At the tail end of UCLA’s upset wins over then-No. 3 ranked Alabama and Michigan earlier this month, the Bruin crowd in the Rose Bowl began chanting “Ov-er-rat-ed!”
On Saturday, the Bruins again heard that same chant, but this time there was something awfully different about the words.
They were directed at them.
As the cliché goes, what a difference a week makes. After beating the Wolverines at home, the No. 6 Bruins were on cloud nine and inserting themselves in the race for the national championship.
“I think we proved we were the No. 1 team in the nation,” said quarterback Ryan McCann, after his team became the first team since 1993 to beat two teams ranked No. 3 or better in the same season. “I don’t know who else we can beat, or what else we can do.”
All such talk was quelled by the Oregon Ducks (3-1, 1-0), who dominated UCLA 29-10, beating their Pacific-10 rival for the first time since Sept. 16, 1995. It was the first road game of the season for the Bruins, who only have four road games on its schedule.
“If you’re going to win championships, you gotta win on the road,” Bruin head coach Bob Toledo said. “Because it’s going to be hostile wherever you go.”
Toledo did say, however, that Autzen Stadium certainly puts the visiting team at more of a disadvantage than other stadiums.
“They got it going [here],” Toledo said. “They’ve got nice facilities, they got a great crowd, great venue with that stadium and they’re doing a nice job coaching some skilled kids.”
In the week leading up to the game, Toledo decided against blasting loud noise during practice to simulate what it would be like to play at Autzen because he doesn’t like “those blaring speakers.” Instead, he opted for “whisper drills”, forcing his players to pay attention to the snap counts in silence.
His drills didn’t seem to help his players that much as the offense was out of sync all afternoon. No more so was that evident than in a defining series at the 4-minute mark of the first quarter.
It was a first-and-ten for the Bruins at its own 38-yard line. McCann attempted to call out the play amidst the charged-up crowd, but to no avail. Result: False start.
It was then a first-and-15 from its own 33. Again the crowd was going berserk. Result: False start.
Now it was first-and-20 from its own 28. The fans were loving it. The Duck defense was getting fired up. The Bruin offense was sputtering. Result: A third straight false start.
“We’ve had adversity in the past, and we’ve come back from it,” said McCann, who was 13-for-33 for 152 yards. “We had that today, and we didn’t execute when we needed to.”
Many of the Bruins cited Autzen Stadium’s worn down turf — installed in 1991 — as one of the reasons for their poor play. McCann said he felt a hamstring pull while running on the turf.
“It was different,” McCann said. “We’re not used to it. We could simulate the crowd noise at home, but not the turf, but it really shouldn’t come down to that.”
Bruin wide receiver Freddie Mitchell also had a complaint. Mitchell, who had eight catches for 158 yards, did not come away impressed with Oregon cornerback Rashad Bauman.
Mitchell, who said that the crowd didn’t really have a big affect on him, was not too pleased with Bauman’s mouth.
“He’s the easiest cornerback I’ve played against all year,” Mitchell said. “And I felt that he was so easy to beat, but he talks so much. It’s so disrespectful for him to talk so much.”
Bauman called Mitchell a “decent receiver”, but says that the key to beating the Bruins isn’t by stopping its receivers, but rather shutting down the run.
UCLA running back DeShaun Foster, who had averaged 141 yards in the previous three games, was targeted all game long and finished with only 49 yards on 19 carries. Due to quarterback sacks against them, the Bruins finished with a net rushing yardage of minus-nine.
“If you stop DeShaun Foster then you shut down the UCLA offense,” Bauman said. “And if he isn’t running the ball then their offense isn’t running neither.”
The loss hurt the Bruins in the polls, as UCLA dropped from No. 6 to No. 15 in The Associated Press poll and from No. 8 to No. 17 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll.