LOS ANGELES — UCLA practiced a fake spike last week, never imagining that it would cap off the biggest comeback in school history.
Josh Rosen faked the spike and threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Lasley with 43 seconds remaining and UCLA overcame a 34-point deficit to stun Texas A&M 45-44 on Sunday night.
“How many seconds were left when we did it? 40? That’s when we thought of it. Not before then,” UCLA offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said.
Rosen was 35 of 59 for 491 yards and four fourth-quarter touchdowns, and Jalen Starks and Soso Jamabo had scoring runs for the Bruins in the opener for both teams.
UCLA overcame a deficit of more than 20 points for the first time since overcoming a 22-0 hole in the first quarter of the 2005 Sun Bowl against Northwestern.
Rosen threw for 292 yards and the four scoring passes in the final 15 minutes to overcome a 27-point margin.
“My career at UCLA, we’ve had a lot of times where the chips didn’t fall in our favor, and I think it’s time that finally it did,” Rosen said.
UCLA scored touchdowns on five straight possessions after trailing 44-10 with 4:08 to play in the third quarter. Rosen threw touchdown passes of 9 and 42 yards to Darren Andrews before finding Theo Howard for a 16-yard score on a broken play with 3:08 remaining.
UCLA got the ball back with 2:39 to go and drove 66 yards in 10 plays, including an 11-yard throw and catch to tight end Caleb Wilson. Rosen capped the remarkable comeback with a fade to the far corner of the end zone after faking the spike to freeze the defense. JJ Molson kicked the winning extra point.
The intent of the fake was to catch Texas A&M off guard, but the Aggies were already discombobulated by a series of breakdowns that had allowed UCLA back into the game.
The most memorable happened when cornerback Deshawn Capers-Smith was in position to intercept Rosen’s pass, only for it to sail through his hands to Andrews for the 42-yard strike that cut it to 44-31 with 8:12 to play.
Braden Mann also had a 43-yard field goal with 4:41 remaining tipped by defensive back Adarius Pickett.
“We were an inch away from losing that game probably 10 times,” said Rosen, who threw for the third-most yards in a game in school history. “I mean, for God’s sakes, I mean, that field goal would have put us out, and we just had an incredible surge and effort just to put probably a centimeter of a finger on the ball. I mean, the things that had to go right to win this game were incredible.”
Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond was stopped short of the first-down marker on a scramble with 20 seconds left to close out the biggest FBS comeback since 2006.
“It was a lot of fun, huh? Glad you stuck around?” UCLA coach Jim Mora said. “We knew that this was not going to be an easy game, but we didn’t know we were going to be down 28 points at halftime. I was just so impressed by the way that they managed their emotions at halftime and then coming back in the second half.”
Wilson had 15 receptions for 203 yards, and Andrews had 12 catches for 147 yards.
Trayveon Williams rushed for 203 yards and two touchdowns, and Keith Ford added 114 yards rushing and three touchdowns for Texas A&M. The Aggies lost for only the second time in six openers under coach Kevin Sumlin.
Rosen spent much of the game under constant pressure from Texas A&M for the second straight season until mounting the stunning comeback. After being sacked five times last season in a 31-24 overtime loss at College Station, Rosen was dropped three times and lost two fumbles in his return after missing the final six games last year with a shoulder injury.
No. 21 Virginia Tech beats No. 22 West Virginia 31-24
LANDOVER, Maryland — Josh Jackson passed for 235 yards, ran for 101 and accounted for two touchdowns in his first start for Virginia Tech, and the No. 21 Hokies made a last-second stand to beat No. 22 West Virginia 31-24 on Sunday night.
The 52nd meeting between the Appalachian region rivals was the first since 2005. It ended up being a classic at FedEx Field, which turned into Lane Stadium northeast at the end. Hokies fans screamed along to “Enter Sandman” after Virginia Tech held the Mountaineers out of the end zone on two last plays from the 15.
After 11 years, the Hokies get to bring the Black Diamond Trophy back to Blacksburg.
Jackson, the redshirt freshman who won a three-way competition for the job, was up and down with his passing, but showed off some nifty moves running in the opener for both teams. His 46-yard keeper up the middle set up Travon McMillian’s 3-yard touchdown run that put Virginia Tech up 31-24 with 6:30 left.
West Virginia’s new quarterback looked good, too. Florida transfer Will Grier, who left Gainesville after being suspended by the NCAA for failing a test for performance-enhancing drugs in 2015, pass for 371 yards and three touchdowns.
