Ducks Look Mighty Good Against Bruins

This one was for the impatient UCLA fans, those who didn’t like waiting until the sixth game of the season to see if the Bruins could hang with a ranked opponent.

No delays on Saturday. The Oregon Ducks downloaded all the necessary info at broadband speed, showing that UCLA isn’t ready for the next step.

One drive, one touchdown. Elapsed time: three minutes.

Verdict in.

In case there was any thought the judgment was premature, Oregon scored a touchdown again on its next drive. And the drive after that. About the only thing UCLA did right in the first quarter was block the extra point after Oregon’s first touchdown.

“It was our first big test for our defense,” UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell said. “It was a huge test, as we found out.”

Don’t think of this test in terms of a letter grade. Think of it as college board exams. The Bruins weren’t an absolute failure, they just didn’t do anything to gain admission to the elite universities.

The Bruins did outscore Oregon, 17-10, over the final three quarters to get the final score to a closer-than-it-was 30-20.

But this team isn’t good enough to spot opponents a 20-3 lead. Not with a defense that can’t order up three-and-outs on demand. Not with a new starter at quarterback who’s liable to have fourth-quarter passes intercepted.

In the aftermath, the Ducks were one long scoring drive short of matching their season averages of 37 points and 470 yards a game. But the Bruins’ defense couldn’t come anywhere near their average of 50 yards rushing, which was second-best in the country. Oregon had one all-rushing touchdown drive and gained 256 yards rushing on the day, 121 of them by tailback Jonathan Stewart.

“UCLA being ranked second in the nation and everything, that’s a good thing,” Oregon wide receiver Brian Paysinger said. “But they hadn’t played us.”

They hadn’t played anyone that even remotely approximated Oregon, No. 1 in the Pacific 10 Conference in total offense and No. 2 in scoring offense. UCLA’s first three conference opponents -- Washington, Stanford and Arizona -- were the conference’s three lowest-scoring teams.

Oregon looked like the first real singer you see among the wannabes in the “American Idol” open tryouts. The Ducks’ worst play on the opening drive was a four-yard gain.

“They had me on my heels a little bit [in the] first quarter,” UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker said.

(I checked and he was wearing flats, not stilettos.)

Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon was throwing daggers, completing six of his first eight passes. The Autzen Stadium fans still long for Joey Harrington. Some still wear his old jersey, and a sign in a souvenir shop notes that coupons and discounts don’t apply to Harrington memorabilia. But Oregon’s spread offense lets Dixon showcase his passing and running skills and he poses a bigger overall threat.

“He’s a good quarterback,” UCLA defensive end Bruce Davis said. “Let’s not get that mistaken. He runs his offense well, his offense fits him.”

UCLA, meanwhile, was breaking in Patrick Cowan, who took over last week when Ben Olson injured his knee. Think of how awkward it would seem for a TV show to switch to a new actor in the middle of the season. There were some clumsy moments Saturday; on one play Cowan was bumped by a pulling guard, then threw to an empty part of the field when he misread a receiver’s route. Cowan also bounced passes to his receivers when pressured. He made some good plays as well and did a nice job of finding secondary receivers. But one of his passes was intercepted in the fourth quarter, when UCLA was entertaining thoughts of a comeback.

Some of the best throws of the day were made by back judge Steve Hudson, who tossed his penalty flag 20 yards on a couple of pass-interference calls. The first one infuriated the Bruins, who thought linebacker Aaron Whittington made a clean play on a third-down play. Oregon went on to score its final touchdown.

That was one of several penalties -- UCLA was flagged eight times for 91 yards -- that enabled Oregon to continue drives. There was even a bad replay ruling here at the site of the most notorious replay of the college football season. A fourth-quarter review of a fourth-down play that deemed Stewart hadn’t fumbled (correct) and placed the ball in first-down range at the 33-yard line (incorrect) led to an Oregon field goal.

It wasn’t as egregious as the onside-kick ruling in the Oklahoma game.

Saturday wasn’t about pivotal plays in the fourth quarter. It was about the game-changing first quarter, which told us most of what we needed to know.

“[Sunday] It’s probably going to be like, ‘Well, UCLA’s a fluke,’ ” Davis said. “We know we’re not a fluke.”

We also know they’re not conference championship contenders.

Extra Points

* Only in the NBA would players react to the new no-whining rule by ... whining. Technical calls replaced new balls as the complaint of the week.

The most ridiculous statement was made by the guy most responsible for this new decree: Rasheed Wallace. “Any time they change the rules of the game for one specific player, you must be doing something right,” Wallace said.

No, it means you’re doing something wrong.

* Not too excited by the teams chasing the World Series? You’re not alone. Compared with last year’s TV ratings for Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, ratings for the first Cardinals-Mets game were down 21% -- in St. Louis.

* Looks as if Tom Lasorda will have to expand his duties to motivate fans whose teams are still in it.

The problem is, each of these teams has won a championship within the last 24 years. As the Red Sox showed in 2004, baseball is more compelling when the fans are long-suffering -- or, in the Yankees’ case, insufferable.

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read more by Adande, go to latimes.com/adandeblog.