EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; UCLA opened the second half promisingly by forcing a punt and scoring a touchdown on the ensuing drive but Oregon wouldn’t be denied for long. The Ducks continued to pile it on as the half wore on and will be headed to the Rose Bowl after routing the Bruins 49-31 in the inagural Pac-12 Championship Game at Autzen Stadium.
The Bruins simply couldn’t match the No. 8 Ducks high-powered offense blow for blow. Oregon finished with 571 yards of total offense and the Ducks seemed to be able to do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted against UCLA’s porous defense. This is nothing new for the UCLA defensive unit as this is the fifth game this season that the Bruins have given up 45 points or more.
On the offensive side of the ball, redshirt junior quarterback Kevin Prince tried to will his team to victory but too many of UCLA’s drives in the clock-munching pistol offense took too long and the Bruins had nothing to show for it. He left the game briefly in the fourth quarter because of an injury. Junior Richard Brehaut came in to relieve Prince and threw an interception but by then the game was out of hand.
Prince finished with 36 yards rushing on 16 attempts and was 13-for-26 through the air for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns.
UCLA will not await a bowl bid thanks to a waiver granted by the NCAA that qualifies the Bruins for a bowl despite having a losing record.