With the man who made Oregon football known for racking up points watching from the opposing sideline, the Ducks put on an offensive clinic.
No. 10 Oregon didn’t punt until less than 7 minutes remained in the game and scored touchdowns on six consecutive drives to power its way to a 45-30 win over No. 9 UCLA.
The Ducks’ first half against the Chip Kelly-coached Bruins likely conjured memories of the Kelly era for Oregon fans. After settling for a field goal on their first drive of the game, the Ducks found the end zone on four consecutive possessions to close the first half with a 31-13 lead. That included a 49-yard bomb from quarterback Bo Nix to wide receiver Troy Franklin and two touchdowns in a span of less than 4 minutes, 15 seconds, sandwiched around a bold and successful onside kick.
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But the second half showed a different brand of dominance.
Kenny Dillingham’s offense flipped a switch from throwing the ball all over the field to brutalizing the Bruins on the ground. Oregon started the second half with 11 runs on its first 12 snaps before mixing in a pair of play-action passes to tight ends. The result: a 15-play, 82-yard touchdown drive that ate exactly half a quarter off the game clock. The next time the Ducks got the ball, they gained 38 yards on four runs before Nix delivered the dagger with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Irving on fourth down.
Add it all up, and Oregon racked up 545 yards and 31 first downs — its most in a game against an FBS opponent since a 2017 win over Wyoming. If excluding an intentional incompletion on the final play designed to run the clock out, Nix threw the same number of touchdowns (five) as incompletions. Since the season-opening debacle against No. 1 Georgia during which the Ducks never found the end zone, they’ve now scored more than 40 points in six straight games.
This also marked the fifth time in those six games that Oregon has won by double-digits. Handing the Bruins their first loss of the season should vault the Ducks into the top 10, bolster their status as the Pac-12 favorite and keep the door cracked open for a College Football Playoff berth.
Here are five takeaways from the statement victory.
1. Oregon's offense is so effective right now because it can beat opponents multiple ways
That game had to have been fun for Dillingham. He reached deep into his bag of tricks, and just about everything he dialed up (aside from the reverse-pitch-flea flicker) found success.
Oregon went up-tempo at times and bled the clock at others. The Ducks ran plays out of 11 personnel, 14 personnel, 21 personnel and an old-school, 22 personnel I-formation. All of it worked.
The first drive of the second half, in particular, illustrated the dynamism of Dillingham’s offense. Oregon brought out its “14 Josh” package — three tight ends plus an extra offensive tackle in freshman Josh Conerly Jr. The Ducks methodically moved the ball downfield — only one of the 11 rushing plays called by Dillingham went for more than eight yards, but only one lost yardage, too. When the offense faced a pair of fourth-and-one situations in UCLA territory, head coach Dan Lanning didn’t hesitate to keep his offense on the field, and Nix converted both times.
Then, after all those running plays, Dillingham dialed up a play-action pass to tight end Patrick Herbert, who lined up at fullback in the I-formation on the play, for a gain of 14. Two plays later, Nix faked a toss and found Cam McCormick down the seam for a 17-yard score.
The 15-play, 7:30 possession served as a testament to the dominance of Oregon’s offensive line and seemed to demoralize UCLA.
