On a gray, misty day, Oregon looked to avenge the bitter taste left in their mouths a week earlier in Dallas. The start for the Oregon offense might have been even more dismal than the overcast sky as Justin Herbert struggled mightily with his touch and accuracy throughout the first quarter.
With futility staring Oregon squarely in the face, Mario Cristobal took his first major gamble of the 2019 season attempting to convert a fourth down from the Ducks own 33-yard line. Following the short one yard conversion, Herbert finally found his touch on a perfectly thrown route to Jacob Breeland who took it 66-yards for a touchdown giving the Ducks a lead at 7-3 with just under four minutes left in the quarter.
The story of the game presented itself defensively for Oregon as the offense seemed to struggle to maintain any semblance of consistency outside of deep seam throws to Breeland. The Ducks – with an offensive line billed as the best in the nation by many – could not seem to establish the line of scrimmage or ‘impose their will’ against an undersized and outmanned Wolfpack defense.
Despite the inconsistency and inability to run the ball more effectively; in many ways the first half was a salve for Duck fans wounds as the Ducks showed an impressive array of deep route concepts; seam patterns; deep posts; crossing patterns. It was an offensive array that, though riskier and lower percentage, seemed reassuring to this that thought Oregon did not know how to do anything other than a short dink-and-dunk game surrounded by dive plays up the middle.
The Oregon offense saw an explosive five play, 75-yard drive which included a 31 yard pass to Breeland and a 34 yard strike to Bryan Addison to set up the two yard run by CJ Verdell to extend Oregon’s lead to 14-6 with 8:28 left in the first half.
It was a lead the Oregon would not relinquish as the defense put a stranglehold on Nevada while the offense began to find the groove. After opening 4-9 for 32 yards; Herbert completed nine of his next 10 passes for 205 yards and four touchdowns as Oregon rolled up a 35-6 halftime lead that was flawless from the late first quarter.
Unlike a season ago when Oregon could only muster a passing game with one receiver and the rushing attack seemed listless , the Ducks saw nine different receivers with a catch in the first half – including career first touchdowns from Bryan Addison, Ryan Bay and Brady Aiello.
The Duck defense was not to be outdone holding Nevada’s Carson Strong to 9 completions in 19 attempts for just 70 yards in the first half, while holding the Wolfpack to 27 yards on 21 carries.
The second half for this team was not about whether or not the team could find a way to win; to hold off an opponent; it was more about learning just how good this team can be when they are gelling on the field; how explosive they can be; and just how they might find ways to win games later this season. Can they learn to keep the foot on the gas until the opponent is not just behind, but defeated? That is the question that will be asked throughout the rest of the season for this Oregon team following the loss against an Auburn team that seemed less than inspired in their follow up game.
Daewood Davis may have provided the feel-good moment of the season for the Ducks. A player who faced much adversity; he was recruited by a coach who left; travelled across the country to play; was moved to defensive back, back to wide receiver and seemed buried on the depth chart; and yet he came on to make an impact also joining the list of ‘firsts’ with his first career touchdown catch as a Duck scoring on a 16-yard corner pattern to extend the Oregon lead to 42-6 early in the third quarter.
For the game, Oregon tied its school record with seven touchdown passes – all to different receivers which is a school record. The Ducks completed 27 of 35 attempts for 402 yards en route to the 77-6 victory. The biggest question mark of the day might be the running game; despite a clear advantage at the line of scrimmage, Oregon managed just 4.3 yards per carry with 160 yards on 37 carries until a late 62-yard touchdown run by Darian Felix to close out the scoring with just over two minutes left in the game. For a team looking to create an identity of imposing their will, the Ducks were not quite at the level the run game.
The Ducks were able to mix in a lot of youth to get them some experience with several players making their first appearance as a Duck including Sean Dollars, Keyon Ware-Hudson and Brandon Dorlus; and it is the youth on this team that really showed the promise of a bright future as Mase Funa contributed his first career sack; Sampson Niu scored an interception and a forced fumble; Josh Delgado showed why he was so highly recruited and Bryan Addison redeemed his lone drop of a week ago with a very solid game.
Oregon may have found an identity on defense, however, as the potent Nevada offense was stymied and stifled from the beginning of the game until the end. After scoring their second field goal to get within a point of the Ducks, the Oregon defense put the clamps down. For the game, Oregon allowed just 83 yards on the ground on 40 carries and 109 passing yards on 28 attempts; that is an impressive 2.8 yards per play for the defense.
With a late game against Montana next week, the Ducks will have some time to figure that out prior to their first conference game against Stanford on the road where the Ducks will look to avenge their fourth quarter collapse a season ago.
