Justyn Martin shows poise and promise, but UCLA still falls to Penn State

UCLA might have found something in a season wildly veering in the wrong direction.

Justyn time, you might say.

With their starting quarterback sidelined by injury, the Bruins turned to Justyn Martin and watched the redshirt sophomore make smart, efficient plays early in his first start to keep his team competitive in a game it was expected to lose by four touchdowns.

UCLA eventually wilted in a 27-11 loss to No. 7 Penn State on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, undone by many of the same issues that have plagued it all season, but there was no doubting the promise shown by the Bruins quarterback.

“Took command of the offense and just made plays,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said, “so we just have to build off this and just hopefully we can build some momentum and get going.”

Completing his first six passes, Martin immediately showed command of an offense that often looked like a foreign language to incumbent starter Ethan Garbers. Martin didn’t force throws or make bad decisions while playing in one of college football’s most unforgiving environments against one of its best teams.

“I didn’t have nerves — I was more excited,” said Martin, who learned he would get the start in pregame warmups after Foster decided to hold out Garbers as a precaution based on the slick field conditions. “You know, it’s like my first game in about three years.”

There would be no storybook ending. Martin could not engineer a comeback, even if he did display plenty of grit on his team’s final drive. The quarterback showed his speed when he twice ran for first downs. He showed poise by converting a fourth down with a short pass to Logan Loya. He showed touch when he connected with Loya again on a one-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left near the side of the end zone.

“The biggest thing for us is to finish, no matter what the score is,” Martin, who completed 22 of 30 passes for 167 yards. “We didn’t come out here to lay over, we came out here to win and play to the last snap.”

The question now: Do the Bruins stick with Martin or go back to Garbers once the redshirt senior recovers from the unspecified injury he suffered last week against Oregon?

Foster intimated that Garbers would retain his starting job going forward, adding that he would have to rewatch the game to see if Martin had done enough to make it a competition.

“This is Ethan’s team,” said Foster, noting that Garbers could return against Minnesota next weekend if he continues the same rate of progression in his recovery. “He’s our quarterback and, you know, I think everybody has rallied behind him. But, you know, the type of player that Justyn is, I think he’ll understand the situation, and he’ll continue to get reps and just continue to get more growth throughout the season.”

Garbers threw a few casual passes during warmups, but it was clear it was going to be Martin’s offense to run based on the number of repetitions he took and the heavy amount of teaching he received from quarterbacks coach Ted White.

Read more: ‘I just don’t want to let down this team’: Ikaika Malloe is driven to fix UCLA’s defense

Martin said offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy also helped by calling plays that maximized his understanding of the scheme.

“I didn’t really have to do, like, too much thinking,” Martin said. “How we prepped during the week was, you know, pretty much what we saw out there. So it was pretty easy to just go out there and execute the plays he called.”

Martin received another major assist from a reformulated offensive line. Niki Prongos took the injured Reuben Unije’s spot at left tackle, Sam Yoon made his first start at center and Josh Carlin moved from center back to right guard, the spot he occupied last season.

The line wore down a bit in the second half, yielding both of its sacks as an offense that once looked lively managed only 106 yards over the final two quarters.

Before the game, Garbers told Martin to appreciate the moment and the chance to play a game he loved in front of so many people. For a while, he did just that.

Showing no early jitters, Martin completed nine of his first 11 passes while quieting a crowd of 110,047 that was the 10th biggest in the history of this stadium. UCLA led everywhere but the scoreboard after a first quarter in which it topped Penn Statein total yardage, 72-28, notched the only sack and stopped the Nittany Lions on both of their third-down attempts.

Trailing, 7-0, the Bruins appeared on the verge of possibly pulling into a tie late in the second quarter after Martin completed a short pass to T.J. Harden on a wheel route that turned into a 53-yard catch-and-run to Penn State’s 10-yard line. On third and goal at the seven, Martin scrambled for a one-yard gain instead of forcing a pass into tight coverage, allowing Mateen Bhaghani to kick a 25-yard field goal that shaved Penn State’s lead to 7-3.

UCLA’s defense also showed early promise just days after UCLA defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe made an impassioned, emotional pledge to fix what was wrong. But Penn State drove quickly for a touchdown on its final drive of the first half, with quarterback Drew Allar completing passes of 12, 24 and 25 yards before finding Tyler Warren for a five-yard touchdown that pushed the Nittany Lions’ advantage to 14-3.

Penn State was just getting started even if the Bruins did deliver a parting shot with Martin’s late touchdown pass.

“The way that my guys fight, how resilient they are,” Foster said, “those are really good things to build off of.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.