I have always wanted to watch college football played out at the Rose Bowl. Also on my growing college football bucket list is to watch Oregon play at home. On Saturday night it felt like I did both. The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, is one of college football's most iconic venues, built 101 years ago, where the UCLA Bruins also play their home games.
California Dreaming
My wife Amy and I are spending two weeks in the fabulous state of California. It's sunny, with great home grown wines to sip and genuinely engaging, positive people who don't ask you what you do for a living or who you know. A perfect spot for a holiday. Whenever we're in the United States I try to take in a college football game. Texas in 2022 afforded the opportunity of watching Texas A&M host Miami at a raucous Kyle Field, and Alabama visit Austin to take on a Texas team showing fledgling signs of a much-anticipated resurgency at an equally boisterous Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin.
So, California beckoned and with it the chance to sample the atmosphere of the storied Rose Bowl, to watch UCLA host the entertaining Oregon Ducks. After a drive through the traffic from our hotel in Santa Barbara, we parked up in a sea of vehicles, tailgaters in blue and gold circled around barbecues or throwing footballs back and forth. An increasing flow of fans from the north west, clad in green, indicated the presence of the opposition awaiting UCLA.
A walk around the UCLA Fan Zone offered a chance to pick up some merchandise, receive numerous promotional freebies (a pair of Coors Light sunglasses were my favourite) and sink a beer before wandering across the park to stand under the hallowed Rose Bowl sign, now glowing in a neon that gave this old historic building the spotlight it deserved in the evening dusk.
Famous sign aside, the Rose Bowl isn't as instantly impactful from the outside as other stadiums. In my limited experience of attending college football games, Kyle Field towering menacingly over the College Station campus and the stands that line the length of the field at Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium when you approach on foot, have offered more dramatic spectacles.
Walking into Section 2, through a tunnel where the floodlights seemed to pull you through, was a humbling experience. Emerging into the Bowl, you walk out at mid-stadium height with a huge single layer of seats wrapped around the field, including thousands beneath you, hidden entirely from the perspective of the tailgating fan outside.
The Game
I was struck immediately by the number of empty seats at The Rose Bowl. UCLA, I had assumed, would provide a fervent atmosphere with fans packing out this historic venue. Yet in a 95,000 capacity stadium, 43,051 fans watched the first meeting in the Big Ten conference between these teams since both bolted from the Pac-12. On our side of the Bowl, the majority of the seats were decked out in various shades of Oregon green. Sitting in amongst the visiting fans, they certainly made themselves heard.
UCLA kicked off to Oregon, who were wearing their throwback kit. The Ducks started quickly, Traeshon Holden hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass from the impressive Dillon Gabriel after a drive lasting just under five and a half minutes.
Near the end of a promising opening drive with three straight passing first downs, but little impact on the ground, UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers found 6'6", 240lbs tight end Moliki Matavao to take the Bruins into the red zone. The twelve-play drive fell short, a 27-yard field goal from Mateen Bhaghani pulled the deficit back to 7-3.
Oregon assert control
The second quarter opened with a 41-yard Oregon field goal from Atticus Sappington, the first of four consecutive scoring drives that sapped the energy from UCLA's defense and their already lacklustre home crowd. Ethan Garbers was picked off by Bryce Boettcher, giving Oregon the ball back on UCLA's 23-yard line.
Gabriel was finding his receivers in space on the perimeter, delivering the ball quickly outside to his skill players, trusting their ability in one-on-one matchups. Contrary to UCLA, Oregon was having success with their run game. The powerful back Jordan James ran in a two-yard touchdown to put the Ducks 17-3 up.
UCLA's offensive line was in danger of being overrun. Garbers was under constant pressure from an inability to establish a run game, but battled manfully. Sacked by Oregon defensive end Jordan Burch, Garbers found Notre Dame transfer Rico Flores on a 3rd-and-20 play but came up short of the first down and the Bruins were forced to punt.
A ruthless three-play drive culminated in a highlight-reel 52-yard Dillon Gabriel touchdown pass to the outstanding receiver Tez Johnson. The Ducks rubbed salt into UCLA's wounds with a slick two-point conversion where Kenyon Saddiq found Terrance Ferguson in the end zone, stretching Oregon's lead past three touchdowns with 9:11 left in the first half. Oregon were well on top and looking on course for a blowout win. Their fans knew it, jeering the UCLA fans and their inability to generate noise at a home game.
Three plays and out from a deflated UCLA offense gave Oregon ball back on own 30. A 42-yard Atticus Sappington field goal put the Ducks up 28-3.
Lifeline for UCLA
After another three-and-out from the Bruins, Oregon advanced ominously to UCLA's six-yard line in six plays that lasted under a minute, the highlight play a 38-yard Gabriel pass to Traeshon Holden off the back of two powerful Jordan James runs.
With 41 seconds left in the half, UCLA had a lifeline, ironically from Oregon transfer Bryan Addison, who picked off Gabriel and burst down the field for a 96-yard interception touchdown to restore some Bruins pride and reduce the gap to 28-10. Addison's return was almost double the offensive yardage gained by UCLA in a sorry first half.
The statistics were damning. Oregon racked up 302 yards on offense in the first half, 226 passing and 76 rushing. UCLA gained just 54 yards, 61 passing and an embarassing -7 yards on the ground.
Cade McNown had been introduced as the Bruins' honorary captain for the game. McNown was a Johnny Unitas Award winning quarterback for UCLA between 1995-98 who compiled a 4-0 record vs USC. How they must have wished he was suited up this evening.
UCLA fight back in third quarter
Three consecutive T.J. Harden runs opened the second half for UCLA, the highlight being a 21-yard carry to open up the Bruins' run game, a promising drive ending with a Garbers sack by Jeffrey Bassa for an eight-yard loss, forcing a UCLA punt.
Encouragingly for the beleaguered home fans, UCLA stopped Oregon on their own 12, having allowed the Ducks just seven yards on three plays and forced the visitors to punt. With the ball back at midfield and more confidence in their run game, the Bruins were mixing play up more. An 11-yard Garbers pass to Bryce Pierre and 18 yd run from Harden gave UCLA a promising platform but they couldn’t capitalise and had to settle for a 54-yard field goal to bring Oregon back within two scores, 28-13.
UCLA advanced to Oregon 45-yard line, went for it on 4th-and-3 and were intercepted by Tysheem Johnson to end the third quarter.
Oregon seals victory
At 28-13 down, the previously bullish Oregon fans were noticeably quieter, especially when a UCLA interception was returned for a touchdown that could have put the Bruins within a touchdown and two-point conversion. The play was called back and suddenly Ducks fans were back in full voice. Dillon Gabriel found Tez Johnson at the back of the end zone for the talented receiver's second touchdown. Sappington missed the extra point but Oregon had built an unassailable lead and ran out comfortable winners, 34-13.
Gulf between programs
My initial takeaway from a telling match up is the clear gulf between these two programs. Oregon, in recent years especially, is always in the conversation for college football playoff places. Their fervent travelling fan base, to this observer, looked to match UCLA's home support. They have a rising star in head coach Dan Lanning and millions of dollars in support from the pocket of Nike founder Phil Knight, one of Oregon's most famous alumni, making them an attractive proposition to the cream of high school talent and the jewels available in the transfer portal. This year's team is talented. Dillon Gabriel was my pick for the Heisman in preseason, and completed 31 of 41 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns. If the Ducks can overcome No.3 Ohio State in two weeks' time, his stock may rise further. The outstanding Tez Johnson, a favourite target for Bo Nix last season, impressed me with his movement and separation, hauling in 11 catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He looks like a top draft pick.
UCLA, in contrast, are a traditional college football program, as the stadium's big screens reminded us, have had 338 players drafted into the NFL, 34 of whom were first-round picks. Yet, like the wonderful stadium they play in, they appear to be a shadow of their former selves. One Oregon fan sat in front of me noted the end zones covered in tarpaulin marked "UCLA" , adding that these are the areas of a stadium often occupied by the die hard home fans. I read that the UCLA campus is located 17 miles away from the Rose Bowl. Does that detract fans from attending? Shuttle buses to campus were readily available so perhaps not. The one retro jersey on sale in the fan zone merchandise tent was Troy Aikman, UCLA's quarterback between 1986 and 1988 who went on to be the No.1 overall draft pick for the Dallas Cowboys who he subsequently led to three Super Bowl wins.
That said, the way the UCLA players, overrun by a slick No.8 Oregon team in the first half, came out fighting after half time, shows some promise in the program first-year head coach DeShaun Foster is trying to build. More success in future recruiting classes, some wins in the transfer portal and the additional TV revenue generated from the Bruins' move to the Big Ten could transform this historic franchise into a team that can again grace the hallowed turf of the great Rose Bowl stadium.
I hope they can and will continue watching with interest.
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