ESPN

Darron Thomas threw for a career-high 308 yards and three touchdowns and Oregon pounded UCLA 60-13 on Thursday night.

Of all the things UCLA’s defense must worry about when facing top-ranked Oregon on Thursday night, LaMichael James tops the list.

Oregon leads the nation in total offense and James, leading the nation with 169.6 yards rushing per game, is a major reason why.

And that is not good news for the Bruins, who have had difficulties stopping top-tier running backs this season. Daniel Thomas of Kansas State, the nation’s eighth-leading rusher, had 234 yards against the Bruins and Shane Vereen of California, 19^th in the nation in rushing, had 151 against UCLA.

But James is a different kind of back than those two power runners. Vereen is 5-feet-10, 204 pounds and Thomas is 6-2, 228, both dwarfing James, who is a mere 5-9, 185.

“He’s a totally different back than what we’ve seen so far,” UCLA defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough said. “He’s smaller but quicker. He spins out of tackles and has better movement so he’s a different type of back, but he’s a pretty good one as it is.”

James did not play the season opener against New Mexico because he was serving one-game suspension after an offseason harassment charge, but he has scored at least one touchdown in every game since and has a total of 10. His 12 points per game average is fourth in the nation.

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