UCLA no longer bowl eligible after heartbreak loss to USC

PASADENA, Calif; -- The UCLA Bruins are no longer bowl eligible after suffering a 19-13 loss to their Los Angeles cross-town rival, USC Saturday night at the Rose Bowl.

After taking a 10-9 lead in the third quarter and capitalizing with a field goal later on, the Bruins gave up a go-ahead touchdown touchdown pass by USC quarterback Jayden Maiava to Ja'Kobi Lane. USC later extended their drive with a 30-yard field goal before the two-minute warning.

Maiava's heroics came on a broken play in the middle of the fourth quarter. As he was scrambling around the pocket, he turned left to find Lane open on a four-yard touchdown reception to give them the lead.

USC extended their lead in the all-time series against UCLA to 51-34-7 following Saturday's game. It also extended a 10-year losing streak the Bruins have against the Trojans when playing them at home. 

"We really wanted this one," Bruins linebacker Kain Medrano said. "I know for us seniors to keep the (victory bell) at home to break that streak of (losing at the Rose Bowl) that was kind of a big thing for us. So to not get that done it sucks."

On the following drive, the Bruins were looking to regain the lead but fell short after Ethan Garbers was marked short on a quarterback sneak on fourth and one.

“That was the first time I’ve seen a quarterback sneak get called dead," Bruins coach Deshaun Foster said. "They usually let that play roll. They stopped it. They blew the whistle. Who knows where we would have ended up."

Following Garbers sneak, USC was able to waste three minutes of time by ending their next drive with a 30-yard field goal, forcing UCLA to score a touchdown if they wanted to win the game. 

The Bruins would answer back to USC by starting their next drive on their 25-yard line. Garbers would drop back to pass four times in a row and threw an incompletion each time to give USC the ball back with zero timeouts.

"It was hard to find a rhythm." Garbers said.

As Deshaun Foster is one week away from finishing his first season as head coach of UCLA, the Bruins will be ineligible to play in a bowl game following the regular season, ending their season next week when they host Fresno State.

Throughout the night, UCLA's defense stepped up in critical moments throughout the game to keep themselves in it. Maiava was 0-6 in goal-line situations before his touchdown to Lane. The first nine points by USC were all scored on field goal attempts.

"I thought our secondary played amazing. Making them contest for jump balls down there in the endzone and you know we're coming out on top," Medrano said. "It propelled us for momentum and energy to go in. Just knowing that on those third downs that they can go up there and play great pass defense."

For UCLA, it was a similar tale. The Bruins offense came out firing on all cylinders Friday night as Garbers had two straight first downs to wide receiver Titus Mokia-Atimalala.

While the Bruins were looking to capitalize on their opening drive with a touchdown, they were quickly put to a halt as Garbers threw an incompletion on third down while taking a big hit as he threw the ball. Kicker Mateen Bhaghani came in and nailed a 51-yard field goal to give the Bruins an early 3-0 lead.

On the next drive, UCLA's defense had their first test of the night following a 64-yard reception by Makai Lemon. As the Trojans were on the goal line, Maiava tried to run the ball by himself once but was met by Carson Schwesinger and was stopped. He would then drop back to pass twice but threw two straight incompletions forcing USC to kick a 19-yard field goal.

UCLA had the night's first touchdown in the third quarter from a 10-yard tight end screen pass to tight end Moliki Matavao. Prior to his reception, J'Michael Sturdivant got the Bruins offense going following a 29-yard reception.

Sturdivant was UCLA's leading receiver having five receptions for 117 yards. Running back T.J. Harden had 14 carries for 98 yards, his second-highest rushing game this season.

The Bruins extended their lead after Matavao's touchdown following a 29-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

While UCLA's defense would keep them in the game throughout the night, USC's offense dialed up a glimpse of hope by executing a wide receiver pass where Lemon threw the ball to Kyron Hudson for a 39-yard reception that put them four yards from the endzone. Lane would score his touchdown on the next play to put USC ahead for the rest of the night.

 "It’s just frustrating. I wish that we could have come out on top. I felt like we earned the right to win that game." Foster said. "We let one slip through our hands. All of these losses have come to pretty much us just letting it slip through our hands."