Haughty Bruins
upended by Ducks
■ UCLA’s national title hopes
are dashed in part by
Oregon’s famously ferocious
Autzen Stadium home crowd
By jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
At the tail end of UCLA’s upset
wins over then-No. 3 ranked Alaba
ma and Michigan earlier this
month, the Bruin crowd in the
Rose Bowl began chanting “Ov-er
rat-ed!”
On Saturday, the Bruins again
heard that same chant, but this
time there was something awfully
different about the words.
They were directed at them.
As the cliche goes, what a differ
ence a week makes. After beating
the Wolverines at home, the No. 6
Bruins were on cloud nine and in
serting themselves in the race for
the national championship.
“I think we proved we were the
No. 1 team in the nation,” said
quarterback Ryan McCann, after
his team became the first team
since 1993 to beat two teams
ranked No. 3 or better in the same
season. “I don’t know who else we
can beat, or what else we can do.”
All such talk was quelled by the
Oregon Ducks (3-1,1-0), who dom
inated UCLA 29-10, beating their
Pacific-10 rival for the first time
since.Sept. 16,1995. It was the first
road game of the season for the
Bruins, who only have four road
games on its schedule.
“If you’re going to win champi
onships, you gotta win on the
road,” Bruin head coach Bob Tole
do said. “Because it’s going to be
hostile wherever you go.”
Toledo did say, however, that
Autzen Stadium certainly puts the
visiting team at more of a disadvan
tage than other stadiums.
“They got it going [here],” Tole
do said. “They’ve got nice facilities,
they got a great crowd, great venue
with that stadium and they’re do
ing a nice job coaching some
skilled kids.”
In the week leading up to the
Turn to Bruins, page 25
Bigwin
continued from page 19
ris said about his first conference
game. “Actually, I think it was the
best I could have.”
The victory was the Ducks’ 17th
straight at home. It was also the first
Oregon win over UCLA since 1995.
“I’m extremely proud of my play
ers and coaches, they did a great
job,” Oregon head coach Mike Bel
lotti said. “They battled, and I can’t
think of a better stage or better op
portunity for people across the na
tion to see us do what we do best,
and that’s win at home.”
The Ducks cracked the AP Top-25
poll for the first time this season at
No. 20. Meanwhile, UCLA dropped
from No. 6 to No. 15.
The Bruins, who made a late come
back to beat Michigan last Saturday,
threatened to do the same against
Oregon as they entered the second
half down by 10. Chris Griffith kicked
,a 46-yard field goal early in the third
quarter, and with 6 minutes, 55 sec
onds left in the period, backup quar
terback Drew Bennett faked the op
tion and found Freddie Mitchell in
the end zone with a 54-yard touch
down pass. The extra point was good,
tying the game at 10 all.
Oregon quarterback Joey Harring
ton completed two passes to
Keenan Howry and one to Mar
shaun Tucker on the ensuing pos
session, but the drive stalled at the
Bruins’ 34-yard line when three
passes fell incomplete.
At fourth-and-10, with 5:20 re
maining in the third, the Ducks de
cided to go for it — and did it.
Harrington spotted tight end La
Corey Collins streaking down the
Oregon sideline. He pulled back
and released. Collins vied for posi
tion with a defender as the ball
came down. Both Duck and Bruin
jumped for it, and Collins, who
managed to cradle the pigskin with
one hand, came down with it.
Place kicker Josh Frankel com
pleted the drive with a 24-yard field
goal as the Ducks went on to score
19 unanswered points.
“The key was the offensive line
and Maurice, without a doubt,”
Harrington said. “We had young
guys in there, a couple guys making
their first start, and they came out
and dominated that defensive line.”
“We got to go out in the second
half and we got to execute,” UCLA
head coach Bob Toledo said. “We
got it tied up at 10-10 and I started
feeling better about it, but we just
couldn’t make any plays offensive
ly. Defensively we just got kind of
worn out.”
Before the game, ESPN’s College
GameDay show — broadcast live
from Pape Field — pumped up
Autzen Stadium as one of the coun
try’s most dangerous destinations
for opposing teams, comparing it to
the Florida State “chop shop” and
the Florida Gators’ “Swamp.”
Three consecutive false starts by
the Bruins in the first quarter
showed the nation that Autzen is
worthy of such a billing.
“The crowd was wonderful to
day,” defensive tackle Jason-Niko
lao said. “We were getting our
hands up to get them up. It was so
loud the offensive linemen couldn’t
hear the quarterback. ”
On paper, Oregon bettered UCLA
in almost every statistical category.
The Ducks rushed for a total of 208
yards, while the Bruins’ running
game fizzled with a loss of nine. The
Ducks had 361 yards total offense,
the Bruins had 197. The Ducks fum
bled twice but recovered both, while
the Bruins lost two of three fumbles
and committed an interception.
The ability of the Oregon defense
to contain UCLA tailback DeShaun
Foster was crucial. Suspecting that
the young McCann would be rattled
by the hostile Autzen environment,
the defense focused its collective ef
fort on stopping Foster.
The result was a mere 49 yards of
rushing from a 1998 freshman All
American.
“This is the most fired-up I’ve
ever seen this group as a defense,”
Nikolao said. “This is the only Pac
10 team we haven’t beaten in past
years, so we knew we just had to be
on top of our game and just attack
these guys.”
After the Bruins won the coin toss
and opted to kick, the Ducks scored
on their second drive when Har
rington dove into the end zone from
one yard out and Frankel kicked the
extra point. Frankel, who missed
first-quarter field goal attempts from
44 and 39 yards, connected from 26
yards out with 1:24 to play in the
second quarter. Oregon held a 10-0
lead at halftime.
The Ducks’ schedule doesn’t get
any easier, as they host undefeated
Washington (3-0 non-conference) at
12:30 p.m. Saturday.
“The nice thing is that the
Huskies have to come to our place,”
Bellotti said. “They’re a very good
football team, and certainly so are
we. We have to continue to improve
and hope that we stay healthy.”
Erin Swanson-Davies Emerald
UCLA’s Tab Perry (1) experienced first hand the wrath of the Ducks defense on Saturday, as Kevin Mitchell (39) and Keith Lewis (16)
help bring him down.
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