EUGENE, Ore. - Three months ago, Chris Markey thought UCLA was going to ask him to redshirt.
The Bruins didn't, and that decision has them looking forward to a bowl game.
The third-string tailback ran for 131 yards to lead UCLA to a 34-26 victory over Oregon on Saturday.
Markey, playing because of an injury to starter Maurice Drew, also caught five passes for 84 yards to help the Bruins (6-4, 4-3 Pac-10) become bowl eligible.
"It's like nothing I've ever experienced coming right out of high school," Markey said. "I couldn't imagine myself here at the beginning of the season, but the offensive line made it easy for me. They played awesome. I just had to grab the ball and run."
Senior tailback Manuel White added 82 yards and two touchdowns for UCLA, and Drew Olson threw for 212 yards and a touchdown.
Terrence Whitehead led the Ducks (5-5, 4-3) with 124 yards rushing.
Drew, who leads the Bruins in rushing, all-purpose yards and touchdowns, injured an ankle last week in the Bruins' loss to Washington State. White started in his place, but it was Markey who took the game over.
Markey, a true freshman, entered the game having rushed for only 199 yards on 30 career carries. But against the Ducks, he went over 100 yards when he took his first carry of the second half 24 yards to give him 108. That drive eventually led to a 52-yard field goal by the Justin Medlock for a 24-10 lead.
Oregon scored the next 10 points on an 8-yard touchdown run by quarterback Kellen Clemens and a 38-yard field goal by Jared Siegel.
Still in the third quarter, Oregon had the Bruins pinned on their own 17 facing a third-and-9 play when Olson hit Junior Taylor with an 8-yard pass that the receiver took 83 yards for the score and a 31-20 lead.
"That play is our back-side blitz beater," Olson said. "It feels good to execute a play like that."
And it came at just the right time.
"The crowd was back in the game and it was third down," UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said. "He made a guy miss a tackle and he took off. What a way to take the crowd out of it."
Oregon's Justin Phinisee returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, and though the 2-point conversion failed, the score trimmed the Bruins' lead to 31-26.
The Ducks couldn't stop the Bruins on their ensuing possession, as they scored on a 50-yard field goal by Medlock for a 34-26 lead with 2:29 remaining in the game.
The Ducks' final drive stalled at the UCLA 40 when a fourth down pass from Clemens to Garren Strong was too high, giving the Bruins the ball back with just over one minute to play.
"This game was about who was the hungriest and it seemed like UCLA was hungrier," Phinisee said. "We needed to focus, dedicate ourselves and want it."
Early on, it appeared as if Oregon's offense was going to have an easy day against the Pac-10's last-place defense.
The Ducks needed only five plays to go 77 yards on their opening drive, capped by a 21-yard pass from Clemens to fullback Donte Rosario in the front right corner of the end zone for a 7-0 Oregon lead.
But the Bruins struck back, as cornerback Trey Brown stepped in front of a pass from Clemens intended for Kyle Weatherspoon and returned the interception 43 yards for a touchdown with 5:42 to play in the first quarter.
On UCLA's next two drives, Markey set up short scoring runs by White with big plays.
The first came on a 29-yard run by Markey to the Oregon 3-yard line, followed by White's run into the end zone to put UCLA up 14-7 with 8 seconds left in the opening quarter.
On the Bruins first drive of the second quarter, Markey took a screen pass 50 yards to the Oregon 2. Two plays later, White put UCLA up 21-7.
A 30-yard field goal by Oregon's Siegel made it 21-10 at halftime.
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