If you're looking to pinpoint exactly what went wrong for No. 18 UCLA in Saturday's loss to No. 12 Oregon at the Rose Bowl, don't look at the big offensive numbers put up, the effort given (or you will draw the ire of head coach Jim Mora) or even the chaos on the sidelines.
So what happened in the 42-30 loss? It was mistakes and penalties that added up against a team that is good at exploiting both.
"When you play a team like Oregon, you've got to be almost perfect to beat them," Mora said. "They are just so explosive and so good. We did some things that were really positive but we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times."
UCLA outgained and out-passed the vaunted Ducks offense and dominated the time of possession. They went 4-for-4 in the red zone and 11-for-19 on third down. On paper it all looks fine, but after stopping the first two Oregon drives, things quickly unraveled.
"I thought we did a good job of controlling the football, but I don't think we did a great (job) of finishing those drives," offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone said. "We've been really good at finishing drives all year, but I think in that first half, we''ve got to stick the ball in the end zone."
UCLA was close three times early in the game, but Junior kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn, who seems to suddenly be shrinking on the big stage, went just 1-for-4. He's now 8-of-18 from 40 yards or more. Quarterback Brett Hundley also threw an interception.
"We've got to figure out how to put the ball through the uprights, we needed those threes," Mora said.
Mariota leads No. 12 Oregon in rout of No. 18 UCLA
But you aren't going to defeat one of the fastest offenses in the game with field goals.
Again, penalties were a concern -- seven for 81 yards by the Bruins -- and although they had only a single turnover, Oregon capitalized by turning it into a touchdown.
"If you give a team like that a short field, it's going to make it very difficult on your defense," Mora said. "It's a little bit of everything. It's us trying to get it right and maybe not getting it right on a play. Sometimes you get beat, sometimes it's everything."
The loss actually could have been worse -- UCLA was down by as many as 32 points to start the fourth quarter. Mora said they didn't give up, but it sure looked like it during the third quarter after a chaotic first half ensued.
"I sort of felt like we were just trying to play our game," Hundley said. We weren't trying to press, but when plays were needed to be made we made a surge. We tried all we could."
UCLA coaches downplay incidents that occurred in loss to Oregon
The championship dreams appear to be over as UCLA suffered its second-straight loss. There's still a lot of football to be played but, in a sport with such little room for error, the Bruins have made just a few too many six games into the season.
"It's like any loss: You pick yourself up, you dust yourself off," Mora said. "Every loss is disappointing... They are not defeated and they will continue to work hard and get better."
"We can't be a team that gets down on ourselves," Hundley said. "We have to pick up and win it from here on out."
