PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Ethan Garbers ran to the northwest corner of SHI Stadium, where a small but jubilant contingent of UCLA fans were celebrating the Bruins’ first Big Ten football victory 35-32 on Saturday over Rutgers.
Garbers scanned the section for his parents and couldn’t find them, but he knew there would be time to connect with his family later. He returned to his teammates, who had one man on their mind above all.
“I was just sharing it with my teammates and with Coach Foster because, I mean, this win was definitely for him,” Garbers said of first-year coach DeShaun Foster. “We just love playing for that guy. And it’s just finally good to see that all our hard work come to (fruition), and yeah, it’s just great.”
Foster’s inaugural season as head coach of his alma mater has been a trying one. Chip Kelly departed for the offensive coordinator position at Ohio State months before the Bruins made the jump into the stacked Big Ten Conference. Foster, though a UCLA Athletics Hall of Famer with years of experience on the staff, had no prior head-coaching experience.
The Bruins were picked to finish 15th out of 18 in the conference in the preseason media poll and struggled out of the gate, needing a fourth-quarter rally to beat Hawai’i before losing five games in a row.
Foster’s players have stuck by him through the adversity, and they credited him first and foremost after Saturday’s win.
Bryan Addison, who made a key fourth-quarter interception, was asked for his favorite part of the celebration in the locker room.
“Just seeing the smile on Coach Foster’s face,” Addison said. “He does a lot for us, so for me, it was just seeing how happy he was for the team and to also just be a part of this big win in the Big Ten.”
The soft-spoken Foster declined to make the win about him, instead revealing a new goal that will be a challenge for the 2-5 Bruins.
“It’s more about the guys,” Foster said. “So I’m excited to get a Big Ten win, but we’ve got a few more games and I would like to get bowl-eligible, so we’re going to continue to play and hopefully we can get there.”
Onside kick shenanigans
Rutgers clawed back within three points in the final two minutes of the game and needed to recover an onside kick to continue its long-shot comeback.
UCLA wide receiver Grant Gray made a leaping catch on the bounce – then saw a seam and decided to sprint for the end zone. He protected the ball from a pursuing defender and scored what would have been the Bruins’ sixth touchdown in unlikely fashion.
But the most interesting play of the game did not stand. Officials reviewed the play to confirm that UCLA teammate Logan Loya, standing behind the front line of the hands team, made a valid fair-catch signal. Gray’s touchdown – which would have been the first of his career – was overruled.
As Foster pointed out postgame, that outcome was actually much preferred.
“No,” Foster said when asked if he’d have encouraged the return, “because I would have took the knee so then the defense doesn’t have to go back out and play, you know, so it was huge that Logan did fair-catch that and it got called back.
“We didn’t want to put our defense back on the field and they have to play more when we can end the game offensively. We just wanted to get to under two minutes and then we knew we’d have the victory.”
Stellar Schwesinger
Junior linebacker Carson Schwesinger led the Bruins with 10 tackles – his fifth consecutive game in double figures.
Schwesinger was tops in the Big Ten with 62 tackles entering the week and added to that total, anchoring the Bruins’ defense and continuing a breakout season.
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Addison said he has a special nickname for the unit’s burgeoning leader.
“I call him Captain America,” Addison said. “He’s just one of those guys who does everything right, who does everything for the team, and then he comes out here on Saturdays and plays even better.
“It starts in practice on Mondays. You kind of can just see how he plays and how he flies to the ball starting on Mondays. I kind of call him Captain America because he kind of does everything for our team. He’s just a true embodiment of a Bruin.”