This post was updated Oct. 24 at 11:07 p.m.

No. 23 UCLA football (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12) handily defeated Stanford (2-5, 1-4) on the road 42-7 to once again break even against conference opponents. Staff writer Gavin Carlson gives his five main takeaways from the Bruins’ 35-point win.

Moore QB controversy

Even after Dante Moore’s three first-half interceptions last week, there was virtually no talk of a quarterback change for Saturday’s contest.

There were no reports in the days leading up to the game, coach Chip Kelly didn’t mention anything to the media and even ESPN’s broadcasters were shocked when the freshman didn’t take the first snap for the Bruins.

But Kelly has been secretive about his starting signal caller every week this season, and so he named redshirt junior quarterback Ethan Garbers the starter for the first time since he lost the job after the season opener.

And after being the third-choice quarterback in recent weeks behind Moore and redshirt junior Collin Schlee, he delivered early and often.

Garbers led three scoring drives in four drives to begin the game to help UCLA jump to an insurmountable lead before the halftime break. He finished 20-of-28 for 240 yards and with two passing touchdowns while also setting up junior running back Carson Steele for three touchdown runs.

Most importantly, he led a turnover-free offensive performance after Moore had turned the ball over seven times in the three previous games before Stanford – including three pick sixes. The veteran also scrambled when he needed to, rushing for 51 yards and possessing a pocket presence that Moore hasn’t yet displayed in his young career.

So, what happens now?

Kelly said after the win that Moore was limited in practice because of an injury, creating the opportunity for Garbers to work with the first team throughout the week. But Moore did play at the end of the game and looked healthy, so his early absence seems more indicative of being benched.

That all favors Garbers starting next week.

However, Garbers’ success Saturday did come against the second-worst passing defense in the entire country, and Stanford’s defense was in the bottom 10 in the nation in several metrics. It’s not unreasonable to suggest Moore would’ve had similar success against the Cardinal.

But instead, Kelly elected against giving his five-star quarterback a chance to regain his confidence against a poor defense. Now, the starting spot will be a highly-debated topic heading into a sold-out showdown against Colorado coach Deion Sanders.

Play calling pivot

Starting Garbers over Moore didn’t just change the quarterback making throws – it changed the types of throws Kelly asked his quarterback to make.

Three weeks ago, the freshman quarterback struggled in an often-collapsing pocket against Utah.

A combination of a faltering offensive line and Moore’s slow decision-making resulted in a number of throws with pass rushers in the freshman’s face. He was also sacked seven times against the Utes.

So, Kelly pivoted the following two games and frequently put Moore in roll-out positions against both Washington State and Oregon State. Those types of plays can take longer to develop and often ask the quarterback to make sideline throws while on the run.

But with Garbers back under center, Kelly pivoted once again.

The Bruins opened the game by putting redshirt sophomore J.Michael Sturdivant in motion and faking a handoff before ultimately hitting the wide receiver with a quick throw behind the line of scrimmage.

Sturdivant had nothing but green grass in front of him after the catch and turned upfield for a 16-yard gain, all from a simple dump-off pass.

The easy throw and catch foreshadowed a game full of big plays on quick throws.

Later in the opening quarter, Garbers fired a quick strike across the middle to a wide-open Hudson Habermehl. The throw was about 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, but the senior tight end ran for 35 yards after the catch to turn the easy throw into a 45-yard big play.

Kelly called a similar play action pass to Sturdivant again in the third quarter, this time going to the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown.

Garbers showed an ability to quickly get the ball out – something Moore has lacked at times. It helped that there were wide-open receivers on most plays against Stanford’s abysmal secondary.

Regardless of who starts at quarterback going forward, Kelly should continue to rely on similar schemes in upcoming games.

Defense bounces back

The Bruins’ defensive success was the story of the season throughout their first five games.

Then UCLA’s best unit was exposed in Corvallis.

After holding opposing offenses to 24 points in the previous three games combined, defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s group allowed 29 points against the Beavers. The Bruins’ then-No. 2 rushing defense gave up 133 yards on the ground – a season high – and another 282 in the air in a wire-to-wire defeat just over a week ago.

Right when UCLA’s defense appeared to be elite, its worst performance of the season struck.

Meanwhile, the Cardinal offense was coming off its best showing of the season by far. Stanford scored more points in the second half and overtime periods of its win over Colorado than it had in its previous three Pac-12 games combined.

Saturday then matched up an offense on the rise and a Bruin defense on the decline. UCLA teams of recent past would’ve probably had a shootout.

But not this year’s iteration – the Bruins shut down the Cardinal offense all night.

UCLA’s elite run defense returned, holding Stanford to 1.4 yards per carry on its 17 attempts. The Cardinal rush attack entered the game averaging 144.7 yards on the ground per contest, but mustered up just 24 against the Bruins’ front.

And the secondary had a bounce-back performance as well, forcing an interception and sacking quarterback Ashton Daniels four times.

Stanford is far from a top-tier offense, but UCLA’s defensive response was impressive nonetheless.

A birthday breakout

Carson Steele has arrived.

In his first four games for UCLA, the Ball State transfer had not eclipsed 14 carries or 85 rushing yards in a contest. Steele had not recorded a multi-touchdown game either.

But in the past three weeks, everything has changed for the running back.

Steele put together back-to-back games with more than 20 carries and 100 rushing yards. On Saturday, his 21st birthday, the Indiana local had a hat trick of scores on the ground.

Stanford had no answer for UCLA’s new workhorse in the red zone, as all three of Steele’s scores came within the 10-yard line. The red zone success was especially notable given the Bruins’ recent struggles to finish drives with touchdowns.

Kelly relied on former running back Zach Charbonnet to both jumpstart drives and finish them off regularly over the past two seasons.

The now-NFL running back had 13 rushing touchdowns in 2021 and another 14 scores on the ground in 2022. He also received 20 carries in seven of his 10 games last season.

Steele has now received 20 carries in three straight games and totaled 327 yards and four scores over that span. The workloads of the current and former running backs are beginning to mirror each other.

There may be uncertainty about the Bruins’ starting quarterback, but the lead rusher spot in Westwood seems all locked up.

Kicking concerns continue

Special teams often only gets brought up when things are going wrong, and this time is no different.

Senior kicker R.J. Lopez missed a pair of field goals in a game for the second time this season to move to 6-of-10 for the season. His first attempt was blocked, and the second was nowhere near splitting the uprights.

Two of Lopez’s four missed kicks have been blocked, which suggests there are either protection issues up front, a lack of height after the ball leaves his foot or a combination of both. Even his extra point attempts on Saturday lacked a significant launch angle that guarantees the kick won’t be blocked, and he’s missed a PAT this season as well.

UCLA is fortunate that Saturday’s contest was not close enough to make the missed kicks a factor. But the Bruins need to see improvement from Lopez and the line going forward so the often-overlooked unit doesn’t cost them in a tight game.