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UCLA Football: Ethan Garbers Wins First Big Ten Award For Performance Against Rutgers

Garbers scored five touchdowns on Saturday.

Eva Geitheim

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
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After scoring five touchdowns and leading UCLA football to their first Big Ten conference win, Bruins quarterback Ethan Garbers has been named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

Garbers was additionally nominated for the Week 8 Manning Award Star of the Week. He was nominated alongside Army's Bryson Daily, Louisiana's Ben Woolridge, Baylor's Sawyer Robertson, Miami's Cam Ward, Eastern Michigan's Cole Snyder, BYU's Jake Retzlaff, and Maryland's Billy Edwards Jr.

Garbers threw for a career-high 383 yards and four touchdowns in the Bruins' win over Rutgers. Throughout the game, Garbers played with poise and accuracy as he completed 32 of his 38 passes.

Garbers set the tone early in the game, going 5-6 on his opening drive and marching the offense down the field for a touchdown, a seven-yard pass to receiver Logan Loya.

In the second quarter, Garbers used his wheels to rush for a 49-yard touchdown that gave UCLA a 14-10 lead. Garbers faked out a Rutgers defender and ran down the left sideline into the end zone, his most explosive rushing play of the season. Garbers has utilized his legs throughout the season to make plays and escape incoming pressure but made easily the biggest play of the year with his legs Sunday.

Garbers then connected with his top three running backs on touchdowns, including a 67-yard touchdown pass to Keegan Jones in the third quarter. Garbers found Jones uncovered out of the backfield and got the ball to his playmaker, who then took the ball to the house.

Garbers finished the game with a career-high 383 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and five touchdowns overall. He led the Bruins to a season-high 35 points after they failed to score 20 points in each of the first six games this season.

"It felt great, I'm not going to lie," Garbers said of his career day on Saturday. "But nothing is better than ultimately getting that W, that's the best feeling in the world. All the stats, all that stuff, it doesn't really matter. It's just seeing my guys smile and knowing that on this five-hour flight, we're going to have a good time."

Garbers and the Bruins will look to replicate this performance when they take on Nebraska on Saturday.

More Bruins:

UCLA Football: 3 Takeaways From Bruins' Shocking Victory Over Rutgers

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva graduated from UCLA in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in Communication. She has been covering college and professional sports since 2022.

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