UCLA mounts second-half comeback to beat Boise State Broncos 35-22

UCLA Bruins #4 Ethan Garbers (QB) was the MVP of the Starco Brands L.A. Bowl Game. Photo by Jerry Kelly/TGSportstv1.

INGLEWOOD, CA – The UCLA Bruins (8-5) roared back after a disappointing first half thanks to a quarterback change to beat Mountain West Conference champion the Boise State Broncos (8-6) 35-22 winning the third annual L.A. Bowl at Sofi Stadium. The win was the first bowl win of the Chip Kelly era.

Quarterback Ethan Garbers won L.A. Bowl MVP honors despite only playing the second half, in which he had 152 yards and two touchdowns passing. TJ Harden also added two touchdowns and 105 yards rushing for the Bruins. CJ Tiller had 109 yards with no touchdowns and an interception for the Broncos in his first career start.

The matchup featured two programs seemingly headed in different directions. Boise State fired their head coach last month and rebounded winning their final three games including the Mountain West championship. They rewarded their interim coach Spencer Danielson promoting him to full-time head coach for next season. Meanwhile, UCLA’s Chip Kelly had been facing a public backlash after losing three of his previous four games falling to 34-34 in his sixth season with the Bruins. 

Despite coming into their final Pac-12 game at seven-point favorites against a severely depleted Bronco squad, the Bruins found themselves facing a two-score deficit at halftime.

On their opening drive, Boise State’s vaunted run game struggled to move the ball on the ground against a stout Bruin run defense, which kept all four Broncos rushes under three yards. However, a costly roughing-the-passer penalty on UCLA advanced the ball into Bruin territory. The Broncos turned the penalty into points as kicker Jonah Dalmas drilled a field goal midway through the first quarter to give the Broncos an early 3-0 lead.

On the Bronco's next possession, senior George Holani turned a short catch-and-run play into a 45-yard run. The shifty running back made three Bruin defenders miss tackles as he changed directions bolting down the field, electrifying the Sofi Stadium crown. The drive ended in a 23-yard field goal for Dalmas for the 6-0 lead.

Holani, a Los Angeles native had over 40 friends and family in the stands tonight to watch him play his final collegiate game today, ironically on his birthday.

“The legacy that I’ve left here is leaving this place better than I found it and I believe that I’ve done that,” said Holani about his final game.

Holani led the Broncos in rushing and receiving with 138 yards on the ground with two rushing touchdowns along with 45 yards receiving.

UCLA Bruins #81 Hudson Habermehl (TE) 1-yard touchdown catch in the back of the endzone. Photo by Jerry Kelly/TGSportstv1

Following the Boise State score, Bruin quarterback Collin Schlee took matters into his own hands with a blazing 50-yard run up the sideline to put his team in the red zone. A few plays later he drew the defense in on a scramble before flipping a one-yard pass to a wide-open Hudson Habermehl to give UCLA its first lead of the game 7-6.

It was a huge confidence boost for a Bruin team that has a 58-percent scoring rate in the Red Zone, which was dead last in college football in 133rd place.

Ashton Jeanty opened up the second quarter for Boise State stiff-arming his way to a 30-yard run that left a pair of Bruin defenders on the ground. His run was part of a 10-play drive resulting in Dalmas drilling his third field goal as Boise State reclaimed the lead 9-7.

Boise State Broncos #24 George Holani (RB) 1-yard touchdown run against the UCLA Bruins. Photo by Jerry Kelly/TGSportstv1.

Following a quick three-and-out by UCLA, the Bruin defense was battered by the Broncos who ran on eight of the next nine plays, pounding the ball 52-yards on the drive. The worn-down UCLA defensive line was no match for Boise State’s Clydesdale package, with the Broncos putting their biggest defensive linemen on offense allowing Holani to walk in relatively untouched for a one-yard touchdown. The touchdown was the second of the game for Holani giving Boise State a 16-7 lead going into halftime.

The Broncos scored on all of their offensive possessions of the first half, a surprising blow against the Bruins' eleventh-ranked defense.

With UCLA struggling on both sides of the ball, usually, a fiery halftime speech from a coach would inject some life into the team but that was not the case here.

“This is a player-led team so we had our captains step up, give a speech and that’s all we needed to kick our butts and get into the right mindset,” said linebacker Darius Muasau who spearheaded the Bruin defense with 11 tackles.

“We were confident in the locker room at halftime that everything that happened in the first half, it was us,” said Kelly. “Missed tackles on defense and penalties on the offensive side of the ball. We felt like if we could clean that up, we would be poised to break out in the second half and that’s what happened.”

The Bruins defense opened up the second half forcing a quick three-and-out and forcing the Boise State’s first punt of the game.

On the ensuing UCLA drive, Schlee ran for 44 yards on a play-action-fake but ended concussed after he was tackled. This ushered in an injured Ethan Garbers who had been sitting out following an injury sustained in their 33-7 losing their last game. 

“Talking to him pre-game he didn’t feel he was 100 percent and couldn’t go,” said Chip Kelly. “He said ‘I think you need to go with Collin but I’m ready to be a backup if you need me to go’ so when Collin went down, I asked him if he was ready to go and he was.”

Despite being banged up Garbers tossed a 4-yard touchdown to Ryan Cragun a few plays later as UCLA reclaimed the lead 21-16. 

UCLA Bruins #25 TJ Harden (RB) rushed for two touchdowns and 105 yards against Boise State. Photo by Jerry Kelly/TGSportstv1.

After forcing another Boise State punt, TJ Harden ran for a 14-yard touchdown to extend the Bruins lead 28-16. Playing through injury, Garber completed his first eight passes in the quarter as the Bruins put up 21 unanswered points in the third quarter shutout.

“I looked out there and the team needed me, that’s my biggest priority,” said Garbers. “I’ll sacrifice my body for this team. We put blood, sweat, and tears into it so at the end of the day it was an easy call.”

Garber kept the momentum going in the fourth quarter with another touchdown hitting J. Michael Strudivant with a 40-yard bomb giving the Bruins a 35-16 lead with a little over six minutes left in the game.

With Boise State’s offense on life support a glimmer of hope arose on a third-and-one when Houlani burst straight through the gut of the defensive line to score a 66-yard touchdown run. The score ended the Bruins with 28 unanswered points cutting the lead to 35-22 with 5:08 remaining.

 Boise State’s defense let them down unable to stop the Bruins from picking up a pair of first downs to end the game.

 “This group won eight-plus games three years in a row, it’s the second time it’s happened since 1988 at UCLA so that’s what I’m really proud of,” said Kelly after the game. “Being home in L.A. was awesome and the fact we could play in SoFi was really, really special.”