This post was updated Nov. 24 at 11:40 p.m.

UCLA football (4-7, 3-6 Big Ten) fell 19-13 to USC (6-5, 4-5) in a heated rivalry matchup Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. Sports reporter Noah Massey gives his five main takeaways from the Bruins’ contest with the Trojans.

A goodbye to bowl eligibility

When the Bruins lost their fifth straight game and fell to 1-5 on the season, the chances of reaching a bowl game were close to none.

However, after winning three straight, the six wins required to become bowl eligible felt like a real possibility – even if it required UCLA to defeat either Washington or USC.

With Saturday’s loss, UCLA can assuredly toss out all hopes of the postseason. In its final game against Fresno State on Saturday, all UCLA can play for is pride – with postseason hopes extinguished and conference games concluded – as well as its seniors and a chance to try to gather momentum for 2025.

While it is a bitter ending, UCLA showed tremendous resilience within its winning streak, rebounding from a rough start and fighting to the very end to stay in the postseason conversation, providing glimmers of hope for what the future could look like with coach DeShaun Foster in the Big Ten.

Thankfully, the Bruins avoided the feared two-to-three-win season, which appeared eerily possible when the team fell to 1-5, and ultimately gave fans hope for next season.

Bend but don’t break

While the offense floundered, the Bruin defense almost steered the team to victory on its own.

With the USC offense settling for field goals on three of its four trips inside the 5-yard line, UCLA’s defense held strong when it needed to.

And not only did defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe’s unit keep USC’s offense at bay, it helped give the offense some of its best chances to come back in the game.

By forcing a USC turnover on downs in the Trojans’ first drive of the third quarter, the Bruin defense helped set up a short 54-yard offensive that led to its sole touchdown of the game.

Later in the game, UCLA turned the ball over on downs on its own 34, but the defense held USC’s offense to a field goal and only allowed 2:50 to bleed from the clock – giving the offense an opportunity for a game-winning final drive.

The one touchdown USC did manage took a trick play followed by a miraculous effort by Jayden Maiava, where the quarterback managed to avoid numerous tackles before tossing a perfect throw to a mostly covered receiver in the back corner of the end zone.

While losing a rivalry game is undoubtedly painful, the Bruin defense can hold its head high knowing that it did its job and gave the offense every opportunity to win the game.

Offensive struggles reemerge

The Bruins amassed at least 20 yards in each of their first eight drives but only managed points in three of them.

Consistency and execution eluded UCLA throughout the contest. The offense went 3-for-11 on third downs and 0-for-3 on fourth downs. The Bruins struggled to sustain drives, often failing to advance deep into Trojan territory.

Struggles are nothing new for the Bruins this season, as their offense fell to 124th in the nation in points per game and was unable to eclipse 20 points for the ninth time this season.

The final two drives of the game epitomized the Bruins’ inability to execute, as eight plays all came up short of the first down marker when the offense needed a comeback in the dying minutes of the game.

The UCLA offense under first-year associate head coach and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has been dismal for a majority of this season and was ultimately unable to find success under the brightest lights of the year.

What could have been?

This season has not gone as planned for either junior running back T.J. Harden or redshirt junior wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant.

The former, who became the full-time starter this season after starting only three games last season, entered the USC game with only 384 rushing yards – a far cry from the 827 he had last season.

The latter, who was UCLA’s second-leading wide receiver with 597 yards, entered the game with only 194 to his name while still appearing in 10 games.

Against USC, both players put on a show, with Harden averaging seven yards per carry en route to 99 yards – his second-highest total of the season – while Sturdivant pulled in five receptions for an impressive 117 yards, his highest total of the year.

While the offense as a whole struggled, Harden and Sturdivant created some of its best opportunities, teasing the tremendous potential they both carried into the season but have failed to consistently realize.

Disappointing at home

Entering Saturday’s game, one storyline that emerged was that the last four UCLA vs. USC showdowns had gone to the visiting team – a trend the Bruins hoped to buck.

With its loss, UCLA won’t get another opportunity to defend its home turf until 2026: a full eight years since it last took care of business at the Rose Bowl.

The Bruins’ struggles at home have permeated throughout the season. Foster’s unit is 1-4 at home – including the two especially painful losses to Minnesota and USC – where it managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In both contests, UCLA led the game midway through the fourth quarter but was unable to execute either victory.

While Foster has made valiant efforts to encourage fans to show out at the Rose Bowl, his squad has given the Bruin faithful little to cheer for throughout his first season.

However, with the UCLA-USC game moving back to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum next season, Bruin fans can hope for the road winning streak to maintain for a sixth consecutive year and a return of the Victory Bell to another attempt at home defense in Westwood.