EUGENE, Ore. — Fans showed out for the first Oregon Football matchup of the new school year. #13 Oregon welcomed #20 UCLA for a big ten clash in Autzen Stadium.
The game started off quickly with UCLA senior quarterback Nico Iamaleava finding senior wideout Aidan Mizell up the middle for a 62-yard gain, immediately putting UCLA into Oregon territory. After giving up the opening first play, the Oregon defense stiffened up, holding the UCLA offense to only a field goal.
After a quick 4-play drive, the Oregon punt team came up huge, pinning the UCLA offense deep in their own end zone. The Oregon defense immediately pounced with sophomore outside linebacker Nasir Wyatt forcing the fumble, with safety Koi Perich jumping on it and recovering it. Following the turnover, the Oregon offense set up shop at UCLA’s 1-yard line, and on the first play, sophomore running back Jordon Davidson punched it in for a 1-yard touchdown and the opening touchdown for either team. The Oregon offense opted for trickery, trying a trick play for a 2-point conversion, but the UCLA defense was ready, making the score 6-3 at the end of the first. The 2nd quarter started with a defensive battle, with both defenses stifling the opposing offenses. Until Oregon’s 2nd fumble of the game led to UCLA breaking the game wide open. With eight minutes left in the 2nd quarter, 5th-year senior running back Wayne Knight took a direct snap up the middle for a 35-yard touchdown, giving the Bruins the lead 10-6 in the 2nd.
“We weren't successful on offense in either phase,” Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning said about the offensive performance and the multiple turnovers. “You got to protect the ball… we didn't do a good job of that either.” “To be in that game, when you have no business being in that game, with the amount of turnovers we had”
After back-to-back Oregon punts, Iamaleava led the UCLA offense down the field with 2 big-time throws to Brian Rowe JR and Landon Ellis, finding field goal range. On 4th down, the Bruins attempted the field goal to try to extend their lead, but sophomore All-American Brandon Finney Jr. snuck his way into the backfield and tipped the field goal kick, denying the UCLA offense from extending their lead.
The UCLA defense stepped up once again, forcing the Oregon punt. The Bruins offense regained possession with 2 minutes left. As the UCLA Two-Minute offense began to rumble down the field, Oregon linebacker Jerry Mixon jumped the route and picked off Nico Iamaleava. After the INT, the UCLA defense and senior DB Ta’Shawn Jones secured a pick of their own to give the UCLA offense the ball with 32 seconds left and knocking on the door of enemy territory. On a final attempt to score, Iamelaeava took a shot to the end zone, and Perich picked him off for Oregon’s 3rd turnover of the day, sending the game into halftime with Oregon still trailing 10-6.
Coming after the halftime break, the story stayed the same; the Oregon offense punted after a strong UCLA defense came out firing after the break. For the UCLA offense, backup senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach came in at QB after Iameleava suffered an apparent leg injury late in the 2nd quarter. The Oregon defense pounced on the backup QB, sacking him twice during his first starting drive, putting the ball back in the Oregon offense's hands. After a streak of positive plays, Evan Stewart, the veteran wide receiver, caught a play-action pass from Dylan Raiola, but fumbled the ball, giving UCLA possession in Oregon Territory. Coming out of the turnover, the Oregon defense remained strong after a 4th-down conversion attempt by the Bruins. A strong defensive quarter kept both teams off the board in the 3rd, keeping the score 10-3.
Following a scoreless 3rd quarter, the Bruins answered quickly with Dieffenbach finding Knight for a 9-yard touchdown pass for his second score of the day, extending their lead to 17-6 in the 4th. In response to the Buri TD, Oregon opted to make a change at quarterback, putting in Brock Thomas and benching Raiola.
“This isn’t just football; this is life. Tough situations happen, and you have to own them; there is no running around them, there’s no dodging them,” Raiola said on his performance today: “When my wide receivers win, and my O-line gives me time, I've got to make throws.” “I’m going to work my hardest to not let this happen again” Oregon's offense tried to answer the score in the 4th, down two touchdowns, on a 4th-down conversion; Thomas fumbled the snap and gave UCLA the ball back.
After both defenses continued to get stops, Oregon finally built some momentum with a field goal, making the game 9-17. Oregon built on that steam when Thomas found Stewart for a 44-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 2 points with a crucial 2-point conversion pending. After a penalty on the first try, Oregon took the snap from the half-yard mark and gave it to Jordon Davison, and he was met with a wall of Bruin defenders, denying the Ducks their opportunity to tie up the game; the score remained 15-17.
“Going in there and operate… try to give this team a spark.” Thomas said of Coach Lanning putting him in the game for Raiola. “I think not making the moment bigger than it is…going in there with a clean mind and trusting those guys around me, and try to play the best I can.”
With two minutes left, Oregon got the stop they needed, but used all of their timeouts in the process. With 41 seconds left in the game, Thomas and the Ducks tried to claw their way down the field, but in the end it was not enough. On the final play, the Ducks tried to lateral the ball, but it was batted down by a Bruin defender, closing the door on the game, and #20 UCLA took down #13 Oregon with a final score of 17-15.
“There are defining moments in a man's life in how you respond,” Dan Lanning said about how the team will respond moving forward after the loss. “It’s really easy to fold up… all we control is what's in front of us, how we respond tomorrow, how we respond tonight, we'll evaluate it and what’s next.”
Oregon will look to right the ship next week, October 17th, when they will welcome the Nebraska Cornhuskers to Eugene and try to get back in the win column.