Five Things: UCLA vs. Oregon

In its 2021 homecoming game, UCLA football (5-3, 3-2 Pac-12) had the chance to pick up its highest-ranked win in more than a decade against then-No. 10 Oregon (6-1, 3-1). However, despite jumping out to an early 14-0 lead, the Bruins fell short, losing 34-31 after turning the ball over on their last drive with the chance to either tie or take the lead. Here are the five main takeaways from UCLA’s third consecutive home loss.

Opportunity lost

Everything was on the table for the Bruins on Saturday.

With “College GameDay” in Westwood for the first time ever, UCLA had the chance to do something special.

Had they secured a win, the Bruins would have picked up their first win over a top-10 team since 2010. A victory also would’ve marked coach Chip Kelly’s first win over his old team and given him his first .500-or-better season as UCLA’s head coach.

The blue and gold almost assuredly would have entered week nine as a ranked team with a win and would have had a 12:30 p.m. start time in its matchup next week against Utah. The Bruins would have sat at 6-2 on the season, with their 4-1 conference record good enough to put them only a tiebreaker away from first in the Pac-12 South.

Beating the Ducks would also have been a win for recruiting. Oregon – not UCLA or USC – has been the primary destination for many of Southern California’s top recruits. A win for a Southern California school would have sent a strong message to local recruits.

On ABC primetime, this was the blue and gold’s chance to make up for all of the four-win seasons and embarrassing losses of past years.

But in classic Bruin fashion, UCLA couldn’t grasp the moment.

Faith in Garbers

Yes, Ethan Garbers’ interception ended the game and any chance the Bruins had at a signature win.

But if there was one overarching theme in the press conferences after the game, it’s that this team still has faith in the redshirt freshman, whenever he gets his moment.

When asked if UCLA would have to rely on Garbers in the near future, Kelly said he believes in the redshirt freshman’s abilities, noting that the only thing Garbers lacked was experience at the collegiate level. Kelly added that he would be “excited” if the Bruins played Garbers this season.

The praise didn’t stop with Kelly.

Redshirt junior offensive linemen Jon Gaines III said the team trusted Garbers when he was forced into action, and also said he knows Garbers is the type of person who will respond well to adversity.

Redshirt senior linebacker Jordan Genmark Heath, in response to the same question posed to Gaines, said there is “no drop off” from senior quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson to Garbers, and that the offense will be just as productive next week if Thompson-Robinson can’t go.

Garbers was put in a tough spot Saturday – a clear passing situation against a strong defense with no chance to warm up – and still delivered a few quality throws, despite the game-ending interception.

The young signal-caller showed promise on the field, and if the praise from Kelly and his teammates is any indication, UCLA will be in good hands in the future.

Geaux Thibodeaux Geaux

Saturday was a prime example of why defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux will be the first name called on April 28.

Thibodeaux’s performance was arguably the most dominant performance from a defensive player in college football so far this year, and was also his best career game.

The expected No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft had a career-high nine tackles along with 4.5 tackles for loss – also a career high. Thibodeaux also had two sacks, one quarterback hurry and one forced fumble. On his tackles for loss alone, Thibodeaux forced the Bruins to lose 24 total yards.

But Thibodeaux was even more impactful than his ridiculous on-field numbers indicate. Kelly admitted after the game that the Bruins used everything they could to try and slow him down, showing just how much UCLA designed its game plan to tackle Thibodeaux’s talents. Of the four false starts that the blue and gold committed, three of them were by a player lined up on Thibodeaux’s side of the ball.

That was pure dominance on display Saturday. Soon enough, it’ll be the same thing on Sundays.

New week, same result

Time after time this season, the Bruin passing defense has been torched.

And time after time, the media has criticized UCLA for it, saying something needs to change before teams can throw 40 times a game, beating the Bruins through the air.

That’s almost exactly what happened Saturday.

Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown threw a season-high 39 pass attempts for a season-high 296 yards. While he wasn’t able to find the end zone through the air, Brown’s passing resulted in more than 80% of the yardage on the four drives that ended with a touchdown run from running back Travis Dye.

The Ducks engineered their entire offense around the Bruins’ defensive woes. Before the game, nearly 60% of Oregon’s plays this season were runs, but on Saturday, the road team flipped those splits, rushing on just under 40% of its plays.

Brown was also one of only a handful of Pac-12 quarterbacks to average fewer than 200 passing yards per game entering Saturday and had eclipsed 30 pass attempts just once in eight total games with the Ducks dating back to last season.

In fact, Brown was coming off a game in which he was booed by his own home crowd as the Autzen Stadium student section started chants in favor of his backup, Ty Thompson.

Despite it all, the Oregon coaching staff knew that Brown’s limitations weren’t enough to keep them from exploiting the UCLA passing defense by airing out the ball.

The writing was on the wall when UCLA gave up 455 passing yards to Fresno State in week three – teams were going to force the Bruins to stop them in the air.

The blue and gold had a chance to flip that narrative Saturday, and while two interceptions helped, UCLA’s passing defense once again failed.

One last roller coaster analogy

Last week, The Bruin – and Kelly – compared this UCLA season to a roller coaster.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, let me once again invoke Six Flags’ signature attractions, as they accurately describe what took place Saturday.

The Bruins jumped out to an early lead against the Ducks, going up 14-0 in the first 15 minutes. The clouds that greeted the Rose Bowl at the start of the game were beginning to part, and it looked like the home team was well on its way to its biggest victory in recent memory.

UCLA’s advantage early in games is a common occurrence. So far this season, the blue and gold has outscored its opponent by a staggering 76-18 margin in first quarters and the Bruins has never entered the second quarter trailing their opponent.

But then the Bruins got cold. The Ducks rattled off a 27-3 run between the second and third quarters and began the final frame with a double-digit lead. This downward spiral was nothing new for the blue and gold, a team that has been outscored 86-71 in second quarters and 58-40 in third quarters.

After Oregon scored to open the fourth and went up by 17, it looked as though all hope was lost in the fourth quarter, and that UCLA again had found a new way to disappoint its fan base in its biggest game of the year.

But it wouldn’t be a good ride without a dramatic conclusion, and the Bruins delivered in that front as well. UCLA almost managed a comeback, scoring 14 unanswered to bring the game within three with 6:34 remaining, extending its fourth-quarter margin to 79-48 on the season. However, the final drop on the roller coaster proved to be Garbers’ interception, and the Bruins’ hopes were dashed.

In short, UCLA is inconsistent, and the Bruins can only peak for so long before free-falling into mediocrity.