Oregon Cruises to 45-30 Win Over UCLA
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The Ducks got the opening kickoff to begin the top-10 showdown in Eugene Saturday afternoon.
Bo Nix and the Oregon offense moved the ball quickly up the field on their first drive, using a quick screen to Kris Hutson and a beautiful toe-tap grab from Troy Franklin. They looked determined to establish the rushing attack against the No. 2 run defense in the Pac-12, deploying the now popular 14J formation with true freshmen Josh Conerly Jr. and Jordan James, along with four tight ends to gut out a first down.
However, a false start on Alex Forsyth may have stalled the drive a bit, as the Ducks would end up settling for a 44-yard field goal from Camden Lewis.
UCLA went right to work on their first drive of the game, with Dorian Thompson-Robinson distributing the ball to Kazmeir Allen and Zach Charbonnet through the air. Charbonnet ran strong and took advantage of some poor tackling from the Oregon defense.
The Bruins drove the ball just outside of the red zone but they too would stall after a false start and a hold on Jon Gaines II brought a touchdown pass back. The Bruins would settle for a 47-yard field goal to tie the game 3-3 after one quarter.
A nice return from Seven McGee set up the Oregon offense and a dump off pass to Irving helped keep the chains moving for the Ducks. Later in the drive Nix would pump fake a tunnel screen, leaving Terrance Ferguson wide open for the touchdown to give Oregon a 10-3 lead.
UCLA's offense continued to press on and after avoiding a near interception from Christian Gonzalez the Bruins scored on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Thompson-Robinson to Keegan Jones to knot things back up at 10.
Nix was clinical in the first half, showing off a great feel for the pocket and knowing when to tuck the ball and run. His top highlight of the first half came on a 49-yard touchdown pass that he dropped right in Franklin's bread basket.
Dan Lanning caught Chip Kelly by surprise with a beautiful onside kick from Andrew Boyle on the ensuing kickoff. The Ducks got some great plays out of Chase Cota to propel the offense down the field and Franklin continued his first-half show with a grown man catch all over former Duck defensive back Jaylin Davies despite a pass interference call. The Ducks capped off the drive with two-yard touchdown run from Jordan James.
UCLA looked like they were ready to respond with a beautiful acrobatic catch from Duke transfer Jake Bobo, but despite running the football with power Oregon was able to get a big stop and force a field goal from Barr-Mira to keep the lead at 24-13.
The Oregon offense got the ball back with three minutes to go in the first half and roared down the field behind great runs from Irving, Noah Whittington and Nix before Franklin hauled in his second touchdown in the first half to make it 31-13 Ducks heading into the half.
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UCLA looked liked they were going to punt on their first drive out of the half, but changed their mind at the last minute and converted a fourth-down on a pass to Bobo around midfield. Oregon forced the Bruins to settle for a 33-yard field goal.
The Ducks answered by churning out a 15-play, 82-yard touchdown drive that took 7:30 off the clock. Nix connected with Patrick Herbert out of the backfield before capping off the drive with a touchdown pass to Cam McCormcik. The drive was a great tool for Oregon to keep DTR and the UCLA offense the field and push their lead to 38-16 to end the third quarter.
Jake Bobo came up with another big catch on fourth down to convert and the Bruins continued to pound the rock with Zach Charbonnet en route to their first touchdown of the second half, making it 38-23 early in the fourth.
The Ducks responded by ripping off big chunk runs with Sean Dollars and Whittington. Just when it looked like the Bruins might be able to get a stop, Nix fired a 37-yard pass up the sideline to Irving for his fifth touchdown of the day, extending the lead to 45-23 with 11:37 to go in the game.
UCLA drove deep into the red zone on the ensuing drive and pressure from Noah Sewell forced Thompson-Robinson to scramble on fourth down and Bryan Addison picked off a desperate throw in the end zone.
The Bruins finally forced an Oregon punt and found the end zone in garbage time on a touchdown pass to Bobo.
The Ducks would go on to win 45-30 in a game that wasn't as close as the score suggests. Next up they'll head south to the Bay Area to face the Cal Bears.
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