Taylor’s touchdown with 27 seconds remaining rallies Minnesota to 21-17 victory over UCLA

By JOE REEDY The Associated Press

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Max Brosmer and Minnesota have a flair for dramatic Hollywood endings when it comes to facing the Big Ten’s Los Angeles teams.

After Brosmer’s 1-yard keeper last week lifted the Golden Gophers to an upset victory over Southern California, the senior quarterback was entrusted to produce another late rally on Saturday against UCLA.

Once again, he delivered when it mattered most.

Brosmer completed four passes, including a 4-yard checkdown to Darius Taylor with 27 seconds remaining as Minnesota rallied for a 21-17 victory at the Rose Bowl.

“That last play, I don’t think you know how hard that is. I mean, he went through four reads,” coach P.J. Fleck said. “O-line held up, pressure in his face, kind of ducked, moved around. Bang, found Darius, which is his last option, and Darius does the rest. That’s execution. It came down to in the first half, we didn’t execute.”

Minnesota and Penn State did something Saturday that few teams were able to do in the Pac-12 — defeat USC and UCLA on consecutive weeks. The Gophers and the Nittany Lions became the first since Utah in 2018 to pull it off.

There had been four occasions over the past five seasons when a school had the Bruins and Trojans on back-to-back weeks.

“I’ll be here next week. Ain’t that right, Boss? What’s that song, ‘California Dreamin?’ I must have listened to that some 150 times throughout the week,” Fleck said.

The Gophers (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) got the ball back with 2:20 remaining after their defense forced the Bruins to go three-and-out.

Despite not having any timeouts remaining, Brosmer drove the Gophers 61 yards in seven plays.

He started the series with three straight completions as Minnesota was at the UCLA 13 with 1:13 remaining. Brosmer also converted a pair of third downs, including the TD to Taylor.

“It became part of the progression, where they covered everything up, and he kind of was just the last outlet. Got to a really good spot. Protection was absolutely elite,” said Brosmer, who was 26 of 37 for 193 yards and two touchdowns on the night.

Minnesota trailed 10-0 at halftime but took the lead with a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter, including a 1-yard run by Taylor midway through the period to give them a 14-10 advantage.

Brosmer got the Gophers on the board earlier in the quarter with a 12-yard pass to Elijah Spencer.

Daniel Jackson had 10 receptions for 89 yards and Koi Perich had two interceptions.

Ethan Garbers threw for 293 yards as the Bruins (1-5, 0-4) lost their fifth straight and are still looking for their first win in the Big Ten.

UCLA appeared to be on the verge of snapping its losing streak when Garbers completed a 42-yard touchdown to J.Michael Sturdivant with 6:54 remaining. It led most of the game, but was unable to hold it in the final minute.

After Minnesota’s touchdown, the Bruins drove to the Minnesota 49-yard line, but Garbers Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game was picked off by Perich at the goal line.

“This one’s just going to sting. I’m going to be (ticked) off for a little bit,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said. “The attention to detail and discipline that we needed to play in the second half just wasn’t there at all. We’re a one half team right now.”

Garbers, who missed last week’s game at Penn State due to an ankle injury, was 25 of 36 with a touchdown and three interceptions. The senior started off hot, as he completed 10 of his first 11 passes for 110 yards.

UCLA scored on its first possession for the third time this season when Keegan Jones took a direct snap on first-and-goal and barreled up the middle from 1 yard.

It was only the third time in six games that the Bruins had been in the lead and the first since the second quarter at LSU on Sept. 21.

UCLA went into halftime with a 10-0 advantage after Mateen Bhaghani added a 34-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.

The takeaway

Minnesota: The Golden Gophers dropped from first to fourth in the nation in pass defense, but their 13 interceptions are tied with UNLV and California for the most.

UCLA: The Bruins are the sixth Power Five team since 2000 who haven’t scored 20 points in their first six games. The last to do that was Colorado in 2022 when it failed to reach 20 in its first seven games.

Up next

Minnesota: Off next week before hosting Maryland on Oct. 26.

UCLA: at Rutgers next Saturday.

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