UCLA football completes comeback against Boise State for first bowl win since 2015

LOS ANGELES — UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers might not have been feeling 100% healthy heading into Saturday’s LA Bowl against Boise State, but he had no hesitation stepping onto the field when starting quarterback Collin Schlee exited the game due to injury.

What followed was a furious comeback at SoFi Stadium that included a 21-point third quarter and a 35-22 win over the Broncos (8-6) and the Bruins’ first bowl game win since 2015.

“When I looked out there and the team needed me, that’s my biggest priority,” Garbers told reporters after the game. “I sacrifice my body for the team, for these guys. We put blood, sweat, and tears into it. And at the end of the day, it’s all for them.”

UCLA (8-5) came back from a nine-point halftime deficit to win the game. Garbers was named the game’s offensive MVP and announced at the postgame press conference that he plans to return to UCLA next season.

Schlee sprinted down the sideline for a 44-yard run early in the third quarter on the play on which he was injured. He looked dazed, but had movement in his extremities and was able to walk off the field with assistance.

Garbers stepped in made back-to-back passes to Kyle Ford, the latter of which was good for a five-yard touchdown. He ended up completing 9 of 12 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bruins were able to score on their next two drives. J.Michael Sturdivant hauled in a 39-yard pass from Garbers for a first down and three plays later, TJ Harden (105 rushing yards) scored on a one-yard run to give UCLA a 21-16 advantage.

Garbers hit Sturdivant with another long pass, this one of 41 yards, for a first down on the next drive, and Harden finished the scoring effort off with a 14-yard run. The Bruins went 70 yards in three plays for the touchdown. Garbers and Sturdivant teamed up for one final 40-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Sturdivant logged a career-high 142 receiving yards, which was also the most in a single game out of all UCLA players this season.

“That’s just all the work we’ve put in since he got here last January,” Garbers said. “At that point when we were out there, it’s just muscle memory and we’ve done it so many times. We just we called it and we got the right look and we executed.”

Boise State ended its first two drives of the game with field goals by Jonah Dalmas, giving the Broncos an early 6-0 lead over the Bruins with 4:06 left in the first quarter.

Boise State quarterback CJ Tiller, a Rancho Cucamonga High School product, went 12-for-21 passing for 117 yards in his collegiate debut.

UCLA squeezed in a touchdown with 48 seconds left in the opening frame. Collin Schlee appeared to run out of options, bolt up the middle, then shovel a pass to Hudson Habermehl who was waiting unguarded in the end zone. Habermehl told media earlier in the week that he intends to return to UCLA next season.

Dalmas hit a 33-yard field goal a minute into the second quarter and Boise State scored its first touchdown of he evening late in the frame. The Broncos used a series of short runs and barely converted on fourth down before George Holani punched it in from one yard out.

It was the fourth rushing touchdown that the UCLA defense gave up this year. Boise State’s 215 rushing yards were the most given up all season by a defense without edge rusher Laiatu Latu, who opted out of the bowl game.

“The first half, we weren’t really playing to the standard we set for ourselves,” linebacker Darius Muasau, the game’s defensive MVP, said. “So going into the locker room, we had a captain step up, give a little speech, and that’s all we needed to kick our butts.”

The Bruins move to 2-0 all time against Boise State after previously beating the Broncos in 1999 at the Rose Bowl.

The bowl game win closes out the season for UCLA, which now turns its attention to finding a new defensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and tight ends coach as it readies for the move to the Big 10 conference.

For the departing players, however, the season-ending win is just how they want to remember UCLA football.

“I love this game with all I got,” Muasau said. “I wouldn’t want to end it with any other team than the UCLA Bruins. We trust one another and we love one another so much and that’s how we play.”

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UCLA football completes comeback against Boise State for first bowl win since 2015 – Daily News

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