UCLA-Oregon game day musings

Notes from a cocktail napkin in Westwood ...

Autzen, Ore., home of the Ducks, boasts one of the biggest — if not the biggest — home field advantages in all of college football. As they say in "Spinal Tap," "it goes to eleven." But crowd noise can turn on a dime, and it only took a first down to quiet things down in the first quarter.
O'Hara's, still known by most people around UCLA as Maloney's, was surprisingly unenthusiastic for a Saturday night. There were people watching the game. And by game, I mean Florida-LSU, Missou-Oklahoma State and Boston-Tampa. The fans wearing Bruin apparel were outnumbered by those representing other teams.
Despite relatively calm weather conditions (gusts topping out at a whopping 3 mph), neither kicker could hit a deep field goal. Oregon's Matt Evensen missed from 42 and was blocked from 50, while UCLA's Kai Forbath missed from 47.
The Bruins had a great opportunity to go into the half down 7-0, but lost some momentum when the Ducks posted a second touchdown in the waning second of the first half. Heading into the locker room with only one score allowed would have been a huge confidence boost against an explosive Oregon offense.
Oregon came into the game with something to prove, and UCLA continues to deal with injuries and inexperience. It's a pleasant surprise to see this turn into a bit of a slugfest.
Westwood Brewing Company, while still tepid in terms of fan turnout, had a huge edge over O'Hara's for a Saturday night game-watching experience. Fans were actually sporting true blue and rallied a loud 8-clap (though I think it was started by a guy in an ASU shirt).
With Ryan Moya as the game's leading receiver and Jeff Miller making the lone touchdown reception, the tight end position is becoming more important this season. That's particularly impressive with the absence of would-be starter Logan Paulsen, who is out (probably for the year) with a broken foot.
Maybe Terrence Austin will become the go-to guy on offense. He had a big-time play in the third quarter, making a difficult cut and scampering for 27 yards.
Did Kevin Craft really throw three near-interceptions within about a minute in the fourth quarter? Wow. Although he did have one pick in the final period, consider that he threw only one in the previous 17 quarters of play.
Frightening hit on Terrence Austin. He's being taken to the hospital. [UPDATE: He was released with a neck brace and returned to Los Angeles with the team.]
UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel showed serious confidence in his defense but not trying an onside kick with just under three minutes to play in the game. It didn't work out in the end, but it almost made sense with a defense that held Oregon to 42 passing yards. Unfortunately, they also had 323 rushing yards.
Another "clean" game for the offensive line (two penalties, if I read the stat sheet right). So they've got that going for them. But what's up with the regression on rushing average? UCLA managed an anemic 1.7 yards per carry. If you ignore sacks, Kevin Craft was actually the team's leading rusher. Speaking of which, did anybody else notice that nifty escape maneuver he pulled with about eight minutes to go in the game?
Final score: Oregon 31, UCLA 24. What a strange one. The more talented team won the game, but UCLA actually might have played better as a whole. Definitely some glaring weaknesses for both sides.

—Adam Rose