Today in History: UCLA Football, Bolu Olorunfunmi Leap to Home Victory Over Oregon
It was Homecoming weekend in Westwood, and the Bruins welcomed the Ducks to town for an October day game at the Rose Bowl.
The year was 2017, and four years later, the same exact scenario has presented itself to the two teams with even more on the line.
UCLA football will play Oregon on Saturday, the first time the teams have played on the Bruins' turf since that 2017 matchup. While the Bruins and Ducks are a combined 10-3 this time around, both looking to make serious noise in the postseason, the same couldn't be said for the prior showdown.
After opening the year 2-0 and sneaking into the top 25 for one week, UCLA lost three of four and entered the game against Oregon .500 overall with a losing record in Pac-12 play. The Ducks had also lost three of their previous four and were in the middle of their worst two-season stretch since the early 1990s.
Both teams would wind up losing the bowls they narrowly qualified for and both had new coaches by year's end. This would be the first and last matchup between Jim Mora and Willie Taggart, and maybe worst of all, it was broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
With all of the details building up to an irrelevant, historically meaningless game, the Bruins still enforced their will that sunny Saturday. If nothing else, they at least got an iconic highlight reel play out of it.
UCLA opened things up with a touchdown run by running back Soso Jamabo, and then extended that lead to 14 when quarterback Josh Rosen hit receiver Christian Pabico for a 31-yard score later in the first quarter.
Oregon answered with 14 points of its own in the second quarter, tying things up heading into the half thanks to two 15-play drives that went 75 and 76 yards and ended with touchdown runs by quarterback Braxton Burmeister.
The third quarter was all Bruins, starting with a defensive stop and ensuing long field goal drive that helped them take a three-point lead. After forcing another punt, UCLA started its next drive on its own 13 and only held onto possession thanks to a 49-yard completion from Rosen to Pabico that set them up just outside of the Oregon red zone.
The next play is really the only reason this game is remembered by anyone, even just a couple years later.
Running back Bolu Olorunfunmi had 25 yards on six carries to that point in the game, and he outmatched that production on his next touch alone.
Olorunfunmi lined up next to Rosen in the shotgun, and took the ball through a hole on the right side at the 22 yard line. He went untouched deep into Duck territory, but had one man to beat once he got inside the 5.
Pabico was spun around trying to make the block out in front, so Olorunfunmi decided to take a rather unorthodox route into the end zone. Olorunfunmi leapt up and over cornerback Jihree Stewart, standing on the defender's shoulders at the goal line before tumbling in for six.
The Bruins took care of business down the stretch, tacking on another touchdown in the fourth quarter to win 31-14.
Olorunfunmi earned praise in the moment, and the play was all over social media and highlight packages for weeks beyond the game. UCLA went 2-4 for the rest of the 2017 season, however, and Mora was soon on his way out in favor of Chip Kelly.
The 220-pound running back with quite the vertical leap played six more games for the Bruins, picking up four touchdowns in the first three weeks of 2018 while averaging 2.7 yards per carry. The last time Olorunfunmi played in a UCLA uniform was actually Kelly's first win with the team, a road game against Cal.
Those late Mora teams and early Kelly teams were full of inconsistencies, contradictions and a whole collection of players, highlights and decisions that have since faded into relative obscurity.
Olorunfunmi's touchdown isn't one of them, standing out as a novel bright spot in an otherwise bleak period of Bruin football. Not only that, but it also played a big part in helping UCLA beat Oregon – the only such occurrence in their last nine meetings dating back to 2008.
With the Bruins and Ducks facing off again under the bright California sun on Saturday, this time with significantly higher stakes, maybe the blue and gold could use a little Olorunfunmi magic and fly to another victory.
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