This doesn’t match the job description.
UCLA’s running backs have done most of their running after making catches.
T.J. Harden and Keegan Jones have both logged more receiving yards than rushing yards. Their touchdown total through the air has equaled theirs on the ground. Their longest receiving play of the season has gone for more than twice the yardage of their longest rushing play.
That’s just life for a Bruins running back in 2024, though they don’t seem to mind, almost considering it a perk of their responsibilities.
“It’s fun catching the ball out of the backfield,” said running back Jalen Berger, whose biggest play last weekend during the Bruins’ 35-32 victory over Rutgers came on a nine-yard touchdown catch, on Tuesday. “I feel like all three of us are versatile running backs and we just want to help out any way we can.”
They’ve done plenty just by blocking and serving as checkdown options for quarterback Ethan Garbers. Harden made a block that helped free Garbers for his 49-yard touchdown run — by far the team’s longest carry of the day — and the running backs combined to make three of the team’s four touchdown catches after the Scarlet Knights curiously refused to cover them out of the backfield.
“We got the iPads on the sideline so [Garbers] could see that,” Berger said. “So every time we ran out the backfield, they never covered us so we were just wide open for touchdowns.”
Garbers was the biggest beneficiary, compiling career highs in completion percentage (84%), passing yards (383) and touchdown passes (four) on the way to being named the Big Ten offensive player of the week.
Relying on the running backs for checkdowns was a winning formula for the quarterback who entered the game with more than twice as many interceptions as touchdown passes this season, largely as a result of trying to force too many passes into coverage.
“You finally saw it where Ethan wasn’t pressing, he was kind of letting the game come to him,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said. “You know, I felt like there was a few games he wanted to get out there and make plays, just being the captain that he is and being a senior, you want to come out there and play hard and make plays, so I think he finally let the game come to him and you see what he did.”
Garbers could thank an offensive line that largely held up and a corps of running backs who continue to be some of his best options. Harden is the team’s second-leading receiver with 26 catches for 238 yards and Jones ranks fifth with 12 catches for 179 yards. Berger has six catches for 35 yards.
Berger’s 127 rushing yards make him the only member of the trio to compile more yards on the ground than through the air. Harden has run for 180 yards at 2.9 yards per carry, and Jones has run for 105 yards and at 5.3 yards per carry. Those numbers are reflected in a UCLA run game that’s averaged just 64.6 yards per game, ranking last in the country.
“They’re not exactly getting the yardage they would like running the ball,” Foster said of his running backs, “but they’re still able to affect the game.”
Bad finish
Rutgers received a major assist in its comeback efforts from UCLA’s secondary.
On three consecutive plays late in the game, Bruins defensive backs committed penalties. It started with safety Ramon Henderson tackling a player out of bounds before cornerback Jaylin Davies committed pass interference on back-to-back plays that Foster described as “a little too handsy.”
“They’re probably going to call plays like that in the red zone,” Foster said of the pass interference penalties, “so probably try to keep your hands off them.”
Rutgers went on to score a touchdown with 1 minute 23 seconds left and would have had a chance to win the game had it recovered an onside kick snagged by UCLA’s Grant Gray.
Foster said closing out games and coming out of halftime with a flourish were among the things his team would work on during the bye week. The Bruins have been outscored, 50-23, in third quarters this season.
Bravery time
Foster said he went for it on fourth and one at UCLA’s 18-yard line in the second quarter against the Scarlet Knights because “I just felt we can get a yard.”
So why didn’t he go for it on fourth and one at the Bruins’ 12-yard line a week earlier against Minnesota when getting a yard could have sealed a victory?
“Where I was at and how we were playing,” Foster said, referring to his offense’s struggles against the Golden Gophers, “so I didn’t think that we had the … [momentum] to get the yardage at the time. You know, early in the game and being aggressive, that was just something that I wanted to do, especially being on the road.”
Etc.
Foster said he hoped the bye week could help his team get back several players who have been sidelined by injuries. But the Bruins were without defensive tackle Siale Taupaki for at least the start of practice Tuesday after he left the Rutgers game with an unspecified injury. Wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. and left tackle Reuben Unije also did not participate in the portion of practice open to reporters. … The Bruins’ game against Nebraska on Nov. 2 in Lincoln will start at 12:30 p.m. PDT and air on the Big Ten Network.
