Piscataway N.J. — UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers finally ignited the Bruins’ offense, leading them to their first Big Ten win.
Garbers set career highs with four touchdown passes, 383 passing yards, and a 49-yard rushing touchdown on Saturday at SHI stadium, as UCLA ended a five-game losing streak with a 35-32 victory over Rutgers.
Garbers completed 32 of 38 passes and threw touchdowns to Logan Loya (5 yards), T.J. Harden (22 yards), Keegan Jones (67 yards), and Jalen Berger (9 yards), a New Jersey native. UCLA (2-5, 1-4 Big Ten) handed Rutgers (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten) its third consecutive loss.
“Nothing beats getting that first Big Ten win,” Garbers said. “The stats don’t matter as much as seeing my teammates happy and knowing we’ll have a great five-hour flight home. That’s what counts.”
Before this game, UCLA was the only FBS team yet to score 20 points in a game this season. That streak ended by halftime as the Bruins led 21-10. Garbers threw two touchdown passes and broke free for a long run as coach DeShaun Foster’s team, under offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, finally clicked.
UCLA, which totaled a season-high 478 yards, avoided what would have been its first six-game losing streak since the 2017-2018 seasons.
Rutgers made it close when Kyle Monangai, last year’s conference rushing champion, scored his third touchdown to cut UCLA’s lead to 35-32. However, Grant Gray recovered the onside kick, allowing UCLA to run out the clock. Gray even returned the kick about 50 yards for an apparent touchdown, but it was negated by a teammate’s fair catch signal.
“The fourth quarter didn’t go as planned, but the first half was solid,” Foster said. “I’m really happy for Ethan. He made great reads and managed the tempo.”
Rutgers had closed the gap to 21-19 in the third quarter after a touchdown and a Jai Patel field goal. However, Garbers quickly responded with a short pass to Jones, who ran down the Rutgers sideline untouched for a 67-yard touchdown. It was UCLA’s longest pass play of the season and kept Rutgers at bay until the final minutes.
“With someone like Keegan Jones, a simple pass can turn into a huge gain,” Garbers said. “Today, he turned it into a touchdown.”
Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis had his best performance in weeks, completing 18 of 30 passes for 287 yards and scoring on a 1-yard sneak. Monangai rushed for 106 yards and scored on runs of 6, 5, and 1 yard. Patel added two field goals.
“I’m not going to stand here and say the sky is falling,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “We did a lot of good things today, but we didn’t play well enough to win.
Up Next:
UCLA: Has a bye next week and returns to action at Nebraska on Nov. 2.
Rutgers: At Southern Cal on Friday night.
