I had a hard time watching this game after my Golden Bears were upset against Arizona, however in the world of sports, you need to learn how to tough it out sometimes. In a weekend of upsets, UCLA looked to have a little upset of their own over the hot Oregon St. Beavers. UCLA(5-5, 3-4) dominated the second half of the game, and easily won evening their record at 5-5, with a win against ASU next week, they can become bowl eligible. Oregon St.(6-4, 4-3), having won 7 of 9, including an upset over USC, was thoroughly outplayed in all 3 aspects of the game, and lost for the 4th time this season.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/boxscore?gid=200611110064
Oregon St. PP's:
Yvenson Bernard, RB, Oregon St.- From the very beginning, it was hard for Yvenson. He was stuffed on his first rushing attempt for -3 yards. He finished the day with respectable numbers, 16 rushes for 54 yards, but was repeatedly held for no loss or a loss of yards. A good job of receiving the ball, catching 5 balls for 41 yards: C
Matt Moore, QB, Oregon St.- After all the hype Moore's built up over the past few weeks, he did not impress me. He overthrew his receivers all day and stood in the pocket way too long, allowing 5 sacks. You can't fault him entirely for the loss however, the oline had a rough day, and no one around me in the offense made any noise either. After throwing 4 INT's in his last trip to UCLA, he did not throw any Saturday: C-
Joe Newton, TE, Oregon St.- Talk about a quiet day for him, 0 receptions. Moore just couldn't find him. UCLA did a good job covering him, but it makes me scratch my head that he couldn't even get one reception: F
Sabby Piscitelli, S, Oregon St.- I was very unimpressed by Sabby. I had heard good things coming in about him, but he seemed like a poor man's CJ Wallace to me. He doesn't wrap up on every play and that leads to several missed tackles, and he is a disaster in coverage. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but he did not perfform well in this game: D
Alexis Serna, K, Oregon St.- Coming into this game, I had Serna as my number 1 kicker in the country. He let me down in this game. He missed 2 field goals, a 51 yarder was blocked, and his 30 yarder was missed. A very poor kickoff day for him as well, only averaging 57 yards per attempt: D
UCLA PP's:
Joe Cowan, WR, UCLA- DNP out for year
Ben Olson, QB, UCLA- DNP, looking to come back next week
Justin Medlock, K, UCLA- Medlock changed my mind on the best kicker in the country. As Serna performed poorly, he had one of his best days as a collegiate. He nailed 4 field goals, including 2 from 40+ yards. He had 4 touchbacks kicking off the ball, and averaged hitting the 5 yardline. A very good performance for him: A
UCLA received an average running day from Chris Markey, and nothing special from the WR end. On defense, Dennis Keyes looked great and looks to be a top prospect for the 2008 draft.