JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Oregon running back Maurice Morris is tackled by Marques Anderson. Morris went on to rush for 139 yards on 37 carries and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns in the Ducks' 29-10 victory over UCLA on Saturday in Eugene.

By Adam Karon

Daily Bruin Contributor

EUGENE, Oregon -- Road trips are not always fun. No. 6 UCLA found this out quickly en route to a 29-10 defeat Saturday against Oregon at Autzen Stadium.

Tough Duck defense, missed opportunities and a raucous Eugene crowd contributed to the loss. The Bruins were held to negative nine yards rushing. Duck linebackers Matt Smith and Saul Patu kept UCLA tailback DeShaun Foster in check throughout the game.

The defensive effort was particularly important to Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti, formerly of UCLA, who left Los Angeles after a poor 1998 season that saw the defense publicly criticized by UCLA head coach Bob Toledo.

“This was great for Aliotti,” Patu said. “He’s a great coach, and I love him to death.”

Aliotti’s defensive schemes kept the Bruins stymied all game. Quarterback Ryan McCann was hounded throughout the contest and completed just 13 of 33 passes.

  JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Tailback DeShaun Foster is wrapped up by a gang of Ducks. Oregon smothered the Bruins' running game, holding Foster to just 49 yards on 19 carries and the team as a whole to negative 9 yards on the ground.

The Bruins were also victimized by untimely breaks. Wide receiver Jon Dubravac dropped a sure touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and flanker Freddie Mitchell had a touchdown taken away when it was ruled that he stepped out of bounds.

“They saw it, everybody saw it,” Mitchell said. “But that’s the way it goes, home court advantage. With the crowd too it’s kind of like playing against 13 guys.”

The home field advantage was deafening on Saturday. There were no sitting ducks as the green and yellow-clad crazies were at their best.   

UCLA was charged with six false start penalties and was unable to call any audibles due to the noise of the crowd.

“I didn’t hear a snap count all day,” Mitchell said. “That doesn’t effect me, but it hurts the linemen.”

Autzen Stadium seats just 45,000, but the proximity of the seats to the field, as well as the crowd’s enthusiasm, make Eugene one of the toughest places to play.  

The Ducks extended their home win streak to 17 by defeating UCLA, the last team to beat them at home.  

  JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff The Ducks' racous fans helped Oregon win its 17th straight home victory in Autzen Stadium on Saturday against UCLA.

Following the contest, the fans stormed the field to congratulate their team.

“You really have to hand it to Oregon,” Toledo said. “They make a lot of noise. This is a great place to play.”

The Ducks got on the board first following a big third-and-13 conversion. Quarterback Joey Harrington plunged through the UCLA defense to put the Ducks up 7-0.

UCLA dodged a bullet when Oregon kicker Josh Frankel missed a pair of field goals before finally making one. The Bruins headed into the locker room at halftime thankful for a deficit of just 10 points.

The third quarter seemed to belong to the Bruins. As Chris Griffith field goal, followed by a Drew Bennett to Freddie Mitchell touchdown pass, pulled the Bruins even at 10-10.

But the Ducks, and their crowd, would not be denied. Maurice Morris, who ran for a game-high 139 yards and two touchdowns, began to take his toll on the Bruin defense.

“We kept fighting out there,” Bruin linebacker Robert Thomas said. “But in the end we started wearing down.”

  JESSE PORTER/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Freddie Mitchell is ruled out of bounds on what would have been a touchdown catch in a controversial call in the third quarter.

The Ducks seemed to turn the tables on a Bruin team that has used a tough ground game and stellar defense to beat two No. 3 ranked teams this year. As a team, the Ducks rushed for 208 yards and held UCLA to just 197 total yards.

Defensively, the Bruins were forced to remain on the field almost 13 minutes more than the Ducks’ defense. In addition, the team was without All-American hopeful Kenyon Coleman, who recently underwent knee surgery to repair an injury suffered against Michigan. This, coupled with fuel from the fans, led to 361 total yards for Oregon.

“It’s a lot different than playing at home,” defensive tackle Kenny Kocher said. “I don’t know if the crowd affected the defense, but it was a lot different.”

The Bruins fell apart in the end. Unable to advance the ball, UCLA was forced to punt late in the fourth quarter, leading to a Maurice Morris touchdown.

And then, with less than two minutes to play, Oregon recovered a fumbled snap by the Bruins to put the game away.

UCLA became the most recent top-10 team to fall to a Pac-10 opponent, but this defeat hurts even more because it came during conference play. The Bruin loss makes it even more clear that the Pac-10 season is up for grabs.

The Bruins look forward to returning to the friendly confines of the Rose Bowl next weekend when the Arizona State Sun Devils come to town.

UCLA knows what it has to do to salvage a strong conference season.

“We need to throw the ball better,” Toledo said. “We need to execute better.”

This game was the first this season in which the Bruins’ defense seemed to waver. The Bruins came up with big stops against Alabama and Michigan but was unable to control the Ducks short passing game.

“We need to look at the films,” defensive end Rusty Williams said. “You’re never quite as good as you think.”

With Coleman and quarterback Cory Paus out for at least two more weeks, the Bruins are looking forward to the bye week that follows their game against ASU.

They should take comfort in the fact that the next out of state road trip will not come until Oct. 28 against Arizona.