Chip Kelly addresses Dante Moore, Ethan Garbers not playing vs. Arizona State

Chip Kelly had to answer for not having Dante Moore and Ethan Garbers play in UCLA’s 17-7 loss to Arizona State. In a less than stellar offensive performance, Collin Schlee got the start.

But with two quarterbacks banged up, Kelly didn’t want to take a risk with his top two signal callers. Chase Griffin came in behind Schlee.

But unless it was absolutely necessary, Moore and Garbers were not playing Saturday.

“They were available in emergency situations,” Kelly said. “They’re getting better. They didn’t take, really, many snaps at all this week. They are both working through things. And the decision was made by our medical staff that the best decision was to not play those guys.”

Schlee finished 11-of-18 passing for 117 yards and one touchdown and ran 14 times for 51 yards. Griffin was 0-for-3 passing.

“I think Collin fought,” Kelly said. “Collin is a competitor. He did some really good things. But I think that it’s on us as coaches. We have got to put Collin in better situations to make plays.”

Moore and Garbers have both had their ups and downs this season, which is evident in UCLA’s 6-4 record this season. But without either one of them playing, the Bruins managed just seven points and little semblance of the explosive offense.

In eight games this season, Moore has 1,344 yards, 10 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 52% completion percentage. As far as Garbers is concerned, he has 786 yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions and a 68.1% completion percentage.

“It’s about our job as coaches is to put those guys into positions to make plays,” Kelly said. “We didn’t do that. That is on us.”

With two games left, UCLA heads to USC and then hosts Cal to make up some ground for a quality postseason game. But it was certainly deflating to lose to Arizona State, which won just its third game of the year.

While the loss wasn’t ideal, UCLA’s season is certainly not over. There’ll be an opportunity to make up ground for the postseason.

“I told them that it was on us, as coaches,” Kelly said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of preparing these guys for this football game. We will come back tomorrow. We have a game against the team across town and that will get our full attention, and we will meet tomorrow as a team.”