UCLA Football: DeShaun Foster Clears The Air on Whether Ethan Garbers Will Remain Starting QB

Garbers threw two interceptions in the loss.

Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

For the first time this season, the UCLA football offense failed to score a touchdown during their 34-13 loss to Oregon on Saturday night. The offense has stuttered all season, but only in Saturday's game did they fail to punch the football into the end zone.

Instead, the Bruins offense mustered just two field goals, while the team's lone touchdown came on a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown by Bryan Addison. Quarterback Ethan Garbers once again struggled, going 12 of 20 for 118 yards and two interceptions.

While the offense has not moved the ball or scored consistently with Garbers under center, and Garbers has now thrown an interception in every game this season, UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster is not considering a quarterback change and said he has to be protected better.

“The guys up front have got to protect him and keep him from getting hit, falling on the ground. You know, it’s hard to play quarterback when you’re not upright,” Foster said after the game, via UCLA Athletics on Youtube. "He’s a tough kid and he’s trying to find ways to make plays and it’s just unfortunate what’s happened, but I’m riding with Ethan no matter what.”

Garbers is certainly far from the first player to fault for the Bruins' woes. He has not played as well as he did last year and made some bone-headed mistakes, especially in Week 1, but it's hard to see any of the other UCLA quarterbacks doing better in Garbers' place.

What Garbers has shown is the mobility to make plays happen. He cannot escape his bad offensive line all the time, but he does provide the team with several positive plays, including his touchdown pass last week against LSU when he was walloped by a defender as he released the ball.

The bigger question might be if Garbers can stay healthy behind this current offensive line. The Ducks sacked the Bruins five times, and the offensive line continues to struggle when it comes to protecting Garbers.

Garbers was surprisingly not pulled from the blowout loss until he was hit hard during the final offensive drive, even though he was limiting before that play.

"If you know Ethan, you know he was fighting to stay out there, so when you have a player that’s begging to stay out there and he wanted to keep playing, they going to let him play," Foster said of his decision to keep Garbers in the game.

The Bruins eventually pulled Garbers from the game, and Justyn Martin came in to close out the loss.

More Bruins:

UCLA vs Oregon: Biggest Takeaways From Blowout Loss to Ducks