El Paso, Texas – In a roller-coaster game at the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, UCLA scored a go-ahead touchdown with 34 seconds remaining, only to see Pittsburgh's Ben Sauls kick a game-winning 47-yard field goal with four seconds left to give the Panthers a 37-35 victory.
The Bruins (9-4) led 28-14 with 8:45 remaining in the third quarter after a pick six by Jaylin Davies, but Pitt (9-4) ran off 20 consecutive points, aided by two costly turnovers by the Bruins. Still, the Bruins came back to regain the lead in the final two minutes. With starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson out of the game due to an apparent injury, reserve quarterback Ethan Garbers led UCLA on an eight-play, 70 yard touchdown drive to turn the 34-28 deficit into a 35-34 lead with 34 seconds remaining. Freshman running back T.J. Harden scored the go-ahead touchdown on an eight-yard run.
However, the Panthers had enough time to orchestrate a game-winning drive, and quarterback Nick Patti completed three consecutive first-down plays to get the Panthers into field goal range. Sauls converted his fifth field goal of the game for the win.
Thompson-Robinson finished the game with two touchdowns and 262 yards passing, the fifth-year senior falling 24 yards shy of breaking UCLA's all-time passing yards record. He did, however, set school records for career starts by a quarterback (48), touchdowns accounted for (116), total offense (12,522), touchdown passes (88) and completions (860). Harden rushed for a career-high 111 yards on 11 carries, and Kam Brown hauled in four receptions for a career-best 115 yards.
UCLA scored on its first possession, taking a 7-3 lead on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Thompson-Robinson to Logan Loya. Pittsburgh went on long drives on its first two possessions, but the Bruin defense made enough big stops to hold the Panthers to just a pair of field goals, maintaining a 7-6 lead after the first quarter.
Reaching the red zone on their next possession, the Bruins were poised to increase the lead, but the Panthers intercepted a tipped pass at their six and then marched down the field to tie the game at 14-14 on a 15-yard touchdown pass by Patti and a successful two-point conversion. It took the Bruins under three minutes, however, to regain the lead, 21-14, late in the second quarter as Thompson-Robinson found Mokia-Atimalala in the zone for a 28-yard touchdown, the sophomore wide receiver's first as a Bruin.
Pitt started its second drive of the third quarter with great field position after a Bruin punt died in the wind and was downed at the Panthers' 49. But on the second play of the drive, Davies picked off Patti and took it to the house for a 52-yard pick six that increased UCLA's lead to 28-14 with 8:45 left in the quarter.
A defensive stop on 4th and 1 at the Bruin 28 gave the Bruins one last chance behind Garbers to regain the lead with two minutes to play. A 34-yard run by T.J. Harden and a 14-yard reception by Mokia-Atimalala got UCLA to the 24, and a Jake Bobo first-down reception that put UCLA on the 8-yard line set up Harden's short-lived heroics.
The Bruins (9-4) led 28-14 with 8:45 remaining in the third quarter after a pick six by Jaylin Davies, but Pitt (9-4) ran off 20 consecutive points, aided by two costly turnovers by the Bruins. Still, the Bruins came back to regain the lead in the final two minutes. With starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson out of the game due to an apparent injury, reserve quarterback Ethan Garbers led UCLA on an eight-play, 70 yard touchdown drive to turn the 34-28 deficit into a 35-34 lead with 34 seconds remaining. Freshman running back T.J. Harden scored the go-ahead touchdown on an eight-yard run.
However, the Panthers had enough time to orchestrate a game-winning drive, and quarterback Nick Patti completed three consecutive first-down plays to get the Panthers into field goal range. Sauls converted his fifth field goal of the game for the win.
Thompson-Robinson finished the game with two touchdowns and 262 yards passing, the fifth-year senior falling 24 yards shy of breaking UCLA's all-time passing yards record. He did, however, set school records for career starts by a quarterback (48), touchdowns accounted for (116), total offense (12,522), touchdown passes (88) and completions (860). Harden rushed for a career-high 111 yards on 11 carries, and Kam Brown hauled in four receptions for a career-best 115 yards.
UCLA scored on its first possession, taking a 7-3 lead on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Thompson-Robinson to Logan Loya. Pittsburgh went on long drives on its first two possessions, but the Bruin defense made enough big stops to hold the Panthers to just a pair of field goals, maintaining a 7-6 lead after the first quarter.
The Bruins started the second quarter with an eight-play 75-yard touchdown drive highlighted by a 49-yard pass from Thompson-Robinson to Titus Mokiao-Atimalala and capped by a Thompson-Robinson one-yard carry into the end zone to increase UCLA's lead to 14-6.The Bruins find the end zone first!
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 30, 2022
Dorian Thompson-Robinson hits Logan Loya for the @UCLAFootball TD pic.twitter.com/yLpJYA4jiH
Reaching the red zone on their next possession, the Bruins were poised to increase the lead, but the Panthers intercepted a tipped pass at their six and then marched down the field to tie the game at 14-14 on a 15-yard touchdown pass by Patti and a successful two-point conversion. It took the Bruins under three minutes, however, to regain the lead, 21-14, late in the second quarter as Thompson-Robinson found Mokia-Atimalala in the zone for a 28-yard touchdown, the sophomore wide receiver's first as a Bruin.
Pitt started its second drive of the third quarter with great field position after a Bruin punt died in the wind and was downed at the Panthers' 49. But on the second play of the drive, Davies picked off Patti and took it to the house for a 52-yard pick six that increased UCLA's lead to 28-14 with 8:45 left in the quarter.
The Panthers, however, scored 20 unanswered points, taking advantage of two turnovers deep in UCLA territory to claim the lead for the first time since the first possession, 31-28, with 10:38 remaining in the game. Rodney Hammond's seven-yard touchdown run to tie was set up by a Pitt interception at the UCLA 18, and the go-ahead 31-yard field goal by Ben Sauls was made possible by a fumble on the kickoff return. The Bruins were pinned at the five on the ensuing kickoff and went three-and-out, and the Panthers drove down to the UCLA 3 before kicking a 27-yard field goal with 4:24 remaining to increase the lead to six.PICK SIX JAYLIN DAVIES @UCLAFootball pic.twitter.com/XyvaszZlae
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 30, 2022
A defensive stop on 4th and 1 at the Bruin 28 gave the Bruins one last chance behind Garbers to regain the lead with two minutes to play. A 34-yard run by T.J. Harden and a 14-yard reception by Mokia-Atimalala got UCLA to the 24, and a Jake Bobo first-down reception that put UCLA on the 8-yard line set up Harden's short-lived heroics.
UCLA finished the game with a total of 451 yards of total offense to improve the season mark to a school-record 6,545 yards of total offense. The Bruins' nine victories this season were the most since the 2014 team went 10-3.THE BRUINS TAKE THE LEAD WITH 0:34 SECONDS LEFT @UCLAFootball pic.twitter.com/bNxGIlmtdP
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 30, 2022