Outgoing Bruins savor memories despite crushing loss to Washington

PASADENA Garrett DiGiorgio high-fived Bruin football fans above the Rose Bowl’s tunnel on his way to the locker room. The redshirt senior offensive lineman appeared cheery, smiling, even after a heavy defeat to Washington. It was his last moments at the Rose Bowl savoring every last bit of oxygen from Pasadena before returning to Westwood Village. “Win or loss, the last five years for me have been amazing, super grateful to be at this university and to be able to play in the historic Rose Bowl,” DiGiorgio said. “Definitely a high emotional game just afterwards, too I had a lot of family out here. So it’s good having people support me through the last game here.” Athletic director Martin Jarmond greeted every player and coach coming off the field, similarly to how he had provided graduating Bruins, such as DiGiorgio, a pat on the back and a “congrats” during the pregame Senior Day festivities. The scene following UCLA’s 48-14 defeat to Washington (8-3, 5-3 Big Ten) on Saturday night was like saying goodbye to an old friend or a “have a great summer” to a college roommate. Emotions ran high, but even under the pain of defeat, smiles emerged. Redshirt sophomore defensive Cole Martin hurled his gloves into the crowd, potentially creating a keepsake for a young UCLA fan, building a connection beyond watching the Bruins play, even after a deafeningly poor loss. Martin was once that young fan watching on the sidelines as his dad, Demetrice Martin, coached UCLA’s secondary at the Rose Bowl. His greatest football fan memories, he told the Southern California News Group earlier this season, came watching the early-to-mid 2010s UCLA teams as a kid. Now, Cole Martin, a Pasadena native, was potentially sharing his ultimate moments with his dad, who returned to Westwood alongside him before the season on the Rose Bowl grass as the program’s future at the historic stadium beyond 2025 remained in limbo. “Rose Bowl is everything to me born and raised in Pasadena, California,” Cole Martin said, before pausing. “The Rose Bowl means a lot to me. It makes me emotional thinking about it. It’s everything to me for sure.” BRUIN FIRSTS A handful of freshmen made sneaky impressions under the circumstances of a fourth consecutive loss. Freshman defensive tackle Cole Cogshell had played sparingly across four games in 2025. The Pasadena native, a John Muir High School alumnus, dreamed of playing at the Rose Bowl, according to his player profile on UCLA football’s website. Saturday, Cogshell earned his wish and made a true impact. The 6-foot-2, 245 lbs edge rusher tallied four tackles and one sack, the first of his career, and UCLA’s second sack since its victory over Michigan State on Oct. 11. Cogshell smacked Washington backup quarterback Kai Horton to the ground for a nine-yard loss, a highlight moment as he shed his redshirt, playing in his fifth game of the season He wasn’t the only defensive newcomer to make an impact. Redshirt freshman Jamir Benjamin, a defensive back from Lansing, Michigan, has appeared in every game for the Bruins, whether on special teams or in the secondary. In the fourth quarter on Saturday, Benjamin recovered a fumble after redshirt freshman defensive back Kanye Clark forced a fumble on a punt return and brought it home for a 13-yard scoop and score. The play marked Benjamin’s first fumble recovery, and Clark’s first forced fumble the third-year Bruin’s first turnover of any kind. UCLA had yet to score on a turnover in 2025. UCLA had already comfortably lost the game as the clock churned under a minute to go in the fourth quarter, but that didn’t stop one more first from occurring. Freshman running back Karson Cox, a former consensus four-star prospect from Oak Hills High School in Hesperia, made his collegiate debut. Helping his teammates in a scout team uniform all season donning purple for Washington during mid-week practices it was now Cox’s turn for carries. The 5-foot-11 tailback pushed forward for two carries for eight yards, his final run bringing the clock to zero for the Bruins’ final home game of the season.
https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2025/11/23/outgoing-bruins-savor-memories-despite-crushing-loss-to-washington/

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