PASADENA, Calif. — UCLA forgot to read its “Oregon 101” homework this week.
Chapter One tells the story of Oregon’s win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl last season, when the Bruins played for a field goal in the closing minutes, missed a long try and lost 21-20.
This season, in an eerily similar predicament, UCLA head coach Bob Toledo once again played for the field goal and the Bruins once again lost, this time by a score of 31-30 in front of 68,882 fans at the Rose Bowl today.
“It’s kind of like deja vu, only (the field goal) was wide left this time,” Oregon linebacker David Morretti said.
In a wild game that came down to a mundane finish, UCLA kicker Chris Griffith missed a 46-yard field goal attempt with 1:54 left on the clock to hand the Ducks their sixth win of the season. UCLA had three long drives stopped by the Oregon defense to end the game.
Oregon moved to 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in Pacific-10 Conference play, while UCLA moved to 5-2 and 1-1.
“People feel we haven’t been tested yet,” Oregon running back Onterrio Smith said. “So it’s real big for our program.”
The teams set their frenetic pace early in the game. With only 2:30 elapsed in the first quarter, UCLA quarterback Cory Paus aired out a pass to Tab Perry on the Bruins’ first offensive play of the game. Perry caught the ball over Duck defender Steven Moore and took the pass 55 yards to the endzone.

The Ducks answered with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jason Fife to tight end George Wrighster. Later in the first quarter, Paus hit Craig Bragg for a 53-yard touchdown pass.
UCLA thrived on the big play all afternoon. The Bruins’ four touchdowns came from 55, 53, 71 and 46 yards.
“I thought our defense actually played very well today,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We got beat on some big plays, but sometimes those can’t be helped.”
The Ducks controlled the second quarter with some big plays of their own: a 37-yard touchdown run from Terrence Whitehead and a 79-yard punt return from Keenan Howry, his first of the season.
But Paus tied the score at 21 with a 71-yard lob to Craig Bragg.
The Ducks answered with a drive that put them at midfield with two seconds on the clock. Faced with the possibility of a tie game at halftime, Bellotti instead turned to his kicker, Jared Siegel.

“He asked me what I thought and I said, ‘Hey, I’m all for it,’” Siegel said. “We had everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
So with two ticks left, Siegel booted a 59-yard field goal — the longest of his career that broke the Oregon record and the record for a Pac-10 game — to put the Ducks up 24-21.
“That was the last play of the half, so it gave everyone a boost,” Siegel said.
UCLA dominated the scoring in the third quarter, as Griffith kicked a 37-yard field goal and Paus hit Bragg once again for a 46-yard touchdown.
But Griffith’s extra point was blocked by Oregon’s Haloti Ngata with 7:28 left in the third, and it turned out that Bragg’s romp into the endzone was the last time UCLA would put points on the board. On the Bruins’ next possession, they attempted a fake field goal on fourth-and-15 from the Ducks’ 28-yard-line. UCLA’s Marcedes Lewis caught the pass from holder Garrett Lepisto, but was stopped by Moore before the first down.
On Oregon’s next possession, Fife went deep to Keenan Howry on the third play of the drive. The Ducks connected for a 74-yard touchdown and the last points of the game.
“After we took the lead, we left it up to our defense and they did a great job,” Howry said.
On UCLA’s last drive, the Bruins marched from their own 20-yard line all the way to the Ducks’ 25-yard line with less than three minutes left. On consecutive plays, Oregon free safety Rasuli Webster stuffed UCLA running back Tyler Ebell for a total loss of four yards. On third-and-14, Paus sent a swing pass towards Bragg that fell incomplete. The Bruins then attempted their ill-fated field goal.
“I’m amazed at how it came down to the same storyline as last year,” Bellotti said.
It’s a story the Ducks hope to repeat, possibly at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Oregon continues its Pac-10 title defense at home next Saturday against Arizona State.
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