UCLA football tied with Oregon at halftime
By Andrew Erickson
Oct. 26, 2013 5:50 p.m.
EUGENE, Ore .— UCLA headed into Oregon’s Autzen Stadium as 21.5-point underdogs, but with thirty minutes left to play in the Pac-12 showdown, the Bruins are facing a spread of zero, tied at 14 apiece with the No. 2 team in the nation.
After a recovered fumble, No. 12 UCLA opened the 28-point half with a score to take the lead, a keeper by redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley to give the Bruins a touchdown advantage.
The Bruins even went so far as to shove the Ducks onto the ropes, with the home team facing a fourth down and down seven points. Then, the traditional Oregon track meet began in the form of a fake punt.
Redshirt sophomore middle linebacker Rodney Hardrick received the snap directly from the long snapper and ran for 67 yards with just a single Bruin, returner and redshirt senior wide receiver Shaquelle Evans, there to prevent a touchdown. The stop just delayed the inevitable, a one-yard touchdown run from Oregon junior running back De’Anthony Thomas two plays later to tie the score at seven apiece.
The Bruins made some downfield progress in their subsequent drive by converting their first down but broke down in their offensive line coverage, forcing an out-of-bounds pass by redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley and UCLA’s first punt of the game. UCLA surrendered just one first down to the high-powered Oregon offense on its next drive, but failed to convert a fourth and two on the Oregon 32 in its final drive of the first quarter, giving the Ducks the ball yet again, as well as the momentum.
As the Ducks have done all season – to the tune of nearly 60 points per game – they capitalized. Oregon made quick work of the UCLA defense to start the second quarter, regaining the lead with a fast-paced, quick-striking drive of 68 yards that lasted just 2:07.
UCLA again failed to do anything on its next drive, gaining just two yards in three plays before being forced to punt, yet didn’t pay the price, as Oregon redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcus Mariota overthrew an open wide receiver to keep the Bruins within seven points.
The Bruins failed yet again, driving inside the Oregon 20 before a Brett Hundley pick put a charge into the Autzen Stadium crowd. But the Ducks couldn’t keep the noise going for long, going three and out and handing the Bruins prime field position via a blocked punt from freshman outside linebacker Myles Jack.
It took UCLA just six plays to make good on the tremendously athletic Jack showing, evening the score at 14 thanks to an 11-yard touchdown pass from Hundley to freshman Y receiver Thomas Duarte, and the score remained tied heading into the half.
Redshirt junior inside linebacker Eric Kendricks leads all UCLA tacklers with six, while redshirt freshman running back Paul Perkins leads the Bruins’ rushing attack with 60 yards on 15 attempts.
