JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Oregon running back
Maurice Morris is tackled by Marques
Anderson. Morris went on to rush for 139
yards on 37 carries and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the
Ducks’ 29-10 victory over UCLA on Saturday in Eugene.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Contributor
EUGENE, Oregon — Road trips are not always fun. No. 6 UCLA
found this out quickly en route to a 29-10 defeat Saturday against
Oregon at Autzen Stadium.
Tough Duck defense, missed opportunities and a raucous Eugene
crowd contributed to the loss. The Bruins were held to negative
nine yards rushing. Duck linebackers Matt Smith and Saul Patu kept
UCLA tailback DeShaun Foster in check throughout the game.
The defensive effort was particularly important to Oregon
defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti, formerly of UCLA, who left Los
Angeles after a poor 1998 season that saw the defense publicly
criticized by UCLA head coach Bob Toledo.
“This was great for Aliotti,” Patu said.
“He’s a great coach, and I love him to
death.”
Aliotti’s defensive schemes kept the Bruins stymied all
game. Quarterback Ryan McCann was hounded throughout the contest
and completed just 13 of 33 passes.
 JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Tailback
DeShaun Foster is wrapped up by a gang of Ducks.
Oregon smothered the Bruins’ running game, holding
Foster to just 49 yards on 19 carries and the team
as a whole to negative 9 yards on the ground.
The Bruins were also victimized by untimely breaks. Wide
receiver Jon Dubravac dropped a sure touchdown pass in the fourth
quarter, and flanker Freddie Mitchell had a touchdown taken away
when it was ruled that he stepped out of bounds.
“They saw it, everybody saw it,” Mitchell said.
“But that’s the way it goes, home court advantage. With
the crowd too it’s kind of like playing against 13
guys.”
The home field advantage was deafening on Saturday. There were
no sitting ducks as the green and yellow-clad crazies were at their
best. Â Â
UCLA was charged with six false start penalties and was unable
to call any audibles due to the noise of the crowd.
“I didn’t hear a snap count all day,” Mitchell
said. “That doesn’t effect me, but it hurts the
linemen.”
Autzen Stadium seats just 45,000, but the proximity of the seats
to the field, as well as the crowd’s enthusiasm, make Eugene
one of the toughest places to play. Â
The Ducks extended their home win streak to 17 by defeating
UCLA, the last team to beat them at home. Â
 JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The Ducks’ racous
fans helped Oregon win its 17th straight home victory in Autzen
Stadium on Saturday against UCLA.
Following the contest, the fans stormed the field to
congratulate their team.
“You really have to hand it to Oregon,” Toledo said.
“They make a lot of noise. This is a great place to
play.”
The Ducks got on the board first following a big third-and-13
conversion. Quarterback Joey Harrington plunged through the UCLA
defense to put the Ducks up 7-0.
UCLA dodged a bullet when Oregon kicker Josh Frankel missed a
pair of field goals before finally making one. The Bruins headed
into the locker room at halftime thankful for a deficit of just 10
points.
The third quarter seemed to belong to the Bruins. As Chris
Griffith field goal, followed by a Drew Bennett to Freddie Mitchell
touchdown pass, pulled the Bruins even at 10-10.
But the Ducks, and their crowd, would not be denied. Maurice
Morris, who ran for a game-high 139 yards and two touchdowns, began
to take his toll on the Bruin defense.
“We kept fighting out there,” Bruin linebacker
Robert Thomas said. “But in the end we started wearing
down.”
 JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Freddie
Mitchell is ruled out of bounds on what would have been a
touchdown catch in a controversial call in the third quarter.
The Ducks seemed to turn the tables on a Bruin team that has
used a tough ground game and stellar defense to beat two No. 3
ranked teams this year. As a team, the Ducks rushed for 208 yards
and held UCLA to just 197 total yards.
Defensively, the Bruins were forced to remain on the field
almost 13 minutes more than the Ducks’ defense. In addition,
the team was without All-American hopeful Kenyon Coleman, who
recently underwent knee surgery to repair an injury suffered
against Michigan. This, coupled with fuel from the fans, led to 361
total yards for Oregon.
“It’s a lot different than playing at home,”
defensive tackle Kenny Kocher said. “I don’t know if
the crowd affected the defense, but it was a lot
different.”
The Bruins fell apart in the end. Unable to advance the ball,
UCLA was forced to punt late in the fourth quarter, leading to a
Maurice Morris touchdown.
And then, with less than two minutes to play, Oregon recovered a
fumbled snap by the Bruins to put the game away.
UCLA became the most recent top-10 team to fall to a Pac-10
opponent, but this defeat hurts even more because it came during
conference play. The Bruin loss makes it even more clear that the
Pac-10 season is up for grabs.
The Bruins look forward to returning to the friendly confines of
the Rose Bowl next weekend when the Arizona State Sun Devils come
to town.
UCLA knows what it has to do to salvage a strong conference
season.
“We need to throw the ball better,” Toledo said.
“We need to execute better.”
This game was the first this season in which the Bruins’
defense seemed to waver. The Bruins came up with big stops against
Alabama and Michigan but was unable to control the Ducks short
passing game.
“We need to look at the films,” defensive end Rusty
Williams said. “You’re never quite as good as you
think.”
With Coleman and quarterback Cory Paus out for at least two more
weeks, the Bruins are looking forward to the bye week that follows
their game against ASU.
They should take comfort in the fact that the next out of state
road trip will not come until Oct. 28 against Arizona.