Five Takeaways From Oregon's 45-30 Win Over UCLA

Oregon wins big with College Gameday in town. Here's five takeaways from the game

On Saturday Oregon defeated UCLA 45-30 in a game with major Pac-12 implications. Next up is a trip to Berkeley to face the Cal Bears.

Here are my five takeaways from the win over UCLA.

1. Penalties: Drive killers and savers 

 This is one that goes all the way back to the beginning of the season. Oregon has had an issue with drive-killing penalties. From the mauling they took from Georgia to the penalty-marred blowout vs. Stanford they have had penalties that have taken down drives, including a few during this game vs. UCLA. 

While Oregon definitely had a few moments where they got bailed out by some big plays, that won’t necessarily always work. Primarily looking back to the Georgia and WSU games. The Ducks need to not get those big penalties. Combined, the Ducks and Bruins had 14 for 115 yards, with Oregon accounting for eight penalties for 50 yards. That's an improvement from Stanford, but also still a high number.

But Oregon also had a few penalties that saved their drives. Including two massive defensive PI calls on back-to-back drives. These are the plays that can help give the offense the breathing room it needs to work.

2. When Bo Nix  gets thrown off his rhythm he falters, when he's confident he thrives

I know this applies to a lot of QBs but I feel like this is especially true for Nix this season. But when he gets flustered you can tell he gets thrown off his rhythm. You saw this at the beginning of the game.

He drove down the field, before a penalty stopped the drive cold. The Ducks stalled and had to kick a field goal. While they were able to re-steady Nix and push on to the win, it highlights how important that rhythm is to Oregon. Ever since that Georgia game and the after Eastern Washington game, Lanning has preached doing simple better. From then on, we saw that when Nix did the little things and settle in he took off, and now he's playing lights-out football.

But when he isn't comfortable or not able to settle in, things get tough. Take Georgia and even WSU. In that Georgia game, the defense made his life a nightmare. They beat him down and made it look like Oregon had made the wrong choice at quarterback. 

In Pullman, they got under his skin and made life very tough for him, but he was able to pull out the win. Granted it was his defense that bailed him out at the end, he had enough experience with Lanning at that point to be able to mitigate the mistakes and get the win.

3. We saw how important that rhythm is to Oregon

Rhythm rhythm rhythm. Always important, but even more so with two teams that have skill players who need to get going to break out. Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving and Nix all got in a groove early, as did UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Zach Charbonet, and Jake Bobo. If these guys get rolling it will usually lead to offensive success and a win.

At first it seemed like Oregon established that rhythm. Then they had drives stall due to penalties like holding, ineligible receiver downfield, etc. And while we saw that settle down and Oregon press on, it showed its importance. 

It was the same for UCLA. When their guys rolled, they scored, and eventually drew closer than maybe some expected. But then when penalties built up, UCLA slowed down and they weren't able to recover.

4. When Lanning smells an opportunity he strikes

After Oregon scored early in the second quarter to go up 17-10, it looked like this was going to turn into a back-and-forth game that would come down to the end. Then Lanning gambled, electing for an onside kick to surprise the Bruins. It worked, Oregon pounced, recovered, and proceeded to go up by 14 (24-10). This was not only the Ducks first onside kick recovery in almost a decade, (Nov 7, 2013) but a potential game-buster.

Lanning also went for a couple of critical fourth downs, knowing then and there he had to put his foot down and take control of this game one way or another. He did and pulled away with the win, a win that may put Oregon in the position as the Pac-12's best hope for the playoff at best, or at least, a very good chance that it will be in Pasadena to represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl.

5.  Lanning was able to make and implement changes at half

Who adjusts better: One of the biggest questions, especially with a closer game is who adjusts better coming out of the half. At half Oregon led 31-13. While it didn’t necessarily look close, it was only that way because Oregon got that big onside kick recovery and was able to capitalize on that and score another touchdown after a UCLA field goal. 

Coming out of the half, UCLA got the ball first and drove down the field to get to their own 45 before converting a huge fourth down. Oregon hasn’t been a team this year that’s had to do a lot of second half adjustments, except against Georgia and WSU. They held UCLA to a field goal but needed to see how they respond. Oregon responds with a long drive that included two fourth-down conversions that helped put them up 38-16, the potential final straw for the Bruins.

All in all, you didn’t see as dominant a performance that Duck fans are accustomed to seeing so far this season. But you did see a team address several issues that had been popping up this season.

Oregon now prepares for a two-week road trip, taking on both Cal and Colorado before returning home to play the Washington Huskies.

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