Needing one more win to become bowl eligible and with nothing left on Washington’s dance card except No. 1 Oregon, I’m not surprised that the Huskies came out and played with the intensity needed to win this one. With six sacks, nine tackles for loss, and six pass disruptions the UCLA offense was pretty well held in check, especially on the ground where they were only able to muster 52 yards on 33 carries without ever getting into the end zone. Senior QB Ethan Garbers had a decent game for the Bruins and connected on just over 60% of his passes for 267 yards, 2 TD’s and no interceptions which is right at the averages he had over the four prior games coming in.
The game was slow to get going with the Bruins having to punt their first three possessions, two of those three-and-outs. After punting twice themselves the Huskies benefited from a poor UCLA punt of just seventeen yards on their third possession and found themselves starting their drive from the Bruin 36 yard line. One Will Rogers’ pass and two Jonah Coleman runs later it was 7-0 Washington late into the first quarter. UCLA followed up with an 11 play 65 yard drive all the way down to the Husky 10 yard line where they bogged down and settled for a Mateen Bhaghani 28 yard field goal to close the gap at 7-3 early in the 2nd Qtr. After forcing Washington to punt on their next possession and working all the way down to the Husky 17 yard line, Garbers fumbled and turned the ball back over during a sack. Nine plays and 69 yards later Washington was back in the end zone on an 8 yard TD pass from Rogers to Keleki Latu to go up 14-3 with just under four minutes left in the half. With a combination of Ethan Garbers runs and pass completions as well as a pass interference call the Bruins were able close the gap with a TD pass to Kwazi Gilmer to make it 14-10 at the break.
UCLA got even closer at the beginning of the second half after intercepting a Will Rogers’ pass on Washington’s third play of their opening possession. Although the Huskies defense dug in and didn’t allow the TD, UCLA did get within a point on a Mateen Bhaghani 40 yard field goal to make it 14-13. With Rogers getting picked off again on the Huskies second possession of the half UCLA had great field position to start a drive and take the lead. But after a completion from Garbers to Jack Pedersen down at the Washington 27 yard line he fumbled the ball and the Huskies got it back. Eleven plays and 57 yards later the Huskies extended that narrow lead to 17-13 on a Grady Gross 41 yard field goal with just over three minutes left in the 3rd Qtr. Early in the 4th Qtr UCLA’s Mateer Bhaghani would miss from 44 yards out and the Huskies would extend their lead to 24-13 on their next possession, an 8 play 74 yard drive and TD pass from back-up Demond Williams Jr. to Decker DeGraaf. And then to 31-13 with under two minutes left on a Jonah Coleman TD run after forcing the Bruins to turn the ball over on downs. Garbers would connect once more in the end zone for UCLA with under 10 seconds left to make it 31-19 after a failed two-point conversion but it was too little too late.
For Washington, Senior QB Will Rogers and Freshman Demond Williams Jr. combined on 20-of-29 for 182 yards, 2 TD’s, and 2 picks—both belonging to Rogers. On the ground, Junior RB Jonah Coleman did the heavy lifting with 95 of the team’s 124 rushing yards as well as both of their TD’s. The two fumbles that UCLA lost as well as two really bad punts that averaged just 21 yards really exacerbated a field position disadvantage that affected the Bruins for most of the game. This one could have been a lot closer and with only No. 1 Oregon left to play in the regular season, Washington was fortunate to win it and get bowl eligible at 6-5 overall. With just four wins overall, UCLA will have to win their last two games against USC—who needs one more win—and Fresno State. Washington gets a week off before hitting the road to Eugene to take on No. 1 Oregon.