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Oregon’s offense gets its way as UCLA drops second straight Big Ten game – Daily News

Vaseline September 29, 2024

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Oregon’s Jayden Limar (27) is stopped by the UCLA defense during a Big 10 football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday, September 28, 2024. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)

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PASADENA – No. No. 8 Oregon entered the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2021 and scored on every possession in the first half, rallying to a 34-14 victory over UCLA on Saturday night.

The Bruins fell to 0-2 in their first Big Ten Conference season, while the Ducks earned their first conference win.

“Another game that didn’t go the way we wanted,” Foster told reporters after the game. “My defense played pretty well tonight against a high-powered offense and we just didn’t execute the way we wanted to on offense to try to help our defense.”

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel completed 31 of 41 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Jordan James rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown.

Ethan Garbers went 12-for-20 passing for 118 yards with two interceptions for UCLA (1-3 overall, 0-2 in Big Ten). True freshman Kwazi Gilmer was the Bruins’ top receiver with four catches for 31 yards.

Garbers played in the second half with a taped ankle and walked with visible discomfort. He left the game in the fourth quarter after being sacked four times, followed by Justyn Martin who completed 1 of 4 passes for 7 yards.

Foster did not reveal whether Garbers had a concussion after the game.

“If you know Ethan, you know he fought to stay there,” Foster said. “If you have a player who begs to stay there, who wants to keep playing, let him play.”

Defensive back Ramon Henderson left the game late in the third quarter with an apparent injury, but returned and made a tackle in the fourth quarter.

The Ducks (4-0, 1-0) scored 28 points in the first half en route to their 13th straight win for games starting after 7 p.m.

The Bruins defense stepped up for their only touchdown of the game – and it came just seconds before halftime. Bryan Addison intercepted Gabriel at the 4-yard line and took off down the Oregon sideline for a touchdown.

It was the first pick of his career for Addison, a transfer from Oregon, and it was UCLA’s longest interception return since 2015. He was on the bench with ice on his leg in the final minutes of the game but appeared to have no major injuries .

“It gave us a lot of momentum going into halftime,” linebacker Carson Schwesinger said. If we can keep that up for the rest of the second half, we can get stops.”

Gabriel threw his first touchdown of the night to Traeshon Holden (11 receptions, 121 yards) for a 12-yard strike to complement a 75-yard drive within the first six minutes of the game and James rushed for a 2-yard touchdown . Gabriel threw a 52-yard pass to Tez Johnson with 9:11 left in the second quarter.

Addison followed Johnson on the coverage, but never caught up. Oregon was successful on its two-point conversion attempt to take a 28–3 lead and Atticus Sappington picked up three more points with a 42-yard field goal.

“When you play a high-powered offense like that, they can make any number of things happen,” Foster said. “But I’m just happy that my guys keep fighting on defense. They are resilient guys.”

UCLA held Oregon scoreless in the third quarter as Bhaghani hit a career-high 54-yard field goal that narrowly cleared the crossbar to make the score 28-13. It is also the fourth-longest field goal in program history.

The Ducks offense resumed with a 12-yard touchdown connection between Gabriel and Johnson.

UCLA continues its Big Ten schedule this Saturday at No. 9 Penn State. Kickoff is scheduled for 9 a.m. PT.

“We’re just going to go to Penn State and continue to build on this,” Foster told reporters. “That’s all we have to do. We’re going to learn from these losses and I know I see it, so I know you see it and you choose not to. They keep getting better and we keep improving and working hard. Eventually it will turn around.”