Former UCLA Coach Talks Win Over Bruins
The UCLA Bruins (4-6) were beaten for the third time in four years by their former offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch in his first season as the head coach of the Washington Huskies (6-5). A 31-19 result gave the Huskies a win in their final home game of the season.
Fisch was the former head coach at Arizona University and held a 2-1 record in the past three seasons against the Bruins. He was able to garner yet another win with a stellar defensive performance and a great second half offensively.
Bruins quarterback Ethan Garbers was under fire all night, being sacked six times and flushed out of the pocket and rushing throws due to pressure for a majority of the game. The Huskies had a game plan and executed it perfectly.
"They were pretty dominant," Fisch said postgame. "[Ethan] Garber's made some plays, he keeps plays alive. That kid is hard to bring down, good scrambler, does a great job out of the pocket, keeping plays going and for us to have six sacks. Some pocket quarterbacks, that could have been nine or 10 the way D-line was rushing."
Garbers played a solid game otherwise, throwing for two touchdowns and 267 yards. The Bruins struggled to get anything else going on offense and a flat rushing performance was a major reason for the loss on Friday night. Fisch mentioned his defense's ability to stop the ground game.
"I didn't feel like they got much of a run game going," Fisch said. "I thought that our defense did a really nice job against the run."
The Huskies did just that, allowing just 52 total rushing yards. Bruins running back T.J. Harden was entering the game off a 125-yard game against the Iowa Hawkeyes last week and was kept to just 33 rush yards. There was no established run for the Bruins and it showed on the scoreboard.
The Huskies and Bruins are in their first season in the Big Ten and both have earned big time wins in conference this season. No more than the Huskies knocking off both schools from Los Angeles along with the defending national champions. He knows how massive it is for the program.
"I think it's great for our team to get those wins and those are big wins," Fisch said. "End the year, in our first year with a team that none of us were familiar with. With a lot of players that none of us have ever played together and not a lot of us knew them and they came from all over. To beat USC, to beat Michigan, to beat UCLA now, those are big wins for the program. Really proud of our guys to get those wins, that's a big deal and being our first year in this conference."
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