PISCATAWAY, NJ – Quarterback Ethan Garbers finally got the UCLA offense going and gave the Bruins their first win in the Big Ten.

Garbers set career highs on Saturday with four touchdown passes, threw for 383 yards and a 49-yard TD run, and UCLA ended a streak of five losses in five games with a 35-32 victory over struggling Rutgers .

Garbers completed 32 of 38 passes and scored on passes of 5 yards to Logan Loya, 22 to TJ Harden, 67 to Keegan Jones and 9 to New Jersey’s Jalen Berger as UCLA (2-5, 1-4) swept the Scarlet Knights (4-3, 1-3) their third straight loss.

“Nothing beats ultimately getting your first (Big 10) win,” Garbers said. “This is the best feeling in the world. All statistics don’t matter. Seeing my boys smile and knowing we’re going to have a good five-hour flight is all that matters.”

UCLA enters the game as the only FBS team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game this season. That streak was over at halftime when UCLA took a 21-10 lead. Garbers threw two touchdowns and had his long scramble as Eric Bieniemy’s offense finally became clear to coach DeShaun Foster.

The Bruins, who rushed for a season-high 478 yards, had not had a six-game losing streak since the end of the 2017 season and the start of 2018.

Reigning conference rushing champion Kyle Monangai’s third touchdown brought Rutgers within 35-32, but Grant Gray recovered the onside kick and UCLA ran out of time. Gray actually returned the kick about 50 yards for an apparent touchdown, but it was canceled because a teammate signaled for a fair catch.

“The fourth quarter may not have gone the way we wanted it to, but the first half really did,” Foster said. “Really happy for Ethan. He made some really good reads and was able to control the pace.”

The Scarlet Knights got within 21-19 in the third quarter with their first touchdown and a field goal from Jai Patel.

Two plays later, Garbers threw a short swing pass to Jones while Rutgers fumbled coverage. The running back scampered down the Rutgers sideline untouched and scored. It was the Bruins’ longest passing game of the season and it was never close until the end.

“With guys like Keegan Jones, he turns it from the line of scrimmage into a 20- or 40-yard gain,” said Garbers, who noted that Jones had 100 yards after his catches. “Today he turned it into a home visit.”

Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis had his best game in weeks, scoring on an early 1-yard sneak and going 18 of 30 for 287 yards. Patel finished the game with two field goals. Monagai managed 106 yards rushing on 19 carries, gaining 6, 5 and 1 yards.

“I’m not going to come here feeling like the sky is falling, I promise you that,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. “We did a lot of good things out there today. We just weren’t good enough to win. I didn’t play well enough to win.”

Big picture

UCLA: It’s the best game of the year, especially offensively. Garbers completed 84% of his passes and became the second quarterback in UCLA history to complete more than 30 passes, for a completion percentage above 80.0. The other was Dorian Thompson-Robinson against Southern Cal in 2021.

Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights are in trouble. Their strength is their defense, which has conceded 77 points in the last two games. The tackles have been terrible and too many players have been injured in recent weeks, particularly defensive player Aaron Lewis.

“How do you run for 223 yards after a catch?” Schiano said. “That means we didn’t do a particularly good job, and it’s not just the DBs and it’s not just the linebackers. It’s all of them. We didn’t do a particularly good job in the pass rush, where the quarterback had the opportunity to extend plays. We just didn’t play well defensively.”

Next:

UCLA: Has a bye next week and returns to action Nov. 2 at Nebraska.

Rutgers: At Southern Cal on Friday night.

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AP College Football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll