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

UCLA may have found something in a season that went completely in the wrong direction.

Justyn time, you could say.

With their starting quarterback sidelined due to injury, the Bruins turned to Justyn Martin and watched the redshirt sophomore make smart, efficient plays in his first college start to keep his team competitive in a game they had to contend with would lose four touchdowns.

On Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, UCLA finally fell 27-11 to No. 7 Penn State, undone by many of the same problems that had plagued them all season, but there was no doubting the promise of the Bruins quarterbacks.

With his first six passes, Martin immediately showed his command of an offense that often seemed like a foreign language to incumbent starter Ethan Garbers. Martin forced no shots and made no poor decisions while playing against one of his best teams in one of college football's most unforgiving environments.

There would be no storybook ending. Martin couldn't pull off a comeback, even though he showed a lot of courage on his team's final drive. The quarterback showed off his speed as he ran twice for first downs, converted a fourth down with a pass to Logan Loya and then caught another one-yard touchdown pass to Loya with 16 seconds left.

It was UCLA's first offensive touchdown since a second-quarter loss to Louisiana State last month and ended a nine-quarter losing streak. The Bruins (1-4 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) managed just 106 of their 260 yards in the second half against the Nittany Lions (5-0, 2-0).

But overall, Martin completed 22 of 30 passes for 167 yards efficiently.

The question now is: 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? Garbers threw a few passes of opportunity during warmups, but it was clear that running was going to be Martin's offense based on the number of reps he took and the extensive instruction he received from quarterbacks coach Ted White.

Martin received important support from a reformulated offensive line. Niki Prongos took over for the injured Reuben Unije at left tackle, Sam Yoon started at center for the first time in his career and Josh Carlin moved from inside linebacker to right guard, the spot he filled last season.

Without showing early nervousness, Martin completed nine of his first 11 passes, calming a crowd of 110,047, the 10th largest in the stadium's history. UCLA led everywhere but on the scoreboard after a first quarter in which it outscored Penn State by a combined 72-28, scored the game's only sack and stopped the Nittany Lions on both third-down attempts.

Trailing 7-0, the Bruins appeared to be on the verge of a tie late in the second quarter after Martin completed a short pass to TJ Harden on a wheel route that turned into a 53-yard catch-and-run for Penn State's 10-yard line. On third-and-goal at the 7, Martin scrambled for a one-yard gain rather than forcing a pass into tight coverage, allowing Mateen Bhaghani to kick a 25-yard field goal that cut Penn State's lead to 7-3.

UCLA's defense also showed early success, just days after UCLA defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe made a passionate and emotional promise to fix the problem. But Penn State quickly went 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 increased the Nittany Lions' lead 14-14 increased. 3.

Penn State was just getting started.