LeGarrette Blount wriggled out of the reach of half a dozen UCLA defenders, and with him went any shot of a Bruins win.
Blount’s 69-yard touchdown run with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter Saturday night helped Oregon sneak by UCLA 31-24 at Autzen Stadium.
“I never think I’m going down,” a beaming Blount said.
It was fitting that it was Masoli, who ran for a game-high 170 yards on 24 carries, was the one who nearly caught Blount downfield as he was looking for blocks. Or was he?
“I was waiting for the pitch,” Masoli laughed afterward. “I think that was the play of the game.”
If that was the play of the game, Masoli was its MVP.
Although he was held to 42 yards passing on five completions, Masoli’s legs were the difference maker in the Ducks’ first game after being blown out by USC last week. In the first half alone, when he ran for 128 yards, he became the first Duck quarterback to run for 100 yards since Dennis Dixon in 2007.
“The quarterback was outstanding tonight as a runner,” UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “He had a big night, there’s no question.”
In so doing, Oregon (5-2, 3-1 Pacific-10 Conference) rediscovered the rushing attack it so desperately missed against USC, rushing for 108 yards in the first quarter alone and 323 yards overall. Against the Trojans last week, Oregon rushed for 60 yards the entire game. Blount finished with 111 yards on only seven carries.
“Let ’em run,” Oregon offensive guard Mark Lewis said. “God willing that kid (Masoli) was going to run until his legs fall off.”
Masoli, however, found reasons to pick apart his performance, which fell somewhere between running over tacklers, as he did in the fourth quarter, and being caught short of the first down marker on several drives. Oregon finished 2-of-13 on third downs.
“I’m definitely concerned about that,” Masoli said. “We had some three-and-outs that we definitely should have converted.”
Two penalties by UCLA (2-4, 1-2 Pac-10) led to Oregon’s first score of the night, giving the Ducks 14 yards inside the UCLA 20-yard line on facemask and offsides penalties that brought the ball to the six.
On second and goal, Masoli froze two UCLA defenders with a fake handoff to Jeremiah Johnson, bursting into the end zone for his first career rushing touchdown.
After an earlier miss, Evensen had his second field goal attempt of the first half blocked, this time a 50-yarder a minute and a half in to the second quarter, to keep the score 7-0.
The Bruins’ defense gave Masoli little room to run in the second quarter, stopping him short on two third down attempts as linebackers shadowed the quarterback. With under a minute left in the second quarter, five drives after its last score, Oregon took 22 seconds to direct a four play, 52-yard drive that finished with a 28-yard strike from Masoli to freshman quarterback Chris Harper in the back right corner of the end zone.
“That was a tough one to swallow,” Neuheisel said.
Who said passing was the only part of an Oregon quarterback’s job description?
After a half of futility, UCLA scored first in the second half by methodically driving 34 yards in just over three minutes, ending with a 1-yard touchdown dive on third-and-one by the Bruins’ Derrick Coleman.
One minute, 26 seconds later, the Ducks answered. LeGarrette Blount ran an inside handoff from the shotgun formation in for a six-yard score. A procedure penalty gave the Ducks the ball on the next possession inside the UCLA 40-yard line, and a reverse to speedster Jamere Holland gained 16 yards. LeGarrette Blount answered with a 6-yard touchdown to bring the Ducks two touchdowns ahead.
Then it was UCLA’s turn. Jairus Byrd appeared to have an interception in the end zone before a pass interference call nullified the turnover. Kahlil Bell took advantage of the call, roundly booed by Oregon fans after a replay on, and scored one play later to make it 21-14.
What started as UCLA’s possible game-tying drive with 13 minutes left ended with a Jairus Byrd interception off a tip that gave the Oregon offense the ball 16 yards away from the UCLA endzone. Kevin Craft’s pass was thrown to an airborne Terrence Austin, who was hit full-speed from behind by T.J. Ward, tapping the ball to Byrd. Austin lay on the field for minutes afterward, bringing the raucous party atmosphere of the game to a murmur as he was carted off the field to an ambulance that took him to Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.
“Terrence was moving his extremities, he was conscious, he was talking,” said Neuheisel, who is now 4-2 all time against Oregon as a head coach. “The doctors have said it was precautionary.”
A fan was carted off by EMTs during the same delay behind the UCLA bench.
Oregon and UCLA traded field goals before Blount’s decisive touchdown, which the Bruins duly answered with by a 1-yard pass from Kevin Craft to Jeff Miller. An onside kick slipped out of reach from a UCLA player, and Oregon ran out the rest of the clock.
Oregon has a bye week next week before next playing at Arizona State on Oct. 25.
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