Bruins' Foster Gives Thoughts on Devastating Loss

The UCLA Bruins could not find a way to pull out their most important game of the season with a crushing loss at the hands of their arch-rival, the USC Trojans. Coach DeShaun Foster spoke postgame about his team's performance.

Sep 28, 2024; Pasadena, California, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach DeShaun Foster during the second quarter against the Oregon Ducks at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins (4-7) saw their bowl game hopes come to an end at the Rose Bowl on Saturday in a disappointing loss to their arch-rival, the USC Trojans (6-5). Coach DeShaun Foster spoke to the media postgame and expressed his frustrations coming up short in their biggest game of the year.

The Bruins played sensationally defensively with several red zone stops while holding the Trojans to just 19 points, their lowest total since Week 5. The offense, on the other hand, struggled heavily in their own red zone opportunities and were only able to muster 13 total points.

"Defensively, the defense came out, played a great game, was able to stop them plenty of times, held them to a lot of field goals," Foster said. "Offensively, they just didn't do their part in the game and it's a team sport, so I just need our offense to be at their best when their best is needed. We're having problems in the red zone and certain situations that we're just getting false starts or not able to make a play. I just commit how hard my guys play and it just shows that they are resilient, but we just didn't do enough to win this game."

The Bruins held a 13-9 lead with eight minutes to play in the contest, giving up just three field goals to that point. The Trojans were finally able to get in the end zone as quarterback Jayden Maiava found Ja'Kobi Lane for their lone touchdown score. Foster recounted the play that made the difference.

"[They] just finally made a play," Foster said. "They are scholarship athletes on that side of the ball too, so they eventually were going to make a play and it was just unfortunate. But as bad as we played, it was a what, six-point game, it was a one-score game. If we could have just found a way to manufacture a drive and just keep a rhythm and keep going. We weren't able to do that, but like I said before, we got one more week to get out there and really try to fix this."

Bruins senior quarterback Ethan Garbers played a heck of a game, but could not find the timely plays to win the ballgame. He threw for 265 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions. This was his final game in this rivalry that he grew up in as a Southern California native.

"Ethan is a gamer," Foster said. "He's always going to be positive and continue to play hard. [He] doesn't complain, just comes back to the sideline and he always uplifts the players and keeps them going."

Foster was understandably unhappy following the loss and was very disappointed in the final result of his first Crosstown Showdown as head coach. The Bruins will have a chance to finish the season strong at home next week against Fresno State (6-5).

"It's frustrating, it's just is frustrating," Foster said. "I wish that we could have come out on top and I felt like we earned the right to win that game just during the week, the way that we practiced and coming off that loss on a Friday night. The guys really approached it the way that they needed to and we let one slip through our hands. So all of these losses have come to pretty much us letting it slip through our hands. We got to find a way to finish games and just keep coming out after half and play better and finish the game. Just really put our stamp on the end of it but we just got to learn for this."

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