PASADENA — Haven’t you heard? UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond hired the right person.

DeShaun Foster repeated it — “Martin hired the right guy” — for the skeptics Friday, echoing his statement from the precious week at Nebraska, explaining it for all our benefits.

Speaking to the media – and YouAlso, be honest — with the game ball at his side, UCLA’s first-year head coach gloated in his first Rose Bowl coaching victory, flashing that megawatt smile after his Bruins, once agitated, have become back to back. support the winners of the Big Ten Conference.

UCLA woke up Saturday morning with a 4-5 record after wore out Iowa with a courageous 20-17 victory under the lights on Friday evening, in front of a crowd of 53,467 people.

Too early to say the Bruins are back?

That may not be the case, no sir. Because even though it was hard to imagine them becoming bowl eligible a month ago after their collapse against Minnesota I left them 1-4, it’s harder to imagine them now not go bowling.

Truly, a remarkable turnaround.

And honestly, the one Foster had planned.

After the Bruins’ 34-13 loss to now No. 1 Oregon On September 28, in what would be their third loss in five games, Foster called for a strong chance of victory: “I know you all see it – some of you choose not to, but they’re getting better and we I’m just going to continue to improve and work hard and eventually things will get better.

And after things went so bad against the Gophers, the guy didn’t flinch, never mind that his Bruins were 1-5 and stuttering offensively, statistically among the worst in the country in total offense, scoring on offense and rushing: “I had some. resilient guys and we will continue to fight and it will change.

He called it, Foster did it. The script has flipped – and, reading it that way, the right way, it’s a very good story. One is about having to take baby bear steps before you can get it right.

“It’s getting better every week,” Foster said Friday. “It wasn’t all of a sudden that we got there and everything fell into place. It gets better every week.

UCLA is coming off an even more precarious start to the season than we initially imagined. First-year head coach’s second, third, fourth and fifth games came against IndianaLSU, Oregon and Penn State, teams that are now ranked No. 8, 14, 1 and 6 in the country – a fire that forged something great.

Because now, UCLA will be bowl eligible if it can win two of its final three games, with the games remaining in Washington and against USC and Fresno State, all of whom are unranked. Tell me the Bruins can’t? Tell me why they won’t win all three?

Quarterback Ethan Garbers feels good: “The goal is to win and become bowl eligible, and I think that’s what we’re going to do.”

After all, they just outplayed Big Ten’d Iowa, chewing time slowly, eating up 37:33 of the clock. They nullified the Hawkeyes’ vaunted running game, holding them to 80 yards rushing, an insignificant drop in the bucket compared to the Big Ten-leading 222.3 yards they averaged entering the game.

Instead, it was UCLA that trucked in, turning to TJ Harden 20 times for 125 yards to lead a rushing attack that yielded a season-high 211 yards.

Beat the spread? The Bruins pulled off a surprise, dancing on the bettors who made them 6.5-point underdogs in their own homecoming game.

And it was a real eyebrow-raising affair, a microcosm of the season so far.

Because it took the Bruins to overcome a potentially disastrous start, a 10-0 first-quarter deficit compounded by interceptions on their first two drives — an early punch that would have tied most teams even. But on the Bruins sideline, Foster’s guys didn’t miss a beat, you could see the helmets moving to the music, as if they knew what was going on.

They just needed a little magic on Mateen Bhaghani’s foot — his 57-yard field goal early in the second quarter was the second longest in program history and, ultimately, the difference in the game — and all went downhill from there.

UCLA, without tight end Moliki Matavao and receivers Rico Flores Jr. and J. Michael Sturdivant, has reached a 415-265 advantage overall. The Bruins darted and flew defensively, again led by linebacker Carson Schwesinger, a former Butkus Award semifinalist, who recorded his first two career interceptions and made seven tackles.

And they stopped the slide and reversed the situation, brought the road show home, just as Foster warned he would – and not just after those lost lessons, but from the moment he was hired in February.