Know Your Opponent: UCLA Football vs. Oregon Ducks 2017

The UCLA Football team returns home to the Rose Bowl to take on the Oregon Ducks Saturday at 1 p.m. PST on the PAC-12 Network. Both teams are looking to rebound from rough conference losses last week. Here’s what to expect from the Ducks.

It was a real “what just happened” kind of weekend for the UCLA Football team. Not only did they lose another conference game, they lost a conference game to Arizona. A team that head coach Jim Mora has owned since he came to Westwood. QB Josh Rosen threw three interceptions against a team that in two previous meetings couldn’t get him to throw one.

The Bruins are at a major crossroads in their 2017 season. They’re 3-3 with an uphill battle to claim bowl eligibility with the toughest part of their schedule yet to be played. The Oregon Ducks have been a shadow of what they were under Chip Kelly. But first year head coach Willie Taggart has all hands on deck headed back towards that image.

Mora needs to right the ship but is Oregon a team the Bruins can knock off or will the 2017 season look even more bleak?

Related Story: UCLA Football: The passing game has taken a step backward

Oregon’s Offense

It feels like RB Royce Freeman has been wearing a Ducks uniform for the better part of a decade. He doesn’t get the love that guys like Saquon Barkley or Derrius Guice garner but so far he’s out-rushing both of them. He’s capable of taking on tacklers in the open field but shows more than enough wiggle to make them miss as well. He doesn’t have breakaway speed but the agility he flashes allows him to be a creative runner. He’s also a very accomplished receiver out of the backfield as evidenced by his 76 career receptions.

Here’s where things get a little tricky for the Ducks. Starting QB Justin Herbert was thought to be lost for a chunk of the season when he broke his collarbone. Just three weeks later he was on the practice field tossing balls to receivers.

If he’s good to go then the Ducks get back one of the young bright stars in the PAC-12 QB machine. Herbert has been commanding this year completing 68% of his passes and averaging 10 yards per attempt. He benefits from a strong running game but he clearly has all the tools to lead the Ducks to the promise land. However all signs point to him being out for this game unless something big changes in the next few days.

When Herbert went down with injury against Cal it was backups Sr. Taylor Alie and Fr. Braxton Burmeister who took over. Alie took the majority of the snaps against Cal while Burmeister got the nod against Washington State after Alie was hurt against Cal in what was a loss. Neither one has been stellar with a combined 1-5 TD to INT ratio over the past three weeks. The coaches seem to be leaning Burmeister’s way but how short is the leash?

On the outside the Ducks are well stocked despite losing Devon Allen and Darren Carrington this past offseason. Carrington was a major blow to an offense that loved his ability to win the 50/50 jump ball and be a weapon in the redzone. Leading receiver Charles Nelson is a jitterbug that the Ducks will use on occasional sweeps and on screens. His athleticism and quickness forces a defense to declare when he’s in motion. With the injury to Herbert the passing game has taken a major step backward but the surprise story of this Ducks WR group is Brenden Schooler who has 15 catches for 193 yards and two scores on the season. Coming into this season Schooler was penciled in as a defensive back and potential starter given his team leading four interceptions in 2016.

The offensive line had a rough outing in 2016 with injury and inexperience. This year the line has been better but like the UCLA Football OL still a work in progress. Where they excel is in the run game and getting a push. Oregon of course heavily utilizes spread concepts in their offense but still run power out of it with pulling guards and downhill, off-tackle runs. They also borrow heavily from the book that seems that be circulating among Bruin opponents, “read-option your way to success”.  If the UCLA Football defense can force long, obvious passing situations they’ll have the Ducks in their most vulnerable state. But they’ll need to be able to create a pass rush or it won’t matter what down and distance they can get Oregon in.