PASADENA, Calif. _ This was new, and this was puzzling. There was Washington's top-ranked scoring defense, featuring a secondary touted as good as the Huskies have ever had, looking gassed, feeling leaky and getting torched by UCLA's true-freshman quarterback.
What at halftime looked like a potential runaway win for No. 10 Washington turned instead into a hold-on-for-dear-life fourth quarter.
The Huskies did hold on, however uncomfortably, riding the legs of Myles Gaskin and Jake Browning en route to a 31-24 victory over winless UCLA on Saturday night in the Rose Bowl.
It's the Huskies' first victory over the Bruins in Pasadena since November 1995.
Gaskin ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including a rest-easy 2-yard score on a direct snap with 3:42 remaining to give the Huskies a two-touchdown lead.
Browning threw one touchdown pass and ran for another as Washington improved to 3-0 in the Pac-12 ahead of next week's much-anticipated showdown against No. 18 Oregon in Eugene. The Ducks (4-1) were idle this weekend.
UCLA fell to 0-5 in Chip Kelly's first season, but the Bruins gave the Huskies a scare late.
The Bruins have the youngest roster in the Pac-12 _ with 52 freshmen and just seven seniors _ and they have had perhaps the league's toughest schedule early in the season. The combined record of UCLA's first five opponents: 22-2.
Leading 24-7, the Huskies appeared in control at halftime.
But the Bruins controlled the third quarter, getting a long field goal from JJ Molson to cut UW's lead to 24-10.
UCLA's freshman quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, then capped a 17-play drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Wilson on the first play of the fourth quarter.
The Bruins converted all six of their third downs in the third quarter, and they cut the Huskies' lead to 24-17 with 14:53 remaining.
The Huskies finally got some breathing room back with an 81-yard drive that chewed up nearly seven minutes off the clock. Gaskin ended that drive with a 2-yard touchdown, pushing the lead to 31-17 with 3:42 left.
UCLA charged right back, scoring on a 2-yard TD run from Joshua Kelly with 1:38 remaining, bringing the Bruins within 31-24.
UW senior tight end Drew Sample then recovered UCLA's onside kick attempt and the Huskies were able to run out the clock.
