitting Gilmer, prompting him to retaliate. As a result of the penalties, UCLA was forced to kick from its own five-yard line to begin the third quarter.
The Bruins also aggravated themselves by giving up a 41-yard kickoff return on a late hit by Evan Thomas. It was just one of eight penalties they committed for 70 yards.
“That is why that is my first pillar; “I didn’t get it out of nowhere, it was my first pillar for a reason,” Foster said of the discipline. “I felt like that was something we were missing and still missing, so we’re going to keep pushing in the direction of the discipline and eventually it will be fixed.”
Lost opportunity
With a win over the Trojans, Foster wouldn’t have had to do anything compelling as far as the narrative of his first season goes.
He would have beaten his USC counterpart, Lincoln Riley, who has led several teams to the College Football Playoff and earns more than three times his salary.
He would have significantly improved his team’s name, image and image through fundraising efforts that will be instrumental in improving the talent of his roster.
Read more: Plaschke: USC rediscovers its best self as it dazzles in final minutes against UCLA
It would have given the hundreds of high school recruits who attended the game another reason to commit. (Kenneth Moore III, a wide receiver from St. Mary’s High in Stockton, actually committed to the Bruins before the game.)
More strategies will now be needed to sell recruits. A possible speech: come and help us finish these games.
“All of these losses have pretty much gotten out of hand,” Foster said. “You know, we have to find a way to finish games and, you know, keep coming after the half and play better, finish games. Let’s just put our stamp on the end.”
And now what?
Given what happened Saturday, there won’t be much at stake in UCLA’s season finale against Fresno State next weekend in the Rose Bowl.
The Bruins will look to send their seniors out as winners as they continue to show determination. A win over the Bulldogs (6-5) would help UCLA finish the season with four wins in its final six games.
“They continued to bounce back all season,” Foster said of his players, “so they’re going to continue to be resilient and continue to be the type of football players that I know them to be.”
A warning for the Bruins: The Bulldogs have won the last four games of the series.
A warning for Foster: Fresno State has been especially tough on UCLA’s new coaches, outplaying Chip Kelly, Rick Neuheisel and Karl Dorrell in each of their first years on the job in Westwood.
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.