It was fun while it lasted, UCLA fans.

The Bruins’ undefeated season is over, courtesy of an absolute onslaught from the Oregon Ducks, who looked the best they’ve looked all season — and they’ve looked pretty good before now.

The Ducks wrestled away the inside track to the Pac-12 title game with a brilliant offensive performance, led by a career day by Bo Nix, who cemented his standing as a darkhorse Heisman contender. UCLA, whose pass defense had looked much-improved this season, was torched by the ascendant Nix, who completed 22-of-28 passes for 283 yards and five scores with no turnovers.

UCLA managed little pressure against an Oregon offensive line that entered the game having allowed just one sack all year; the Bruins had zero sacks and just three tackles-for-loss as the Ducks churned out the yardage. Oregon averaged better than 9 yards per first down in the first half and barely took the foot off the gas pedal in the second half.

The Bruins have a forgiving schedule the rest of the way, and a 10-2 finish still remains the worst-case scenario. But they might need to get back to the drawing board after this one.

Here are three thoughts from a wild game…

Play of the Game

No, not that play.

Sure, Oregon Andrew Boyle’s savvy onside kick was executed to perfection — he recovered his own kick!! — and caught UCLA off guard and stole a possession for the Ducks. But that wasn’t the worst play of the half for the Bruins.

On Oregon’s second drive of the game, UCLA struck first. The Bruins stuffed Ducks running back Bucky Irving on first-and-10 for no gain then caught Terrance Ferguson behind the line of scrimmage for a 2-yard loss. Facing third-and-12, Nix scrambled to his left and found Irving for an 18-yard completion, moving the chains and extending a drive that ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Nix to Ferguson.

That was the first of four second-quarter touchdowns for the Ducks.

Bo Nix turns Autzen into the Bo Show

Nix had a Heisman-worthy first half against a much-improved UCLA defense.

He went 17-of-20 for 202 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions while adding 24 rushing yards on three carries. Nix was remarkably on-point throughout the half, hitting Troy Franklin for a 49-yard deep bomb with one of the best throws in recent years, while showing deft touch on his short passes. Franklin had himself a half, too — eight receptions for 127 yards and two scores.

After shutting down Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Utah’s Cam Rising in back-to-back weeks, the Bruins were done in not just by Nix, but by Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham. Dillingham called a truly brilliant game, filled with balance (20 first-half runs, 21 first-half passes), tempo, and big strikes.

UCLA, which entered the game ranked 2nd in the conference in rushing defense, was punished for 145 rushing yards in the first half.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson struggles against a susceptible Oregon defense

The Ducks entered the game with one of the best rush defenses in the Pac-12 and all of college football, yet Zach Charbonnet had a fine day against them on the ground.

But against an Oregon defense that had been yielding against the pass, the league’s top passer struggled.

Thompson-Robinson completed 27 of his 39 passes for 262 yards, two scores, and a turnover — not exactly bad stats, but not at his standard for the season. And the misses were all pretty bad throws. Which was stark compared to Nix, who was deadly accurate.