Go beyond the scoreboard
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Two days after tensions flared going into halftime of the crosstown rivalry game, DeShaun Foster remained salty about UCLA being the only team punished.
Three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were called against the Bruins after an exchange that Foster said he was told started when a USC player punched UCLA wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer, leading to jawing between both teams on the way to the locker room.
“It could have been an offsetting penalty and then you move on, but they chose to give us three and them none,” Foster said Monday. “So I guess we were the only ones out there.”
UCLA had chances to beat crosstown rival USC and redefine its season, but a string of incomplete passes and penalties doomed the Bruins on Saturday.
Foster disclosed that Corey Miller, the team’s head football performance coach, received one of the penalties in addition to Gilmer and safety Bryan Addison. Foster said Miller was trying to keep the peace, not escalate tensions.
“He was kind of just separating people and keeping our guys from going onto their side,” Foster said, “so I think that they just kind of saw a big guy and was threatened by what he was doing, but he was just separating — keeping our guys from getting any closer to them.
“You’re just disappointed if anybody gets a call, especially people that understand the discipline because he’s somebody that’s teaching that to our players downstairs [in the weight room], so it was very unfortunate that that happened.”
The penalties forced UCLA to kick off from its own five-yard line to start the third quarter, giving the Trojans the ball at their own 48-yard line after Makai Lemon’s 16-yard return. But USC failed to pick up a first down, giving the ball back to the Bruins after quarterback Jayden Maiava’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
Regardless of whether the fracas was fairly settled by officials, Foster acknowledged that discipline continues to be an issue for a team that committed eight penalties to USC’s two. UCLA has been the most-penalized team in the Big Ten this season, its 90 penalties tying East Carolina for No. 126 among 133 major college teams.
Foster said he’s benched players after receiving unsportsmanlike conduct penalties this season as part of his efforts to enforce discipline, one of the three pillars of the culture he is trying to instill.
“Most of those players have been taken out after that play of any unsportsmanlike penalty that they’ve gotten,” Foster said, “so yeah, we do all of that. … This game, I didn’t get to see most of that stuff and it’s not on camera, so you can’t see what happened — I was already running into the tunnel and came back out because it was right at halftime, but during the season, most of the other stuff I was able to see and we’d get those guys out at that time.”
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Making his case for Carson Schwesinger
(Barry Reeger / Associated Press)
When he met with reporters, Foster brought what amounted to a stump speech.
He was campaigning for Carson Schwesinger, who on Monday was announced as a finalist for the Butkus Award that goes to the nation’s top college linebacker.
Foster rattled off every pertinent statistic, including Schwesinger’s 121 tackles leading the Big Ten, ranking third nationally and exceeding the totals of fellow Butkus Award finalists Barrett Carter (Clemson), Chris Paul Jr. (Mississippi), Danny Stutsman (Oklahoma) and Jalon Walker (Georgia).
After being elevated into a starting role in the season’s third game, against Louisiana State, Schwesinger has logged double-digit tackles in eight of nine starts. In the other game, against Iowa, Schwesinger made two interceptions to help the Bruins beat the Hawkeyes.
“The best part about this,” Foster said, “is that he’s a former walk-on and he’s a bio engineering major.”
USC struggled to put UCLA away early Saturday, but the Trojans roared back to life in the fourth quarter of a rivalry win.
Schwesinger has made the most tackles by a UCLA linebacker since Eric Kendricks tallied 149 in 2014 on the way to winning the Butkus Award. Foster said he sees some similarities between Schwesinger and his celebrated predecessor at the position.
“Their leadership and their actions speak louder than their words,” Foster said. “They get out there and practice at a certain level and they do it daily, so that’s one thing I noticed with E.K., that’s how I knew he was a pro.”
Foster said he found it “weird” that Schwesinger did not also make the list of finalists for the Burlsworth Trophy, which honors the nation’s top player who started his career as a walk-on, but expected the emerging star to make his own case for the Butkus Award on Saturday afternoon against Fresno State at the Rose Bowl.
“I’m glad this game is at 12:30 so the East Coast [viewers] can see the game,” Foster said, “it won’t be too late.”
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Etc.
Foster said wide receiver Rico Flores Jr., who appeared close to a return, had a setback requiring season-ending surgery for an injury that’s expected to keep him sidelined until September or October. Flores appeared in only four games, giving him the opportunity to use 2024 as a redshirt season. … Foster said he was unsure if left tackle Niki Prongos, who has missed the last two games with an unspecified injury, could return Saturday. “I don’t want to put him in a situation where he can get injured even more,” Foster said. “So, we’re just gonna take it slow, make sure that he’s completely healthy” before he plays. … UCLA’s average of 49,162 fans for home games this season is on pace to be its highest since 2018, when it averaged 51,164 during coach Chip Kelly’s first season.
