The attention entering Saturday’s Oregon State-UCLA game was focused mainly on the Bruins’ offense, led by one of the country’s finest young quarterbacks and the nation’s leading rusher.
The Beavers’ duo of Sean Mannion and Storm Woods stole the spotlight.
Mannion passed for a career-high 379 yards and two touchdowns, Woods rushed for 96 yards and another score, and underdog Oregon State put the clamps on No. 19 UCLA in opening its Pacific-12 Conference season by beating the Bruins, 27-20, in Pasadena, Calif.
The victory was the 74th at Oregon State for coach Mike Riley, matching the school record set by Lon Stiner, the Beavers’ coach from 1933-48. Riley is in his 12th year with Oregon State.
“It was a great job by our team, I just loved it,” said Riley, whose team was coming off a 10-7 upset of then-No. 13 Wisconsin two weeks ago. “That was a really good group of offensive players and a good offensive scheme and I thought we just kept playing. When something bad happened, nobody blinked and somebody else made a play.”
Mannion completed 24 of 35 passes with one interception and has passed for 200 or more yards in 13 straight games. Woods, who carried 21 times, scored what turned out to be the deciding touchdown on a 2-yard run late in the third quarter and gained 62 of his yards after halftime.
Oregon State’s Markus Wheaton had nine receptions for 150 yards and a touchdown and has caught at least one pass in 25 consecutive games. Brandin Cooks had six catches for 175 yards and a TD for the Beavers.
“It feels unbelievable to beat a great team like that,” said Mannion, a third-year sophomore. “We’ve got a lot of respect for (UCLA), they were tough start to finish. It feels great to come out and get a team win like that.”
Redshirt freshman Brett Hundley completed 27 of 42 passes for 372 yards and a touchdown for the Bruins. UCLA’s Johnathan Franklin, the country’s leading rusher with a 180.3-yard average, was held to 45 yards on 12 carries. He averaged 8.2 yards per carry previously this year.
“Our defense is awesome. I can’t say that enough,” Mannion said. “They gave us so many chances to make plays on offense. It’s tough going against them in practice, so it’s not surprising how good they are in the game. They’re a great, great unit and I’m glad they’re on our team.”
The Bruins (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) scored 15 touchdowns and averaged 622.0 yards to rank second nationally in total offense in their previous three games. But the Beavers (2-0, 1-0) held them to 444 yards and two TDs.
“That was a tough loss, obviously, but our hats are off to Oregon State,” first-year UCLA coach Jim Mora said. “That’s a good defensive football team and a well-coached football team and they beat us. They have a very good run defense. They are big and physical up front.”
The Beavers went 88 yards on 13 plays to take a 24-10 lead, scoring on Woods’ short run one play after a pass interference penalty against Sheldon Price on third-and-goal late in the third quarter.
“We’ve got to figure out a way in those situations to do a better job,” Mora said regarding the missed opportunities.
UCLA responded by getting a 1-yard sneak from Hundley that capped a 75-yard drive and made it 24-17 with 14:01 to play. The Beavers got a 10-point lead back on Trevor Romaine’s 17-yard field goal with 9:33 left.
The Bruins had a chance to get within seven points again, but Ka’imi Fairbairn was wide right on a 42-yard field goal with 7:37 to go. Fairbairn kicked a 35-yarder with 1:47 left, but Oregon State recovered UCLA’s onside kick and ran out all but the final five seconds.
At No. 13 USC 27, California 9: Matt Barkley passed for 192 yards and threw two touchdown passes to Marqise Lee, and the Trojans beat the Bears.
Lee had 11 catches for 94 yards, and Silas Redd rushed for 158 yards and a score as the Trojans (3-1, 1-1) grinded out their ninth consecutive win over the Golden Bears (1-3, 0-1) in the schools’ 100th meeting.
At Arizona State 37, Utah 7: Taylor Kelly threw for a career-high 326 yards and three touchdowns, and the Sun Devils bounced back from its first loss under new coach Todd Graham with the rout of the Utes.
Coming off a mistake-filled road loss to Missouri, ASU (3-1, 1-0) used its don’t-let-em-rest offense and a smothering defense to run past Utah (2-2, 0-1). Kelly eclipsed his season high by halftime with 259 yards and had three touchdown passes as the Sun Devils built a 31-7 lead.
At No. 3 Oregon 49, No. 22 Arizona 0: The Ducks (4-0, 1-0) took advantage of five turnovers by the Wildcats (3-1, 0-1) – including a pair of interception returns for touchdowns – in picking up the victory in Eugene.
Oregon, which clung to a 13-0 halftime lead before exploding for 36 second-half points, got touchdowns from four different players in rolling up a balanced 495 yards of offense – 228 rushing, 267 passing.
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