LOS ANGELES — Rain fell on Spieker Field as UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers walked off the field alone. Not even a gold-hued helmet was in hand.
Head coach DeShaun Foster called a quarterback sneak, sending Garbers into the tightly-packed USC defense with five minutes left in the game. The Bruins (6-5 overall, 4-5 Big Ten) needed to continue the drive if they wanted to hang on to the hope of winning Saturday’s rivalry game, but a whistle was blown seemingly before Garbers had completed his forward progress.
“That was the first time I’ve seen a quarterback sneak get called dead,” Foster told reporters after the game. “Everybody gets to get a push and continue to push and to continue to push and continue to push. And they blew the whistle.”
Garbers had continued to push all throughout the season regardless of game outcomes or what football might possibly hold for him after his college career. Coaches and players have cited him as a selfless leader — a description that held true even in a 19-13 loss to USC (4-7, 3-6).
The redshirt senior completed 20-of-29 passes for 265 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions in the game and did so with an offensive line that featured a fourth-string left tackle who was starting due to multiple injuries on the line.
UCLA allowed three sacks in the game and Garbers bounced back every time. He’d been sacked many times this season as the offensive line was reconfigured again and again, but those weren’t his only moments of toughness.
A pass had deflected off a player in the second quarter and bounced into USC linebacker Mason Cobb’s hands. Garbers ran into the action and dropped his shoulder, hitting Cobb square in the back.
“The ball got tipped up in there,” Garbers said. “He was going for it. I didn’t want them to get the ball back, so hit him as hard as I could.”
J.Michael Sturdivant had a team-high 117 yards in the game, catching three passes for over 20 yards. The connection between Garbers and Sturdivant not only stretched the field but also gave the 59,473 people in attendance a few moments of entertainment in an otherwise offensively stale game.
UCLA’s offense hurt itself with penalties and was given six offensive penalties for a total loss of 70 yards.
“Defense played a great game and was able to stop them plenty of times, held them to a lot of field goals,” Foster said. “Offensively, they just didn’t do their part in the game. We’re having problems in the red zone, in certain situations, that we’re just getting false starts or are just not able to make a play.”
Three unsportsmanlike penalties were handed to the Bruins after players exchanged words at the end of the first half. Garbers was one of the first players in the locker room, avoiding the chaos.
“There was a lot of jawing going on,” Foster said. “That happens in this game. And in that situation, I just wish that you could stop some stuff earlier in the game and when people are talking to sidelines and stuff like that. It might not escalate to that point.”
Garbers was one of the first players to learn and comprehend offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s new playbook this season, yet is also known to crack jokes during team meetings that loosen up his teammates.
When the moment was right, the quarterback pointed downfield during games in celebratory fashion whenever a first down was secured.
He has one final ride with UCLA on Saturday when Fresno State comes to Rose Bowl Stadium and leaves his last rivalry game without a win and with candid thoughts:
“It sucks,” he said. “It really sucks.”
