There was a remarkable shift in Oregon’s run-pass balance in this game compared to the rest of the season: against UCLA they dropped back to pass the ball about 65% of the time, way up from their 48.5% passing rate in the previous six games. That 15- to 20-percentage point bump in passing frequency held up for all field positions until the Ducks got inside the 10-yard line, where it suddenly reversed: 100% rushing against the Bruins compared to 75% for the rest of the season.
In other words, when the Ducks needed to grab big chunks of territory they heavily relied on the pass, taking advantage of the Bruins’ poor explosive passing defense and avoiding their good explosive rushing defense … but when they got to the goalline, Oregon flipped their strategy and ran the ball, taking advantage of UCLA’s poor efficiency rush defense, since their ability to stop explosive rushes no longer mattered.