Oregon vs. UCLA: Score and Twitter Reaction

Perhaps the rumblings of Oregon's demise were a little exaggerated.

The No. 12 Ducks bounced back from last week's near-crippling home loss against Arizona in impressive fashion Saturday, going into the Rose Bowl and laying a 42-30 thumping on No. 18 UCLA, beating the Bruins for the sixth straight time.

"Every loss is a test of our character to see how we respond," Oregon cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu told reporters before the game, via ESPN.com.

Well, Mark Helfrich's team clearly isn't lacking character. Heisman Trophy candidate Marcus Mariota threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns, added another 75 and two scores on the ground, and the Ducks led by as many as 32 before a late fourth-quarter surge from UCLA narrowed the final margin.

As The National Football Post's Dave Miller noted, it was a performance that quickly quieted Oregon's critics:

Perhaps more importantly than the statistical output or margin of victory, Mariota's offensive line kept him upright. Oregon's big boys in the trenches have received seemingly endless criticism this season—especially after an unsatisfactory performance against the Wildcats—but they allowed zero sacks and opened up cavernous lanes for Royce Freeman (18 carries, 121 yards, two touchdown) and Thomas Tyner (13 carries, 58 yards) to stroll through.

Scout.com's Josh Webb noted the difference in Oregon's speedy offense when the linemen are playing well:

There was no receiving touchdown this week, but Mariota scored in a variety of ways—and made it look easy.

In the first quarter, he kept the ball himself on an option and outraced UCLA's defenders to the outside for a 13-yard score. NFL.com's Bryan Fischer applauded the dual threat:

"

And that’s why Mariota is a special athlete. Hit the corner against a fast UCLA defense for a nice TD run.

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) October 11, 2014"

After opening up the Ducks' lead with a pair of passing touchdowns—a 21-yard screen pass to Tyner and a perfect throw down the sideline to Pharaoh Brown for 31—Mariota began the second half with another running score.

His gaudy athleticism was especially on display in the latter, as he picked up his own fumble and still managed to explode through UCLA's defense. The Pac-12 Networks Twitter feed provided a look at the unique touchdown:

On the other side of the football, UCLA was similarly dominant on the ground. Paul Perkins ran 21 times for 187 yards, while Brett Hundley ran for 89 and a touchdown of his own. But Hundley struggled to move the ball through the air for most of the game and made a pair of critical mistakes.

The first, a fumble on which he failed to recognize pressure, and the second, an interception by Ekpre-Olomu on a poorly thrown ball.

Not only did those turnovers dig the Bruins into an insurmountable hole, setting up Oregon for two touchdown drives under 15 yards, but they seriously bruised Hundley's NFL draft stock, as CBS Sports' Dane Brugler and former NFL scout John Middlekauff noted:

UCLA exploded for 20 fourth-quarter points as things finally started to click for Hundley and the passing game, but it was too little and too late.

The loss puts the Bruins at 1-2 in the conference and ahead of only Colorado in the Pac-12 South. Jim Mora's team will try to right the ship next week at California, but preseason expectations of a conference championship have all but disappeared.

For the Ducks, they remain in the thick of the hunt in the North, and more importantly they control their own fate: After hosting Washington next week, they have meetings with division leaders California and Stanford.

There are bigger goals in Eugene, though, and judging by Saturday's performance on the road, it's far too early to remove them from the College Football Playoff picture.