Can UCLA salvage its season? Five things to watch when the Bruins face Minnesota

It has come to this for UCLA under DeShaun Foster: The Bruins need to beat a .500 team in their home stadium to have any realistic chance of salvaging their coach’s debut season.

So far, the “Fos Era” has produced shockingly few highlights besides a feel-good offseason. After struggling to beat Hawaii in its opener, UCLA has lost four consecutive games, albeit against teams with a combined 20-1 record.

There was promise shown in the first half against Louisiana State, the middle two quarters against Oregon and the first half against Penn State.

At some point, the Bruins are going to need something to hold onto besides hope born from a few stretches of each game.

“I want to get our team out there and give the fans something to see,” Foster said, “so any time you can get a real victory and not necessarily a moral victory, it would be a good thing.”

While spirits remained high at practice this week, a loss to the Golden Gophers on Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl would be deflating for a team badly in need of a pick-me-up. Here are four more things to watch when UCLA (1-4 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) faces Minnesota (3-3, 1-2) in a game broadcast by Big Ten Network:

UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers (4) passes under pressure from LSU linebacker Whit Weeks (40) in Baton Rouge, La., on Sept. 21.

(Gerald Herbert/AP)

By midweek, UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers appeared almost fully recovered from the injury that knocked him out of the loss to Oregon two weeks ago.

His right foot heavily taped, Garbers moved comfortably around the field while taking first-team snaps during the portion of practice open to reporters. But Foster would not publicly commit to either Garbers or backup Justyn Martin — who performed admirably last weekend in a spot start against Penn State — as his starter against the Golden Gophers, citing competitive reasons.

“I have an opponent that’s for sure looking at what you guys post,” Foster told reporters, “so that’s why it is what it is. If I could tell you guys and you wouldn’t post it, I would tell you, but that’s not necessarily what’s going to happen.”

UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, left, leaps to try to stop Oregon wide receiver Traeshon Holden as he runs in a touchdown at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 28.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The expansion of scholarship limits could have unintended consequences. It could eliminate success stories like Carson Schwesinger.

A onetime walk-on, Schwesinger has become the centerpiece of UCLA’s defense, leading the Big Ten with 5.8 solo tackles per game and 9.8 total tackles per game. He’s logged double digits in tackles in each of the last three games, making 12 against Louisiana State, 13 against Oregon and 15 against Penn State.

Schwesinger has joined a long list of walk-ons who blossomed as Bruins, including offensive lineman Niki Prongos, running back Josh Kelley and tight end Caleb Wilson.

“It’s a credit to us, you know, keeping good walk-ons,” Foster said. “You want to get guys who have aspirations of playing at the next level and can help the team and not just want to get into UCLA, so I think we’ve done a good job with some of those guys.

“I knew Carson was a player just from how he was performing on scout team when I was a running back coach. You know, I always tried to give him positive reinforcement and stuff like that and I’m just glad that he’s out there playing at the high level that he’s playing at.”

UCLA receiver Kwazi Gilmer makes a catch against LSU on Sept. 21 in Baton Rouge, La.

(Matthew Hinton / Associated Press)

One of UCLA’s strengths heading into the season was supposed to be its wide receivers, but they haven’t produced any standout performances with the exception of Rico Flores Jr. making three catches for 102 yards and a touchdown against Hawaii.

Part of the issue has been a heavy reliance on targeting running backs. Another problem has been injuries. Flores and Titus Mokiao-Atimalala have missed games and Logan Loya was confined to a role as punt returner in one game while recovering from his own injury.

“That’s probably one of the deepest rooms that we have,” Foster said, “so we’ve lost a couple of guys, some guys have been out, but some of the youngsters are picking it up and they’ve played well, so we’re just going to continue to play who’s healthy and go from there.”

Freshman Kwazi Gilmer has emerged as a go-to guy, leading the team with two catches for 61 yards against LSU and four catches for 31 yards against Oregon.

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck speaks to a reporter while fans swarm him on the field after upsetting No. 11 USC on Oct. 5 in Minneapolis, Minn.

(Ellen Schmidt / Associated Press)

Coming off an upset of USC, Minnesota could stake its claim to being better than both of the L.A. teams if the Golden Gophers can get past the Bruins. But they’ might have to battle overconfidence going up against what’s supposedly a far lesser team than the one they just beat.

Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer has proven to be a competent game manager, completing 67.6% of his passes for 1,263 yards and six touchdowns with four interceptions. Running back Darius Taylor is averaging a robust 5.5 yards per carry and has scored five touchdowns.

But USC might have placed a big “X” on the Golden Gophers’ run defense after the Trojans’ Woody Marks ran for 134 yards and probably would have added to that total had coach Lincoln Riley not relied heavily on the pass in the fourth quarter.

This could be an opportunity for UCLA’s run game, averaging a measly 64.2 yards per game, to finally get going.

“We’re looking at Minnesota,” Prongos said, “as a beatable team.”