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But his players knew that the 27-20 win over Nebraska kept them on track to get to six wins and a bowl game.

“It’s gonna be all up to us on how we finish," said linebacker Kain Medrano. “Coach Foster does an unbelievable job of just motivating us day in and day out to keep our heads down and get better each day. Then, in December, we’ll look up and be right where we want to be for a bowl game.�

The Bruins downed the Huskers with time-consuming drives, a pick-six and by forcing Nebraska Dylan Raiola into one his worst performances in his first year.

“We wanted to make sure we could break his rhythm a little bit," Foster said. “He's a really good quarterback. He can make plays with his arms, you know, he extends plays with his legs. And they had a really good old line running back to running hard. But, you know, we just wanted to continue to get out there and not let him stay in the rhythm rather than get comfortable.�

The Bruins kept Raiola uncomfortable before the snap with constantly shifting “mush rush� defenses, said Medrano.

“He had some troubles on the five-down, six-down stuff,� Medrano said. “We were able to confuse him, not knowing where to slide the protection, not knowing who’s coming, who’s not coming. We were able to affect him that way.�

Medrano took advantage of Raiola’s confusion on the first play of the third quarter. Raiola appeared not to see Medrano when he dropped back to pass, allowing the linebacker to reach up, pick off his pass and run it back 38 yards for a touchdown that put the Bruins up 20-7.

“It was a run fake, panic drop back to where I was supposed to be,� Medrano said. "I’ve been working on that I don’t know how many times over the past two years. Got my eyes back to the quarterback, the ball came to me….I did a little hurdling on the run. I used to be a wide receiver. I’ve got some moves up in there, I’m not just a linebacker.�

On the other side of the ball, UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers finished the game hitting 15 of 25 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns, the second a 48-yarder to Kwazi Gilmer that made the score 27-7.

“Ethan's a top-tier quarterback,� Foster said. “As long as we can keep him upright, Ethan can contend with any quarterback out there.�

The Bruins largely kept Garbers upright, giving up just two sacks to the Blackshirts while the quarterback found a rhythm early, spread the ball to nine receivers over the course of the game and led three long first-half scoring drives.

“I feel great,� Garbers said of his performance. “The guys are in the right spots. The protection’s awesome. I'm seeing the defense really well. I think it just goes back to the preparation in the week.�

Garbers also carried the Bruins with his feet, leading the team in rushing with 68 yards, 57 of them coming on a scramble that set up a second-quarter field goal.

“They were in man coverage there,� Garbers said of the run.. “I stepped up in the pocket and nobody was there. So I just took off down the field, had to make one guy miss and off to the races. I’m kinda disappointed in myself, I think I ran out of gas a little bit. But it is what it is.�

UCLA will host Iowa on Friday as it enters the final three games of its season. If they win them all, they’ll be bowl-bound.

But Foster said he won’t be bringing that up.

“I just let them know that this is the one-week season,� he said. “We’re not going to focus on that outcome. This season, the first year (in the Big Ten). We had that gauntlet at first, now we’re in the middle piece that’s like the blue-collar teams we’re playing against. They’re tough. They have a sort of style they play with. Then at the end of the season we have our West Coast run. We’re just trying to get through this blue-collar part.�