UCLA avoids trap, blanks Oregon State, 41-0

There’s a reason UCLA is No. 23 and Oregon State is 2-7. The Bruins are simply the better football team.

Through the first five weeks, freshman quarterback Josh Rosen handed the ball off to redshirt junior running back Paul Perkins for nearly every running play, and as a result Perkins was essentially the only running back featured on the stat sheet.

Key contributors: Thomas Duarte was Rosen’s favorite target, hauling in six catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns.

UCLA: WR Jordan Payton, who is catching just over 15 passes a game for an average of 85.1 yards. He has 133 attempts without an interception since the Stanford game October 15.

It was over when: After Mitchell threw his second interception late in the second quarter, UCLA promptly used a 51-yard Duarte catch and a 7-yard touchdown run by Perkins to take a 24-0 lead into the break.

On its next possession in the second quarter, Rosen led the offense on a 96-yard scoring drive that included a 64-yard pass to receiver Kenneth Walker III and another touchdown to Duarte, this one a 10-yard strike, to put the Bruins ahead, 17-0.

The Bruins, who amassed 674 yards of total offense for the third highest single-game mark in program history, flexed their muscles on defense, too.

The Bruins (6-2) are coming off of a 35-31 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes.

Mitchell was 9 for 19 for 84 yards before being pulled in the fourth quarter in his second start.

Will UCLA win this one big or can Oregon State find a way to keep things close? “It’s always the wild, wild West. Every week we have to bring the intensity and bring the focus and gut out a win”. The Bruins improved to 16-5 in true road games under Mora. “It’s just part of getting used to the speed and the physicality of this level”.