By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Reporter
For the third straight week, the UCLA Bruins had a chance to
pull out a heroic come-from-behind victory Saturday against Oregon.
For the third straight time, UCLA failed to convert late-game
drives into point-scoring victories.
While the last three games seem similar, Saturday’s
contest was different.
Oregon was leading UCLA 21-20 with 4:21 left in the game. UCLA
got the ball on the 20-yard line and made one final push to save
its Pac-10 championship hopes. The UCLA offense was able to operate
efficiently against a tough Oregon defense. The return of wideout
Brian Poli-Dixon reenergized a previously anemic Bruin offense.
More importantly, Bruin quarterback Cory Paus had thrown 12
completions for a season high 294 yards going into the final
drive.
He completed a pass to wideout Craig Bragg on a crucial
third-and-five for a gain of eight and a first down. On the next
play, Paus connected with Poli-Dixon for a gain of 19 to put the
Bruins into Oregon territory. The Bruins had 2:44 to get within
Bruin place kicker Chris Griffith’s field goal range, and
UCLA head coach Bob Toledo had a hot quarterback who was going to
get them there.
At that point, Toledo mysteriously took the air out of the ball.
Toledo had been calling trick plays throughout the game, but became
a conservative coach once they reached Oregon territory.
“At the end, after the interception, I didn’t feel
like we wanted to throw on that last drive,” Toledo said
“We had driven the ball pretty well to that point and I
didn’t want to make a bad play.”
Maybe the end of the Washington State game, where Paus threw
interceptions on the final two drives of the game, was still fresh
in Toledo’s head. Maybe the interception that Paus threw on
the previous UCLA possession deflated Toledo’s trust in his
quarterback.
UCLA ran the ball on five of the next six plays. Not only did
the Bruins run the ball, they were in no hurry to do so. The Bruins
acted like they were in the second quarter instead of the final
drive ““ one to salvage a season. Seconds flew off of the
clock while UCLA was content to plug away in an attempt set up at
least a 49-yard field goal for Griffith, which would match the
longest kick of his career.
UCLA running back Akil Harris would get close to
Griffith’s range, but in the end, he landed one-yard short.
On a third down and five on the Oregon 33, Harris tried to break
outside instead on guaranteeing forward progress by running
upfield.
“I went to the outside and for a second, I saw nothing but
clear grass,” Harris said. “I was hoping to get around
the corner and get out of bounds for a first down, but a linebacker
came out of nowhere and tripped me up.”
Harris stayed on the Oregon 33 with 43 seconds to go. Toledo
allowed the game clock to drop to two seconds, giving the Bruins
only one option ““ a 50-yard Griffith field goal try to win
the game.
Griffith had not attempted a 50-yard field before in his college
career, but Toledo’s game plan set him up for the longest
kick in the most important of situations.
With a cross breeze flowing through the Rose Bowl, Griffith set
up for the kick and sent it into the air. The ball landed wide
right and short of the uprights. It could have stopped the Bruins
downhill slide and softened the blow of losing their star player
during the week.
“I wanted to be put in that situation,” Griffith
said. “It’s a dream of mine to come in a win the game
with a long field goal and today, my dream didn’t come
true.”
If Toledo hadn’t gotten conservative on the last drive,
maybe the Bruins could have been closer to the uprights and
Griffith’s dream, as well their Pac-10 championship
hopes.