As UCLA place kicker Chris Griffith’s potential
game-winning field goal hurtled through the air, the Bruins hung on
to each other. After all, the team that was kicked when it was down
last season had to prove that it could pull it together.
But all Griffith kicked up were the Bruins’ hopes.
Even on a Saturday when many things actually went right for UCLA
against No. 7 Oregon, the 46-yard kick swerved wide left with 1:54
left in the game, leaving the Bruins shattered. It was true; Oregon
won 31-30. For the second straight year, the defending Pac-10
champion Ducks escaped with one-point victories after
Griffith’s gaffe.
“This is the worst feeling ever,” UCLA defensive
tackle Steve Morgan said.
“I didn’t believe in déjà vu. I thought
for sure we were going to win. To see it fall wide, I had a sinking
feeling in my stomach.”
Before the game, Griffith, who missed a last-second 50-yarder
against Oregon last year, said he wanted the chance to make up for
it. The all-conference kicker believed it would come down to his
foot again. He was right, but instead of redemption, he only got
red-faced.
“What can you say? I missed the kick and we lost,”
Griffith said. “It’s just the way it goes.”
Griffith also missed his first extra point attempt in two years.
After UCLA went ahead 30-24 in the third quarter, the kick was low
and blocked.
Oregon kicker Jared Siegel, meanwhile, was walking on air after
booming a school record 59-yard field goal through the uprights at
the end of the first half.
Still, he felt for Griffith after watching such a disappointing
performance.
“To have it just barely miss like that – it’s
tough,” Spiegel said. “He just hasn’t had the
best of luck against us. I hope he bounces back.”
Griffith is now 7-of-11 on field goal tries this season.
“We knew that they didn’t have a really strong
kicker,” Oregon linebacker David Moretti said.
“We knew if we kept them to a 40-something yard field
goal, we had a shot at possibly a miss.”
UCLA head coach Bob Toledo didn’t exactly show faith in
Griffith, either.
Rather than settle for a 45-yard try to put UCLA up by nine
points late in the third quarter, Toledo chose to fake the field
goal on 4th-and-15. Holder Garrett Lepisto completed an eight-yard
pass to tight end Marcedes Lewis, and Oregon scored the go-ahead
touchdown three plays later.
But team unity is one of UCLA’s goals.
“Hell yeah we still have confidence in Griff,”
Morgan said. “He has his head held high as well as he should.
He’ll be back.”
“Right now it’s tough, but I’ll be fine next
week, the week after and the rest of the season,” Griffith
said.
Will the rest of the Bruins? It’s up in the air.