2008 Week 7

Eugene, OR - UCLA travelled north to face conference foe Oregon on Saturday and the #16 ranked Ducks were looking for revenge against SoCal. Oregon had lost the previous week at USC and wanted to take out the anger on the Bruins of UCLA.

UCLA had other plans as the jumped out to a 17-3 lead with 1:34 left in the 2nd quarter. With starting RB and team captain Kahlil Bell getting knocked out of the game after returning the opening kick BYU relied heavily on the arm of Ben Olson in the first half. He responded by throwing 2 touchdowns to Terrence Austin. The defense came up big holding Oregon to a field goal until they gave up a C. Krempt TD pass with 30 seconds remaining in the half. Leading 17-10 the Bruins decided to not run out the clock and moved the ball to their own 45. On the last play of the half Olson hooked up with freshmen receiver Nelson Rosario and he took the ball 50 yards to the 1 yard line. Halftime score: UCLA 17-10.

The second half began the same way as Olson orchestrated a beautiful drive that culminated in a 5 yard TD pass to backup RB Craig Sheppard. The junior running back carried the load extremely well for the injured Bell as he finished the day with 114 rushing yards, 48 receiving yards and 1 TD. The end of the third quarter is where things would begin to unravel for the Bruins. Olson threw three interceptions to finish the game, 1 that was returned for a TD and another that resulted in an Oregon field goal. All of these touchdowns were in the redzone and turned a for sure blowout into a nail biting 24-20 victory for the Bruins. They had just enough to hold on.

Aaron Ware led the defense in tackles with 11 and DT Brian Price was the player of the game as he registered 5 sacks. The team had 10 sacks combined and created havic in the Oregon backfield. The Bruins next play the Stanford Cardinals at home and look to improve the winning streak to 7 games.