Oregon’s game against UCLA was supposed to be about the grand return of running back De'Anthony Thomas. And while he showed up for a half, it was Byron Marshall who stole the show with a game high 133 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
But the Pac-12 blog is tipping its cap to the defense for its second-half shutout of UCLA and yielding a season-low 283 yards of total offense in the 42-14 win over the No. 12 Bruins.
And from a collection of many great defensive performances, we’re singling out safety Avery Patterson, who posted a career-high three tackles for loss to go with his second interception of the season and sixth of his career. He had seven tackles on the day, six of them solo.
With Oregon leading 21-14 to start the fourth quarter, Patterson intercepted UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley at the Oregon 28 and returned it 34 yards. That set up Marcus Mariota’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Bralon Addison and opened the floodgates for a 21-point fourth quarter for the Ducks.
Following the game, coach Mark Helfrich praised his defense as a whole for its efforts.
"Outstanding. It wasn’t like one guy was locking somebody up either,” Helfrich said. “It was a little bit of pressure got to them and created a turnover or a guy made a great break on the ball in space. Exactly, that’s our formula. We’re going to pick and choose our pressures and try to confound and confuse and Nick [Aliotti] and his staff did an incredible job."
