So much for that close game everyone was expecting.
Oregon scored on nearly every possession and bullied their way down the field, especially in the second half, to knock off No. 9 UCLA 45-30 in front of a sold-out crowd of 59,962 inside Autzen Stadium.
The Ducks blew the game wide open with a 28-point second quarter to take a commanding 31-13 halftime lead.
From that point forward, Oregon managed to run time off the clock and more importantly, kept the ball out of Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s hands.
Coming into the contest, the Bruins were allowing just under 100 yards on the ground, but Oregon racked up 262 yards rushing.
The offensive line pushed the Bruins back time and time again. That was illustrated to perfection on a couple of fourth-down conversions in the third quarter to sustain drives.
Bucky Irving led the Ducks with 107 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown reception.
Noah Whittington added another 73 yards.
As a team, Oregon averaged over five yards per carry.
After the two teams exchanged points and the score was 10-10, Oregon took a 17-10 lead on Bo Nix’s perfect 49-yard pass to Troy Franklin. The 6-3, 178-pound receiver wound up with eight catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns.
But then perhaps the play of the year occurred.
Dan Lanning was sensing his defense was having a hard time containing DTR and the weather was about to take a turn for the worse. So he called on his Special Teams Unit for an onside kick and it worked to perfection when kicker Andrew Boyles recovered.
The Ducks turned a second straight possession into another touchdown, a two-yard score from Jordan James and a 24-10 lead.
With that, Oregon had the ball for nearly 12 minutes.
Ultimately, UCLA never recovered.
The Bruins did their best to make it a game in the second half and although they did score on every possession except for one, the Ducks made sure they earned every yard and took up as much time as possible.
DTR and Nix played about as evenly as possible.
Nix was 22-of-28 for 282 yards and five touchdowns. His Bruin counterpart was 27-of-39 for 262 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The difference was Nix scored touchdowns and had a dominating running game and DTR did not.
UCLA tailback Zach Charbonnet did rush for 151 yards on 20 carries, but a lot of those yards came when the Bruins were down by three or four scores.
Now at 6-1 and 4-0 in conference play, the Ducks will turn their attention to California as Oregon heads south to Berkeley next Saturday, ( October 29 ) for a 12:30 pm kickoff on Fox or FS1.
HIGHLIGHTS; Oregon Knocks Off No. 9 UCLA 45-30