Who: UCLA (1-5, 0-4 Big Ten) at Rutgers (4-2, 1-2)

When: Saturday, 9 a.m. PT

Where: SHI Stadium | Piscataway, N.J.

TV: Fox Sports 1

Last meeting: N/A

All-time series: First-ever meeting

The travel miles for the UCLA football team have been a season-long storyline and the Bruins are now on their longest Big Ten trip of the year after leaving Thursday for this weekend’s contest against Rutgers.

After already heading to Penn State and playing nonconference games at Hawaii and Louisiana State, it’s just another flight for UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster.

“I’ll let other people complain about travel,” Foster said. “We play ball.”

The Bruins, who have lost their last five games, look to secure that elusive first-ever Big Ten win when they face the Scarlet Knights in a meeting that could come down to the run game for a few reasons.

Here are five things to watch:

If ever there was a game for the UCLA rushing attack — and the offense as a whole — to get going, Rutgers’ recent struggles would be it.

The Scarlet Knights allowed 309 yards and five rushing touchdowns in last week’s 42-7 home loss to Wisconsin.

The Bruins, who own the nation’s third-worst rushing average per game, have failed to run for more than 96 yards and score more than 17 points in a game all season. UCLA has just two rushing touchdowns this year.

Something has to give.

On the other side, the Bruins own the nation’s 13th-best run defense (92.5 yards per game).

Rutgers sits just shy of 200 yards rushing for the 33rd-best mark. Leading rusher Kyle Monangai has 739 yards and seven touchdowns on the year.

“We’ve got to find a way to stop him, limit his touches,” Foster said.

“He’s just somebody that you have to wrap up. If you see it on tape, a lot of guys are just trying to take their shot and trying to hit him and they’re not wrapping up so the key is you’ve got to wrap him up, and I always say when you’re playing a good running back you’ve got to grab their legs and put it above their head. … He’s another good back and I think he takes pride in his yards after contact, too, so we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us but I know my front is pretty excited about it.”

The Bruins allowed a season-low 41 yards rushing in last week’s 21-17 loss to Minnesota. Three teams have topped 100 yards against UCLA this season led by Oregon’s 153-yard effort.

Avoiding obvious, third-down passing situations has been a struggle for the Bruins because of the lack of rushing attack and a porous offensive line.

So, that makes first and second down all the more critical against a Scarlet Knights pass defense that ranks 30th in FBS at 187 yards allowed per game.

Foster agreed.

“It’s not ideal to be in third-and-8, third-and-9, third-and-15, third-and-20,” Foster said. “It’s not ideal, you don’t have a whole lot of plays for that. So I just think that as long as we can tend to make some plays on first and second down and stay ahead of the chains, we should be OK.”

With UCLA coming off its most heartbreaking loss of the season and Rutgers its most lopsided loss, the first quarter should reveal a lot about whether either side is dealing with any sort of hangover.

Last week was the first time the Bruins grabbed the first lead of a contest all season.

The Scarlet Knights, losers of back-to-back games after a 4-0 start, have failed to score in the first three quarters of each of their last two games.

Foster said this week that left tackle Reuben Unije has not been ruled out for the season while still working his way back from a recent surgery for an undisclosed injury.

Meanwhile, wide receiver Rico Flores Jr., who did not suit up for last week’s game against Minnesota, has been dealing with his own unspecified injury since the start of the season.

Rutgers is licking its own wounds after junior backup running back Samuel Brown V suffered a season-ending lower body injury against Wisconsin. Expect a host of young reserves to handle a few carries including freshman Antwan Raymond.

The Scarlet Knights, who have already lost left guard Bryan Felter and linebacker Mohamed Toure for the season, are also dealing with recent injuries to cornerback Robert Longerbeam and linebacker Tyreem Powell.

Longerbeam and Powell both sat out last week.