UCLA Football: DeShaun Foster Opens Up About Shocking Home Loss to Indiana

The Bruins lost in their home opener against Indiana.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

UCLA's football team strode down the recently brought-back Bruin Walk in matching light blue suits to the Rose Bowl before Saturday's home opener against Indiana. They dressed like a team ready to take care of business in DeShaun Foster's first home game as a head coach, and as Foster looks to bring UCLA back to the relevancy he saw during his own playing career as a Bruin.

The Bruins' walk into the stadium was about the sharpest they appeared all day, as Indiana dismantled them on the field throughout the entire afternoon.

TRADITION.#DRE #DoMore pic.twitter.com/BTsow7zGaG

— UCLA Football (@UCLAFootball) September 14, 2024

To say UCLA's performance during the 42-13 loss to the Hoosiers was disappointing would be an understatement. Indiana outmatched UCLA in practically every facet of the game, while the Bruins could simply not execute the way they intended.

"We lined up and got beat," Foster told reporters after the game.

Despite coming off a bye week before facing Indiana, the Bruins could not capitalize on the extra amount of preparation time they had going into the game.

Defensively, Indiana's pass offense led by transfer quarterback Kurtis Rourke picked apart UCLA's secondary pass by pass as he led his team to touchdown after touchdown. UCLA's defense managed to slow Indiana's run game down in the first half and even force multiple third-and-longs, but could not get off the field.

On offense, UCLA's back-breaking mistakes from the first half of their Week 1 win over Hawaii returned to the start of this game. On the Bruins' first offensive play of the game, quarterback Ethan Garbers fumbled the football after it hit running back T.J. Harden in the arm. Indiana recovered the fumble and quickly tacked on their second touchdown of the day.

The Bruins got away with these kinds of blunders in Week 1 thanks to their second-half comeback and the defense's ability to stop Hawaii, but they could not do the same against Indiana. The touchdown after the fumble recovery gave Indiana a quick 14-0 lead as UCLA had barely possessed the ball.

Indiana would possess a lead of at least two possessions from that point on in the game, giving them a clear victory.

"This hurts," Foster said Saturday. "I'm a Bruin through and through so I don't wanna get emotional up here, but it hurts. That's not acceptable and we're going to fix it."

UCLA will have to figure out how to execute quickly as they prepare to face LSU next Saturday.

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