UCLA Bruins to face football powerhouse No. 2 Oregon Ducks

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota is a Heisman-caliber player.

He’s thrown for 19 touchdowns and over 2,000 yards, and rushed for nine touchdowns and 493 yards more.

He mans an Oregon offense that puts up around 60 points per game, and has done so without throwing a single interception.

Coach Jim Mora called him “one of the best I’ve seen,” but had one major complaint about his game: That he is playing UCLA this Saturday.

“He’s ripping it up at this level. (I have) a lot of respect for him. I don’t know how excited I am to watch him Saturday night,” Mora said. “There’s some teams up there (in the NFL) that could use a quarterback. If they could have a supplemental draft today and some team could take him, that’d be awesome.”

With the poise to run an offense as fast-paced as Oregon’s, a “rocket arm” and “great intelligence,” according to Mora’s analysis, Mariota’s No. 2 Oregon Ducks present the most dynamic, balanced attack UCLA has faced all season.

Even with the nation’s No. 2 rushing offense, the Ducks’ passing game is still nothing to quack at. Mariota and company also average 310.7 yards through the air per game, setting up an unpredictability that will make overcommitting and overcompensating on defense very costly.

“You really have to keep him hemmed up in the pocket, but even when you do, he can still get outside and everything,” said freshman outside linebacker Myles Jack about Mariota. “You can’t try to do too much, because if you do and Marcus starts running and you leave your guy, he can throw it to him and that’s a touchdown. We really just have to trust each other this week and do our job.”

That job becomes exponentially more difficult thanks to the return of Oregon running back De’Anthony Thomas, who missed the team’s last four games with an ankle injury. Thomas, nicknamed “Black Mamba” for his quick, lethal playmaking ability on the football field, told Oregon athletics that he expects to play this Saturday. In doing so, the junior quickens a Duck offense that already runs like a track team.

“They’ve got weapons all over the field,” Mora said. “It’s just a challenge. We’ve got a defense that’s got some speed on it, though. That gives us a fighting chance. We’re going to go out and we’re going to compete.”

If Vegas is right, the Bruins won’t. Oregon is favored by a cool 21.5 points, allowing No. 12 UCLA to step into the “us against the world” underdog role for the first time all season.

According to redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley, whose game has been picked apart this week in an attempt to compare and contrast him with the speedy Mariota, the Bruins’ attitude remains business-like and confident, even with the odds stacked to the contrary.

“(Mariota’s) done some great things with that program, but at the end of the day if I come in there and we do what we’re supposed to do, any team can be beat on any given Saturday,” he said.

Injury Update

Mora indicated after Tuesday’s practice that redshirt junior running back Jordon James, who has an ankle injury, is “getting closer,” though he’s “not sure” about his status for the Oregon game.

He added that left tackle Simon Goines, the first left tackle to be taken out of last Saturday’s Stanford game with an MCL injury, has been producing “good reports,” leaving Mora hopeful for the sophomore’s return against Oregon.

Redshirt junior inside linebacker Eric Kendricks (bruised tissue surrounding kidney) returned to practice Tuesday, where he worked out in a red non-contact jersey for the duration. When asked about Kendricks’ return for Saturday, Mora said, “Oh, yeah.”

The only long-term scratch rattled off by Mora was redshirt freshman left tackle Conor McDermott, who will not be able to play as a result of a “separated shoulder” that popped out and in once again.

“Here’s what you do, you line up 11 on every play,” said Mora of the battered Bruins. “Hopefully not 10, hopefully not 12, and you compete your butt off, and that’s what our plans are.”