UCLA
7-4 , 4-4
USC
7-5 , 5-4
UCLA Wins Battle for Los Angeles, 38-20, over USC
November 18, 2023 | Football
UCLA's defense held USC (7-5, 5-4) to just three yards rushing, the lowest total allowed by a Bruin team since a negative-13 yard game by Arizona in 2006. Laiatu Latu led the Bruins with seven tackles, including back-to-back sacks on Caleb Williams in the red zone in the third quarter.
Bruin quarterback Ethan Garbers threw for three touchdowns and was 18-for-31 passing with 155 yards. Running back T.J. Harden rushed for a career-high 142 yards and recorded one rushing and one receiving touchdown.
On the first drive of the game, UCLA got a fourth-down stop on 4th and 1 on the 49, as Gabriel Murphy wrapped up Austin Jones for a loss of one, giving the Bruins possession on the USC 48. UCLA used seven plays to get on the board, with Harden driving it in for a one-yard touchdown with 9:15 to go in the first.
UCLA's defense held strong on the following possession, forcing a three-and-out, and the Bruins advanced the ball to the USC 26, but a false start penalty and a third-down sack forced UCLA to punt. The Trojans began their next drive on their 10 but fumbled on their second play of the drive, with Kenny Churchwell III forcing the fumble and recovering the ball on the 19. Three plays later, Garbers hit a wide-open Hudson Habermehl, who cruised into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown reception to give UCLA a 14-0 lead with 2:46 to play in the opening quarter.
USC made movement at the end of the first after getting pinned on the one by a Will Powers punt. At the start of the second quarter, the Trojans scored on 3rd-and-10 from the 26 on a 74-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Brenden Rice, trimming UCLA's lead to 14-7.HUDDY WITH THE TUDDY.
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) November 18, 2023
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#GoBruins
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The Bruins used a 14-play drive to get to the USC red zone on the next possession. Garbers completed a critical third-down play with a 12-yard pass to Ryan Cragun and hit J.Michael Sturdivant with a 10-yard pass for another first down. A 19-yard run by Harden moved the chains to the USC 21, but the Bruin drive stalled at the 17, and Blake Glessner's 36-yard field goal attempt hit the right post.
USC suffered the same fate on their subsequent possession, going on a long drive that eventually came up empty. The Trojans got the ball to the six-yard line but was shut down by UCLA's defense on three-straight plays, forcing a Denis Lynch field goal attempt that missed from 25-yards out.
Williams and MarShawn Lloyd led the Trojans down the field one last time to end the half and got to the UCLA 11 with 10 seconds to play. Williams was sacked by Murphy on the penultimate play and managed to call a timeout to set up a field goal with five seconds remaining. Lynch was successful on the 34-yarder, and UCLA went into halftime up, 14-10.
UCLA began the second half with a 15-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that took up half of the third quarter. The Bruins converted on third-down five times, the fifth and final one coming on a seven-yard touchdown pass from Garbers to Harden on third and goal that increased the lead to 21-10. On USC's first play of the next drive, Alex Johnson picked up a Lloyd fumble at the 11 and ran it into the end zone for a 28-10 Bruin lead.
USC reached the UCLA five-yard line on its next drive, but Latu's back-to-back sacks forced the Trojans into kicking a field goal, a 34-yarder by Lynch with 3:51 to play in the third to make it 28-13 UCLA. The Bruins regained the 18-point advantage with a 35-yard field goal by Glessner and got a stop on a USC fourth-and-two to regain possession at the start of the fourth quarter. UCLA ate more time on the clock with a 10-play,74-yard drive that culminated in a 15-yard touchdown pass by Garbers to Habermehl on third down to increase UCLA's lead to 38-13 with 9:06 remaining.SCOOP AND SCORE ??
— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) November 18, 2023
The UCLA defense bingo card is active today.
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The Bruins will conclude the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7:30pm against California at the Rose Bowl. Tickets are available at uclabruins.com/tickets.
Team Stats
UCL 7, USC 0
UCL - Harden,T.J. 1 yd run (Glessner,Blake kick), 7 plays, 48 yards, TOP 03:11
UCL 14, USC 0
UCL - Habermehl,Hudson 14 yd pass from Garbers,Ethan (Glessner,Blake kick) 3 plays, 19 yards, TOP 00:54
UCL 14, USC 7
USC - Rice,Brenden 74 yd pass from Williams,Caleb (Lynch,Denis kick) 7 plays, 99 yards, TOP 02:03
UCL 14, USC 10
USC - Lynch,Denis 34 yd field goal 9 plays, 51 yards, TOP 00:49
UCL 21, USC 10
UCL - Harden,T.J. 7 yd pass from Garbers,Ethan (Glessner,Blake kick) 15 plays, 65 yards, TOP 05:15
UCL 28, USC 10
UCL - Johnson,Alex 11 yd fumble recovery (Glessner,Blake kick)
UCL 28, USC 13
USC - Lynch,Denis 34 yd field goal 9 plays, 30 yards, TOP 05:32
UCL 31, USC 13
UCL - Glessner,Blake 35 yd field goal 6 plays, 66 yards, TOP 02:24
UCL 38, USC 13
UCL - Habermehl,Hudson 15 yd pass from Garbers,Ethan (Glessner,Blake kick) 10 plays, 38 yards, TOP 05:01
UCL 38, USC 20
USC - Jones,Austin 7 yd run (Lynch,Denis kick), 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:14
