UCLA football: 3 takeaways from LA Bowl victory over Boise State

Bowl season kicked off with a tremendous day of action on Saturday, and the LA Bowl between UCLA football and Boise State kept the ball rolling in the primetime slot.

The Bruins outscored the Broncos 28-6 in the second half to grab the victory.

Here's what we learned from a fun night in Los Angeles.

1. A tale of two halves

At halftime of this game, it looked like Boise State was headed towards a victory. The score was 16-7, and the Broncos were running the ball at will. It felt like that lead was going to get extended on the strength of Ashton Jeanty and George Holani picking up chunk after chunk of yardage on the ground.

Then, the third quarter happened.

First, UCLA capped off a seven-play, 87-yard drive with a touchdown pass from Ethan Garbers to Kyle Ford to bring the margin to just two.

TJ Harden then found the end zone twice in the last few minutes of the period. With 3:03 remaining, he punched the ball in from one yard out, then scored on a 14-yard scamper with 19 seconds left.

The fourth quarter was less eventful, but with the score now 28-16 in the Bruins' favor, that was to their benefit.

An Alex Johnson interception of CJ Tiller with 6:18 felt like the Boise State spirit-breaker that put this result in the category of "inevitable". A 40-yard touchdown pass from Garbers to J Michael Sturdivant on the very next play confirmed that.

For a team that had a disappointing season and was missing several of its best players, this was an extremely impressive display of resilience.