Will Big Ten football be too ‘nasty’ for UCLA?

UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers was suffocating in a collapsing pocket. Indiana’s defense had pressured Garbers into releasing a pass with one last gasp of hope but as soon as the ball left his hands, he was on the ground. Amare Ferrell was celebrating an interception a moment later.

Garbers took his share of hits in Saturday’s 42-13 loss to Indiana and the Bruins got a bruising welcome to the Big Ten Conference, which was the Hoosiers’ intention.

“We went in there and we wanted to play physical, tough, nasty,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti told reporters after the game. “And we did.”

The Hoosiers outdid UCLA in nearly every aspect of the game and that may have nothing to do with skill, game-planning or offensive design. Indiana kicked down the doors of the Rose Bowl Stadium with its blue-collar brand of football — and it won’t be the last of that style that UCLA will see against Big Ten opponents

“I like that a lot, when we wear them down and break their will,” Cignetti said. “And I think we did that.”

UCLA’s individual defensive contributions nearly matched Indiana’s with four tackles for loss (three by linebacker Kain Medrano), 55 total tackles and six pass breakups. Indiana had three tackles for loss, 51 total tackles and two sacks.

UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster provided a monosyllabic answer when asked if he noticed a difference in physicality against a Big Ten opponent: “No.”

Overall, the Pac-12 was on par with the Big Ten in 2023 in multiple facets of defense, including sacks and tackles for loss.

There was a greater disparity in rushing defense and passing defense. In the former, Big Ten teams allowed an average of 117.3 yards per game while Pac-12 teams gave up 132.58 yards. Big Ten defenses held opponents to an average of 199.82 passing yards a game and Pac-12 defenses yielded 149.175 yards a game.

But physical football can’t be measured in numbers alone. Both conferences had similar rushing offense statistics last season, but there was a clear difference in styles between UCLA and Indiana.

TJ Harden, the Bruins’ leading rusher with 48 yards, relied on his vision and finesse to find gaps. Harden ran around opposing players and even hurdled them, but Indiana’s running backs ran through them. The Hoosiers had 123 rushing yards compared to UCLA’s 96.

Indiana was dealt two roughing the passer penalties and two targeting calls on Saturday night. Garbers was on the receiving end of three of those hits and J. Michael Sturdivant was on the other end of a targeting call.

Garbers played the majority of the game until Justyn Martin entered with 5:29 on the clock. He remained seated on the bench with his eyes forward, hours after banging his fist off his helmet in the first half to signal that there was helmet-to-helmet contact — Indiana was handed a roughing the passer penalty after that play.

“With a lot of people in his face and getting hit and a couple bad snaps, it wasn’t his best performance,” Foster said of Garbers. “But under the circumstances of what happened, this is a team sport. It’s not just Ethan out there, but we gotta keep our quarterback upright.”

Big Ten teams will keep banging on the door, and UCLA has to answer.