Oregon kicker Andrew Boyle emerges as unsung hero in Ducks' win over UCLA
In the leadup to Saturday’s top-10 showdown between Oregon and UCLA, there was plenty of speculation as to which players might ultimately swing the momentum of the game.
Ducks’ quarterback Bo Nix and Bruins’ signal-caller Dorian Thompson-Robinson were, of course, the ones who stole the headlines throughout the week. Oregon stars Noah Sewell and Christian Gonzalez were likely candidates, too, as were UCLA’s Jake Bobo and Zach Charbonnet.
Few assumed that a walk-on kicker would end up in the spotlight during Saturday’s matchup between the Pac-12’s two top teams.
But that’s exactly what Ducks’ sophomore Andrew Boyle did.
Boyle, a junior from Camas, Wash. who spent last season at Washington State, delivered one of the defining moments of the game when he booted an unexpected onside kick with 10:49 to go in the second quarter.
He deftly waited for the ball to travel the required 10 yards before diving on it and recovering himself, sending the Oregon sideline — and the 59,962 fans who packed Autzen Stadium — into a frenzy.
“It was a great feeling,” Boyle said. “Everyone came running over on the sideline, smacked my head. It was awesome.”
At the time, the Ducks had just taken a 17-10 lead on a Troy Franklin touchdown catch.
Following Boyle’s recovery, they marched 54 yards on eight plays and scored on a Jordan James touchdown run to take a commanding 24-10 lead.
The Bruins never trimmed the lead to single digits from that point.
“It looked like there was some weather coming in and if there was a chance to steal a possession, it would be before the weather hit,” Lanning said. “It turned out some weather came, but we knew once we received the kick that we wanted to look to get an extra possession if we can because we weren’t going to get the ball after halftime.”
Throughout this season, Oregon has frequently created “pressure kick” situations during the first period of practice. Often, the orchestrated scenario has featured a field goal or punt.
But on Wednesday, the Ducks ran through the exact scenario that unfolded on Saturday — with Boyle taking a “pressure” onside kick rep while his teammates surrounded him and created as much noise as possible.
“It’s something I kind of work on every week, to mix things in,” Boyle said. “Just something we were practicing throughout the week that we were confident in. We were willing to put it on during the game.”
Boyle said the plan was to recover it himself, and that he had practiced doing so.
During his prep career at Camas High in Southern Washington, Boyle starred at quarterback and safety, in addition to the kicker duties. So, he’s taken more big hits than the average college kicker does throughout their career.
“Prepared for it — planning not to,” Boyle said with a laugh when asked if he was ‘prepared to get drilled’ once he recovered the kick. “I took a couple of hard hits (in high school) but luckily haven’t been hit much in college as a kicker.”
