UCLA nearly blows 20-point lead before beating Nebraska

Its offense humming and its defense holding up on drives in which it didn’t commit an inexcusable penalty, UCLA looked like it might roll to a convincing road victory midway through the third quarter Saturday.

With quarterback Ethan Garbers practically mimicking his career-best performance from his last game, the Bruins held a 20-point lead over Nebraska. It would have been easy to start pondering how to spend the flight home.

Then something unforeseen rolled into Memorial Stadium: drama.

Nebraska freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, who made poor decisions for most of the afternoon, fired a touchdown pass. The Cornhuskers then shrugged off a fourth-down sack in the red zone and an injury to Raiola to score another touchdown that shaved their deficit to seven points. They got the ball back at their own 19-yard line with 2 minutes 22 seconds left with a chance to tie the score or take the lead.

Nebraska eventually reached UCLA’s 39-yard line when backup quarterback Heinrich Haarberg fired a deep pass. As Cornhuskers receiver Jacory Barney Jr. and Bruins safety Bryan Addison jostled for the ball, it bounced off Barney’s knee and into the hands of UCLA cornerback Kaylin Moore for an interception with 29 seconds left.

Collapse averted. Game over.

Moore sprinted down the field of celebration of his game-saving play that gave UCLA an unexpectedly breathless 27-20 victory.

“A huge play for Kaylin,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said. “That was actually his first interception, it was just good that it came in this type of situation for us. We’re fired up for him.”

UCLA’s second consecutive triumph sustained its flickering bowl hopes and continued its seasonlong trend of playing better on the road, where the Bruins (3-5 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) have notched all their victories.

This one came with a giant sigh of relief.

Nebraska pulled to within 27-20 with 3:57 left after Dante Dowdell leaped over defenders for a one-yard touchdown. The score might have pulled the Cornhuskers into a tie had UCLA not made a big stop earlier in the fourth quarter.

With Nebraska facing fourth and goal from the five, Bruins linebacker Carson Schwesinger sacked Raiola for a 10-yard loss. But UCLA could not pick up a first down on its next drive and the Cornhuskers got the ball back, eventually scoring for a third consecutive time on a drive in which a Bruins defender was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. The offender this time was defensive tackle Sitiveni Havili Kaufusi, following identical penalties by linebackers Ale Kaho and Oluwafemi Oladejo.

“It’s straight discipline,” Foster said. “Guys have to be disciplined.”

Continuing his bid to end his college career on a roll, Garbers completed 17 of 25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns.

“Ethan’s a top-tier quarterback if we can just keep him up,” Foster said, “and that’s one thing our O-line has been doing, they’ve been protecting him well.”

He was particularly strong in the game’s early going.

Garbers completed his first five passes, converting a pair of third downs along the way, to help the Bruins get a first and goal at the Nebraska eight. But a short run, an incompletion and a Garbers scramble for one yard on third down forced UCLA to settle for Mateen Bhaghani’s 25-yard field goal.

There would be no compromising the next time the Bruins got the ball. Garbers moved his team efficiently down the field once again, firing a completion to J.Michael Sturdivant in double coverage to convert a third down. The drive ended with Garbers throwing a 10-yard screen pass to running back Jalen Berger for a touchdown.

UCLA led 10-0 and it looked like the Bruins might be on the way to a blowout when they appeared to hold Nebraska to a second consecutive three-and-out series. But as the boos from the sellout crowd of 87,453 serenaded the Cornhuskers, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play on Oladejo for taunting gave Nebraska a first down.

The Cornhuskers (5-4, 2-4) made the most of the opportunity, Raiola firing a 40-yard pass for his first completion and Nebraska eventually scoring on Dowdell’s four-yard touchdown run to make it 10-7.

Garbers then emulated another part of his success against Rutgers when he escaped pressure near the line of scrimmage and eluded a defender on a 57-yard run. Later, facing a fourth and one at Nebraska’s eight-yard line, the Bruins lined up to go for it before Nebraska called a timeout. Then UCLA called a timeout and kicked a 26-yard field goal to forge a 13-7 lead.

The lead would grow considerably before the Bruins could finally exhale thanks to their defense.

“We didn’t start the way we wanted to,” Garbers said, “but we’re going to finish the way we want to.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.