The UCLA football team went into Oregon’s overwhelmingly partisan Autzen Stadium as 11.5-point underdogs and lost its starting quarterback at halftime. A surefire recipe for defeat, right?
Not these No. 21 Bruins, who rode a stout and opportunistic defense to a 17-15 upset victory over the No. 13 Ducks on Saturday in Eugene in which they held their Big Ten foes to 272 yards and forced seven turnovers.
And arguably the Bruins’ biggest play? After a series of late penalties seemed to doom them in the final minutes, and after Oregon’s Brock Thomas hooked up with Evan Thomas for a 44-yard scoring strike with 2:16 to play, the Bruins committed a facemask penalty on the potentially tying two-point conversion. With Oregon (3-2, 1-1) now at the 1.5-yard line, Ducks running back Jordon Davidson was stuffed short of the end zone.
The Ducks, needing just a field goal to win, got the ball back with 43 seconds left on their own 5-yard line and moved the ball to their 37 before a pass-and-catch and two laterals went awry.
UCLA picked off two Dylan Raiola passes and recovered four Ducks fumbles to help Bob Chesney, in Year One, to become the first coach in program history to start 5-0. The Bruins also improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten.
“I just think that, you know, we said it when we got here. It’s different this time. You know, like, this is not the normal UCLA,” Chesney said in his postgame interview. “And I think when you add in all the recruiting and the West Coast and all the things that we get kind of, you know, looked over on, that’s all changing right now. And I think that today is a good start to that.
“So really proud of what we’ve done. Really proud of our fans. Really proud of this community, our alums, our administration, everybody that supports it. It’s a good win. We got a lot of a whole lot more work to do, though. It’s a long season.”
The Bruins hadn’t beaten Oregon since 2017 and hadn’t won in Eugene since 2004. What’s more, it was the Bruins’ first road victory against a ranked Ducks team.
All this despite the Bruins losing quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who didn’t play in the second half after suffering a lower-body injury late in the second quarter.
Ty Dieffenbach took over in the third quarter. The senior from Agoura High finished 3 for 6 for 43 yards and a touchdown. Iamaleava was 10 for 17 for 162 yards with two interceptions and a fumble.
Iamaleava and the Bruins sent a message on the first play from scrimmage, connecting with Aidan Mizell on a 63-yard bomb. The drive eventually stalled out and Mateen Baghnani kicked a 21-yard field goal, but notice was served.
And that was before UCLA’s defense even stepped on the field. Raiola came into the game making his first start for Oregon just two weeks after playing hero in a 41-27 victory over USC. The Nebraska transfer took over for Ducks starter Dante Moore, forced out of the game by a concussion after a late hit, and threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns to shock the Trojans.
There would be no surprises Saturday. The Bruins hurried and harried Raiola all game long, forcing him into 6-for-19 passing for just 43 yards and two interceptions.
The second pick, courtesy of Tao Johnson at 1:26 of the third quarter, spelled the end of Raiola’s day. Thomas came in and led Oregon to a field goal with 5:16 to play to trim UCLA’s lead to 17-9.
The Ducks’ first points came fairly easily after Iamaleava lost his grip on the ball and fumbled it away at UCLA’s own 1-yard line, Davidson carryed it in on the first play for Oregon’s only lead, 6-3, at 7:57 of the first quarter. Oregon’s ensuing two-point conversion failed.
The teams then traded four possessions – UCLA punting each time and Oregon punting twice and fumbling twice – before the Bruins finally found the end zone on a Wayne Knight 35-yard scamper with 8:08 left in the first half.
Knight finished with 22 carries for 103 yards and two total touchdowns.
The score stood at 10-6 until the Bruins took advantage of Johnson’s interception and drove 33 yards over six plays, capped by Dieffenbach connecting with Knight on a 9-yard scoring strike for the 17-6 lead.