The Oregon Ducks faced their next test on the road to the BCS National Championship when they faced off against the UCLA Bruins, and they passed with flying colors as the Ducks’ offense accumulated 555 total yards of offense en route to a 42-14 victory over the Bruins.
The Ducks’ Heisman trophy contending quarterback in Marcus Mariota went 21-of-28 for 230 yards and a solitary touchdown pass. But, Mariota’s impact was negated by the vaunted Ducks’ rushing attack as they gained 325 yards on the ground against UCLA’s stout defense.
Byron Marshall paved the way for the Ducks on the ground with 133 rushing yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns, averaging 7.0 yards per carry. Thomas Tyner and Rodney Hardick each added 77 and 66 yards on the ground respectively, with Tyner adding a touchdown to the mix. De’anthony Thomas also added 31 yards and a touchdown in his first action in four games.
Perhaps the bigger story outside of Oregon’s usual rushing stardom on the ground was their defensive performance. The Ducks’ defense held UCLA to 283 total yards, and even more surprising was the fact that they held Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley to a mere 64 passing yards while completing 13 of his 19 passes, allowing only one touchdown pass and forcing two interceptions.
The majority of the Bruins’ (early) success came on the ground, where they finished with 219 rushing yards, with Paul Perkins leading the way with 93 rushing yards and a touchdown. Hundley was the teams’ second leading rusher with 72 yards on the ground.
The Ducks have effectively checked the Bruins off their list, and will move on to what will unarguably be their biggest test of the season: the Stanford Cardinals.