Marcus Mariota vs. UCLA: Stats, Heisman Impact and Twitter Reaction

Coming off an ugly loss last week at home, Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota had work to do on Saturday at UCLA to keep his team in the College Football Playoff race and his own Heisman hopes alive. The junior more than held his own in hostile territory in the team's best performance of the season. 

The Ducks were brilliant early, building up a huge lead. Their defense came to play against Brett Hundley, who was held under 100 yards passing until the fourth quarter. Mariota led the offense with four touchdowns in the first 36 minutes of play.

The 42-30 final score isn't indicative of how lopsided this game was. Oregon was up 42-10 early in the first quarter, and then the defense was basically in prevent mode the rest of the way. 

Since Oregon jumped out to such a big lead early, Mariota didn't have to do much through the air. He was efficient passing the ball, but he really stood out on the ground. We have full analysis of his day coming up after a look at his stats:

Comp-Att	Pass Yds	Yds/Att	TD-INT	Rush Att-Yds	TD
17-27	210	7.8	2-0	7-75	2

After last week's loss against an undefeated Arizona, Mariota was quick to point out what that says about the depth in the Pac-12. Here's what he told reporters, via The Associated Press (via ESPN): "They're undefeated. It's obviously a testament to our conference. If you're not prepared each week, if you're not ready to play, you'll lose."

It's safe to say Mariota and the Ducks were more than prepared to handle their business against 18th-ranked UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Dan Greenspan of Scout.com summed up Mariota's effort in the best and most succinct way possible:

Here's how well things went for Mariota and the Ducks on Saturday: Mariota fumbled the ball on a read-option, picked it up and ran for a 23-yard touchdown that put Oregon up 28-10 in the third quarter. 

Chantel Jennings of ESPN also pointed out that Oregon's offense was going so well that an offensive lineman was able to catch a pass on a deflection that would normally be intercepted:

Even though this hasn't been a banner start to the season for Oregon prior to Saturday, thanks in large part to a patchwork offensive line, Paul Myerberg of USA Today did note that Mariota has never lost his ability to find the end zone through the air:

Another great stat in Mariota's favor is he still hasn't thrown an interception in 155 pass attempts through six games this season. 

Spinning Mariota's performance forward, this will help his Heisman chances. UCLA may not be as good as we expected coming into the year, but there's a lot to be said for winning on the road against a ranked team and accounting for four touchdowns. 

Even though Oregon's loss against Arizona did shine a light on Mariota, the Heisman pundits never really wavered in their support.

According to the latest ESPN Heisman Watch poll published on October 6, Oregon's quarterback was third behind Georgia running back Todd Gurley and Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott. Gurley's position on the list is guaranteed to drop because of his suspension for an alleged violation of NCAA rules. 

Prescott has been ascending all season, particularly after last week's win against Texas A&M. He had another marquee game against Auburn on Saturday but threw two interceptions on back-to-back drives in the second quarter, which could knock him down the ranks. 

ESPN's Joe Tessitore offered his Heisman ballot on Thursday's SportsCenter. It had the same top three as the Heisman Watch poll:

Mariota was always fighting an uphill battle to win the Heisman. He's cursed with the burden of knowledge. Everyone in college football knows who he is, so it's not good enough to merely play up to expectations; he has to exceed them. 

The Heisman is as much a narrative award as it is a measurement of what have you done on the field. Prescott will likely be the new favorite this week because he's played well for an undefeated team that no one was talking about before the season. 

It was impossible for Mariota to be under the radar. Oregon started the year ranked third in the AP Top 25 and moved up to second in Week 3, and he has been touted as a potential No. 1 draft pick. You need to have a historic season to win the Heisman with that much publicity around you. 

Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York even tweeted that he wouldn't mind seeing the Jets play so bad this season that Mariota ends up wearing green again next year:

Don't despair yet, Oregon fans. Mariota still has a chance to move into the top spot with a game against Stanford's ferocious defense on tap for November 1. He's never defeated the Cardinal as a starting quarterback, so that will be his statement game of the year for voters. 

The Ducks got back to their winning ways, while Mariota accounted for four of the team's six touchdowns. This win couldn't have been scripted better by anyone associated with Oregon's football program. 

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