Big Plays Spark Ducks Past Bruins

Saturday, November 3

Eugene, Ore.

4:30 PM

University of Oregon

6-3 , 3-3

UCLA

2-7 , 2-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UCLA

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

11/03/18 | Football

Box Score FINAL STATS: Oregon 42, UCLA 21 Oregon Postgame Notes Oregon Season Stats

Oregon used its special teams to jump out to a lead Saturday, then added a couple late exclamation points to beat UCLA, 42-21.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon football team returned home and returned to its winning ways Saturday night, beating Chip Kelly and the UCLA Bruins, 42-21, before 56,114 fans in Autzen Stadium to end a two-game losing streak and become bowl eligible.

The Ducks improved to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in Pac-12 play with three games left in the regular season. They next travel to Utah, which lost starting quarterback Tyler Huntley to a broken collarbone Saturday, before hosting Arizona State and playing the Civil War on the road.

Top plays from Oregon's 42-21 win over UCLA. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/xa8GWcTLl4
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 4, 2018

Justin Herbert and Dillon Mitchell returned to action after being in concussion protocol earlier in the week, and led the Ducks offensively. Herbert finished 18-of-32 for 264 yards with two touchdowns, both to Mitchell, who caught eight passes for 156 yards and the two scores.

"It feels amazing, two of our top guys coming back ready to go," freshman Jevon Holland said. "It feels awesome."

CJ Verdell, Cyrus Habibi-Likio and Tony Brooks-James added rushing touchdowns for the Ducks, who handed Kelly just his third loss ever at Autzen Stadium as a head coach. Only two of Kelly's seven losses while UO coach from 2009-12 were in Autzen.

Oregon finished with 200 rushing yards, surpassing the combined today from two losses the previous two weeks.

"We heard all week that today was about re-establishing an identity that was about physically running the football," said junior offensive lineman Calvin Throckmorton, who played three positions on the line Saturday, including center after Jake Hanson was ejected for targeting in the second half. "I was really proud of the way we came out really committed to that. It just gives us confidence."

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Oregon's special teams provided a much-needed spark early Saturday, helping the Ducks to much better starts than in their road losses at Washington State and Arizona the previous two weeks. Ugochukwu Amadi returned a punt 56 yards for touchdown to open the scoring, and a fake punt helped set up Verdell's rushing touchdown for a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

In the wake of last week's loss at Arizona, UO coach Mario Cristobal said the staff met individually with every player on the team about ways to end the losing streak.

"Overall, our guys wanted to hold our special teams unit to a higher standard," Cristobal said. "They were gonna take it upon themselves to challenge each other on special teams, and I think what you saw tonight was a product of that."

Mitchell's first touchdown made it 21-0, before UCLA answered to pull within 21-7 at halftime. The teams continued to trade touchdowns, with Habibi-Likio scoring for a 28-7 lead and UCLA answering to make it 28-14 in the third.

Mitchell added some insurance in the fourth when he hauled in a long pass, dodged a defender and finished off a 67-yard scoring play. The Bruins answered that as well to make it 35-21, but Brooks-James broke free for a 54-yard touchdown run and Oregon's defense got a stop in the red zone to finish it off.

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Verdell led the Ducks with 90 rushing yards on 25 carries, and also caught four passes for 38 yards as Oregon used screen passes to counter UCLA loading the box against the run. Troy Dye had 10 tackles to led the defense, and Holland had his team-leading fourth interception, on UCLA's second drive of the game.