PASADENA, Calif. — A quintet of former Ducks roamed the Oregon sideline. Linebacker Troy Dye was among them. Beside him stood former Ducks Justin Herbert, stoic as ever, and linebacker Justin Hollins. Hollins wore a black sweatshirt, and written on the back in white lettering read, “I miss gamedays.”
After Oregon’s 34-31 rollercoaster of a win against UCLA, they all must have.
The duo of Herbert and Dye relived their college days in the very stadium where they ended: the Rose Bowl. They watched as the Ducks put together a victory that could go a long way in a potential return to this exact field this winter. A win that keeps the Ducks in the Playoff hunt for yet another week.
“They’re just resilient,” head coach Mario Cristobal said of his team. “They just keep coming, and they truly believe that there’s no play, no circumstance, no bad call, no injury that we can’t overcome.”
Dye’s younger brother Travis scored four touchdowns, and Oregon ripped off a 34-3 run after spotting UCLA a 14-0 lead early in the first half. Then, after Brown put together his most explosive game of the year, he salted away a double-digit lead with a pair of fourth quarter interceptions, leaving Oregon’s defense to decide the game.
Kayvon Thibodeaux was the playmaker Oregon’s defense has lacked in weeks past. He was a game wrecker. Available for the entirety of the afternoon for just the first time this year, the edge rusher collected a career-high nine tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks, including one forced fumble.
“There is always one more play, one more opportunity to showcase the work that we put in on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Thibodeaux said. “Our backs were against the wall. We had to come out and fight, show our grit.”
With just over a minute left, Thibodeaux landed a hit on UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. It sent the Bruins’ signal caller to the sideline and his backup Ethan Garbers into the game.
DJ James, who lost his spot in the rotation after an off-the-field legal incident in the offseason, snagged his first career interception to stop UCLA’s lead from snowballing in the first quarter, then caught the game’s most important ball from Garbers with 48 seconds remaining, securing Oregon’s win.
James didn’t let go of the ball he picked off. Still holding it, he ran across the field and into a swarm of teammates. As he finally made his way off the field, he gripped it tight in his left hand, embracing Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens.
Herbert must have been jealous watching Oregon’s offensive game plan. Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead dialed up screen pass after screen pass, gashing a blitz-happy Bruins defense and between the second and third quarters, the Ducks scored four touchdowns on as many possessions.
“[UCLA] is chaotic,” Cristobal said. “They bring pressure from all over the place. It looks like ‘Star Wars.’ There’s just stuff everywhere. And you got to block it and you got to beat it.”
“We knew that some holes would be open for the pass game and we had to take advantage of them,” Brown added. “We did it today.”
UCLA’s head coach Chip Kelly stubbornly stuck with his conference-leading run game. It went nowhere except a season-low 110 rush yards on 2.4 yards per carry.
Moorhead, meanwhile, just let the hot hand cook.
Brown finished with a season-high 296 passing yards at a 74% clip and added 85 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Before his late-game interceptions soiled what looked to be a turning point in the quarterback’s highly criticized season, Brown threw some of his best — and deepest — throws of the season. At one point, completing 11 straight passes.
“I should have been playing like this for a while, but the fact that it came in a big moment was important,” Brown said.
Cristobal will take the good — Oregon’s defense standing tall throughout the afternoon and holding a potent UCLA offense to just 352 total yards — with the bad — two uncharacteristic turnovers from a quarterback who seemed to find his stride at times.
Even with Kelly, the man who revolutionized college offenses — and brought Oregon to its first national championship — on the opposing sideline, Oregon had the more dynamic offense Saturday. Oregon got its playmakers in space, and its combination of speed and power prevailed.
And while they’re prone to chunk plays through the air, the Ducks’ defense is full of star-studded playmakers who continue to prevail in late-game situations.
Oregon just needs to put it all together now. And if the win in Pasadena is any indication, once the Ducks get out of their own way, they’ll be just fine.
