Besides playing football, the UCLA Bruins love to hunt — duck hunt, that is.
In their previous seven meetings, UCLA (3-0 overall) defeated Oregon (2-1) six times and was the last team to beat the Ducks at Autzen Stadium.
Last season, the Bruins halted a huge Oregon comeback in Los Angeles to hand the Ducks a heart-wrenching 34-29 loss.
With impressive wins over two No. 3 ranked teams — Alabama and Michigan — head coach Bob Toledo’s UCLA squad enters Saturday’s Pacific-10 Conference opener as the nation’s No. 6 team.
“We’re off to a great start,” said Toledo, a former Oregon offensive coordinator, who has not lost to the Ducks while in Bruin blue. “But now we have to start over with the PAC-10. We’re going into a game that is our first away from home and we’re heading into a hostile environment.”
While the odds seem somewhat stacked against the unranked Ducks, head coach Mike Bellotti takes his team’s 16-game home winning streak into the match as the slight favorite of the two teams.
Despite its strong start, UCLA has yet to prove it can compete on the road, and now faces the task of ending a 16-game winning streak at one of the conference’s toughest stadiums.
“We are the underdog and that’s a little motivating,” Bruins tailback DeShaun Foster said. “But games aren’t played on paper; it’s going to be a good game.”
The 6-foot-1, 217-pound Foster, who ran for 187 yards and three touchdowns against Alabama, averages more than 140 yards per game. The Ducks’ defense has allowed an average of 139 rush yards per contest.
“Oregon likes to pack the paint and put nine guys up front,” Toledo said. “We’ve got to be able to run and throw the ball and make them pay for putting those guys up there.”
UCLA’s defense has allowed an average of 305 yards per game, but just 168 yards in the air.
“Defensively, this is the best group I’ve had,” said Toledo, who holds a 32-17 record in more than four seasons at UCLA. “We have much more depth than the past. We’re still pretty young, but all of these guys have been in big games.”
Toledo said he is happy with the aggressiveness his team has shown this year and sees improvement throughout each game.
“UCLA presents the dilemma of a team that can run the ball like Wisconsin with a very powerful offensive line,” Bellotti said, “but they bring a much better passing game to the table and they’re getting better every week. The bottom line is that you’ve got to stop the run. They’re by far the best team we’ve seen this year.”
Bruin sophomore quarterback Ryan McCann rose to the challenge in the first game of the season after starter Corey Paus suffered an injury. Since then, McCann has had his ups and downs: He was benched at half-time of the Fresno State game. Against Michigan, McCann was six for 19 in the first half, but a phenomenal 15 of 21, with two touchdowns, in the final two quarters.
“Our quarterbacks have been inconsistent,” Toledo said. “They’re like little girls with curly hair: One minute they’re really good, the next they’re bad.”
Freddie Mitchell and Brian Poli-Dixon form a lethal tandem in the Bruins’ receiving core. Mitchell had a huge game against Michigan, catching 10 passes, fourth best in school history, for 137 yards.
One major setback for the Bruins is the loss of defensive end Kenyon Coleman, who tore cartilage in his knee last week and may miss the remainder of the season. The 6-foot-6, 278-pound senior recorded 3.5 sacks last season and was an All-American candidate.
The Ducks may have an early advantage because UCLA tends to struggle early in games. Last week against Michigan, the Bruins scored only a field goal in the first half before putting 20 points on the board in the final 30 minutes.
“We really need to get off on the right foot against Oregon,” Toledo said. “We’ve started poorly in all of our games. We’re going to have to change that if we’re going to be successful.”