Halftime: UCLA 6, Oregon 0 ... and One Ugly Game
Sick and tired of those basketball scores football teams are putting up these days?
Quick, tune in to ABC and watch the second half of UCLA and Oregon.
How overmatched are these offenses?
Halfway through their "showdown" ... both teams aspire to play 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football. Because after 30 minutes, they're not managing even that.
Oregon has 101 yards on 44 plays. That's 2.3 yards per play.
UCLA is worse. The Bruins have 40 yards on 29 plays. That's 1.4 yards per play.
And both offenses are every bit as bad as their numbers indicate.
Oregon was in trouble, with Dennis Dixon down, and then it got worse ... No. 2 quarterback Brady Leaf (yes, Ryan Leaf's little brother) ... went out with what appears to be an ankle injury, and now both teams are using their No. 3 quarterbacks.
Osaar Rasshan is having a nightmarish game for UCLA. He is 0-for-7 passing with an interception and has run for minus-6 yards.
But Oregon's quarterbacks (Leaf, now some redshirt freshman named Cody Kempt) are 5-for-19 for 50 yards and an interception.
It's that awful.
Chris Markey is trying to play tailback for UCLA, and having a rough go. He has had a turf-toe issue nearly all season, so he may not be healthy ... but it's not as if there's much room to run, considering Oregon doesn't have to worry -- at all -- about the pass. He has 45 yards on 15 carries, which is lousy, but almost makes him a nuclear device, in this game..
Oregon has a real tailback, Jonathan Stewart, but he's got turf toe too (what are the odds!) and he has only 24 yards on eight carries.
UCLA could win this game, but it shouldn't reflect well on Karl Dorrell. I am stunned that the Bruins didn't take the two weeks they had since the Arizona State game and seriously rejigger their offense. Put in scads of simple plays for Rasshan that get him in space, and let him run or pass. They could have installed the veer or the wishbone, with the two weeks they had.
Instead, they have Rasshan under center, and trying to make touch passes into space ... not even SHORT passes, for goodness sakes ... and he just doesn't do that well.
Anyway, if you like third-and-long, defenses dominating and lots of punts ... this is the game for you.