The Ducks, simply, are kicking everything and everybody. The UCLA Bruins are only kicking themselves.
For the second straight season, the fate of the Oregon-UCLA match-up was decided, in the end, by the right foot of Chris Griffith. In 2001, the Bruins’ placekicker was short and wide right on a 50-yard attempt as the clock expired, giving the Ducks a 21-20 win.
On Saturday, Griffith had the distance on a 46-yard attempt, but hooked it left, sending the No. 6 Ducks (6-0 overall, 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference) home with their third-straight win over the Bruins (4-2, 1-1).
Like last season, UCLA head coach Bob Toledo played conservatively in the Bruins’ final drive to give his kicker a chance to win the game. But like last season, Griffith could not find the uprights.
“I’m disappointed in several aspects of the kicking game,” Toledo told reporters after the game.
What Griffith couldn’t do, Oregon’s Jared Siegel did — at a record-setting pace.
Siegel, Oregon’s sophomore placekicker, booted a school-record 59-yard field goal, tying the Pac-10 record for a conference game, as time expired in the first half.
“Fifty-nine yards is the very end of my range,” Siegel said. “It took a while for the coach to decide to give it a go. I just kept my mechanics in line, and it went.”
Heading into Saturday’s match-up in Pasadena, Siegel was ranked No. 2 in the country in field-goal efficiency. He has converted 12-of-13 attempts this season.

“We needed a little boost, and I thought that it would help fire us up for the second half,” Bellotti said of Siegel’s boot, which sent the Ducks into the locker room with a 24-21 halftime lead.
Although the Bruins racked up 477 total yards (compared to Oregon’s 383) UCLA dug its own grave with its special teams play.
“We missed our chance,” UCLA defensive back Ricky Manning told reporters after the game. “We not only missed the last kick, we missed a lot of other opportunities. There’s no way we should have lost that game. They were not the better team.”
To make matters worse for the UCLA special teams, Oregon true freshman Haloti Ngata blocked an extra point attempt midway through the third quarter, providing the eventual margin of victory.
“All week I thought that we would have the opportunity to block a field goal or an extra point,” Bellotti said. “When it happened, even though UCLA was ahead, I thought it would be a big factor in the outcome of
the game.”
It was. And the Bruins can only kick themselves.