Live from Oregon vs UCLA

On Saturday I went to my first college football game, Oregon vs UCLA. Thanks to my friend who attends UCLA, I was able to sit in the student section for the game. It was an awesome experience and it was great to watch two ranked teams play right in front of me. I have been watching Oregon for about 6 years and it was something special to see the high flying Ducks up close. Oregon and UCLA also happen to be two of my favorite teams in college football so I was extremely

Both of the teams have two possible first round picks in next years NFL draft in Marcus Mariota and Brett Hundley. Each quarterback has been putting up great numbers this season. Hundley has 11 touchdowns to 3 interceptions while leading the FBS in passing completion and on the other side Mariota has 17 touchdowns to 0 interceptions while having the highest quarterback rating in the FBS. In addition there are NFL prospects on both sides of the field for both teams. Myles Jack linebacker (and sometimes running back) is a versatile player for the Bruins who will surely be drafted early in the NFL draft. Someone who caught my eye was Jake Fisher. He had missed the last two games for the Ducks with a lower leg injury. With Fisher back in the lineup, the Ducks run game looked completely different. Mariota and friends were able to pressure the Bruins defense with all sorts of sweeps, bootlegs, and screen passes. The Ducks had only 144 rushing yards against Arizona, which was much less than their season average of 217 yards (good for 27th in the nation). On Saturday the Ducks looked much more like their normal selves, gashing the Bruins for 258 yards on the ground and adding 210 passing yards from Mariota. One has to wonder if the Ducks would have won against Arizona if Fisher was healthy.

The Ducks offense has a lot of great athletes such as Thomas Tyner, Byron Marshall, and Royce Freeman. These guys can make any offense lethal and score instantly when they have the ball. But the Oregon offense goes to another gear when Mariota runs like he is capable of. Already one of the most accurate passers in the nation Mariota becomes unstoppable when he runs with the ball. Against UCLA he had 7 rushes for 75 yards and two touchdowns. He has been a Heisman candidate all season and one has to think he'll be invited to New York come December.