INGLEWOOD, Calif. (CNS) — A UCLA defense without its best player and coordinator will face a Boise State offense led by a quarterback who has never thrown a college pass in Saturday’s LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium.

Defensive lineman Laiatu Latu, the Lombardi Award winner as college football’s best lineman and the Pac-12’s Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year, has opted out of the game to focus on finishing school and preparing for the NFL draft, coach Chip Kelly said.

D’Anton Lynn accepted USC’s offer to be its defensive coordinator Dec. 1. In his one season as the Bruins’ defensive coordinator, Lynn elevated UCLA’s defense from ranking No. 87 in 2022 to finishing the 2023 regular season ranked No. 11 among Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

UCLA will also be without quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson, who was hired as offensive coordinator at Oregon State, his alma mater, and tight ends coach Jeff Faris, who resigned to become coach of Austin Peay in his native Tennessee.

Ikaika Malloe, the outside linebackers and defensive line coach, will call the defensive plays, defensive analysts Clancy Pendergast and Greg Burns will be “on-field” coaches and director of leadership Ken Niumatolo has been coaching the quarterbacks in the preparation for the game.

Pendergast was USC’s defensive coordinator in 2013 and from 2016-19, a position he also held with California, the Arizona Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs.

Burns joined the UCLA coaching staff in 2021 as a defensive analyst after being a defensive backs coach at 11 colleges, including USC, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, since 1996.

Niumatolo was hired by UCLA in March to be an adviser to the football staff and players after being Navy’s coach from 2007-22.

Freshman C.J. Tiller, a Rancho Cucamonga High alum, will start at quarterback for the Broncos in place of Talen Green, who announced Monday he would be transferring to Arkansas after starting 11 of the season’s 12 games, including the 44-20 upset of UNLV in the Mountain West Championship that advanced Boise State to the LA Bowl.

Green was the offensive MVP of the Mountain West Championship, throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns while running for 90 yards and another score.

Maddux Madsen, the backup quarterback most of the season, suffered a season-ending knee injury Nov. 11.

Tiller’s college career has consisted of a handoff and kneeling down to end a 45-10 victory over Utah State on Nov. 18.

“He’s had a really good week of practice,” coach Spencer Danielson said. “He’s done a great job controlling what he can control. He’s been prepping. We talk all the time about earning the confidence to play well, and he’s earning that every day, every practice, every snap.”

Boise State started the season 4-5 and was facing its first losing season since 1997. The Broncos then defeated New Mexico, 42-14, on Nov. 11 to even their record, but coach Andy Avalos was fired the next day and replaced on an interim basis by Danielson, who had been the defensive coordinator.

Boise State won its first three games under Danielson, improving to 8-5.

Director of athletics Jeramiah Dickey announced Dec. 3 that Danielson had the job on a permanent basis, subject to approval by the Idaho State Board of Education.

Danielson, who turned 35 on Nov. 11, played linebacker at Azusa Pacific from 2009-11. He began his coaching career in 2013 as a graduate assistant with the Cougars and was their linebackers coach from 2014-16.

Azusa Pacific dropped its football program following the 2020 season because of rising costs associated with the lack of local play. The Cougars were the only NCAA Division II program in California, forcing them to travel extensively.

Danielson was hired by the Broncos as a graduate assistant in 2017, promoted to an assistant coach in 2018, coaching stand-up defensive linemen, was the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach in the 2019 and 2020 seasons, and defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach from 2021 until his promotion to coach.

The Bruins (7-5) enter the LA Bowl with three losses in their last four games, with the lone victory coming over crosstown rival USC.

UCLA’s practices this week coincided with finals, which ended Friday.

“The biggest thing for us all week was really just finals and working around that a little bit,” coach Chip Kelly said. “We had a couple days where we were missing certain kids at certain positions, but we worked around it.

The teams have one common opponent — San Diego State. The Bruins defeated the Aztecs, 35-10, Sept. 9, while Boise State was a 34-31 winner Sept. 22.

UCLA is seeking its first bowl victory since defeating Kansas State, 40-35, in the Alamo Bowl Jan. 2, 2015. They are 0-3 in bowl games since then, including last season’s 37-35 loss to Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl.

This will be the second meeting between the teams. The Bruins were a 38-7 winner in 1999.

Retired star NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski will be the game’s host, and make a “specialized grand entrance, preside over the coin toss and close out the night with the trophy presentation,” presenting the winning team with a championship belt, according to organizers.

Gronkowski announced Monday that he will sing the national anthem, accompanied by the New Directions Veterans Choir.

UCLA opened as a 2 1/2-point favorite and is now a 6 1/2-point favorite.

The LA Bowl has the fifth choice among Pac-12 teams after the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six games to face the Mountain West Conference champion. The Mountain West representative has won the previous two LA Bowls.

The game is officially known as the Starco Brands LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk under a naming rights agreement announced Dec. 1.

Starco Brands bills itself as a “21st century consumer goods company,” with brands including the vodka-infused whipped cream Whipshots; the body care brand Art of Sport designed for athletes co-founded by the late Kobe Bryant; the first indulgent theater-popcorn spray Winona; the hypoallergenic fragrance Skylar; and the non-dairy nutrition brand Soylent.

The game was known as the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl for its first two editions.

The game is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be televised by ABC.