(Part 8 in a series, reviewing the 2018 season with an eye to trends and developments.)
What happened: Ranked #19 and favored by ten, Oregon laid a giant stinky egg in Tucson, losing on the road for the second week in a row, this time by a lopsided score.
The underdog Wildcats came into the game losers of two straight, ranked 102nd at stopping the run and 109th on third-down defense, yet they manhandled the Ducks completely. Oregon managed just 84 rushing yards and went 3 for 16 on third down. Even worse, they started 1-13, getting a couple of first downs on late drives after the hosts had built a 37-8 lead.
Another brutal, miserable start: the Ducks got the ball first and went three and out, the first of five in the first half.
Arizona put together an efficient, 7-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, scoring on a 22-yard pass to Shawn Poindexter. A mix-up in the secondary left Poindexter wide open--the cornerback blitzed and no one slid over to cover.
An awful first quarter: Oregon managed just one first down and 42 total yards as Arizona dominated every phase of the game from the beginning.
For a while, the defense battled gamely. A blocked punt, a Travis Dye fumble, and a Justin Herbert interception set up the Wildcats with great field position, but each time Oregon D held them to field goals. But with Austin Faoliu out the front wore down. Just before halftime Kahlil Tate found Shun Brown for a 27-yard TD pass and a 23-8 halftime lead.
Even when the Ducks did something right, they followed it with something wrong: In the third quarter they forced an Arizona punt deep in Wildcat territory, but a shanked punt hit blocker Charles Sudduth and bounced to the coverage team for Oregon's third turnover.
UA sophomore tailback J.J. Tayor ran wild, gashing them for 212 yards on 30 carries with two touchdowns.
Deadly predictability: other than one long drive, the UO offense averaged 2.1 yards on first down. For much of the game they fell into a pattern of run-run-pass, constantly behind the sticks.
Justin Herbert looked to Dillon Mitchell constantly and consequently had another subpar game, 24-48 passing for 186 yards.
Signs of life: Herbert scrambled 20 yards for a first down, then hit Mitchell on a dazzling open field run after the catch for their first score, cutting the lead in half at that point.
Defensively, Troy Dye had 13 tackles, all solo. Safety Nick Pickett chipped in 8 tackles. Thomas Graham had his first interception of the year at the start of the third quarter, but the offense could do nothing with it, going three and out again. Kevin Sumlin's squad responded as Taylor broke a 64-yard touchdown run that made it 30-8.
The coach's verdict: After the game Mario Cristobal said, “Look, we didn't do a very good job as coaches or as a team tonight. I want to leave the brunt of that the way it should be -- on us,"
Ultimate takeaway: the loss dropped the Ducks to 5-3 and out of the Top 25 and any hope of winning the conference. Though it was the low point of the season, they went on to win three of their last four, showing improvement in offensive consistency, route concepts, execution, play-calling and defensive organization. The team grew. They responded to extreme adversity with togetherness and a will to compete. That was the hopeful sign for the future. There was no finger-pointing. Nobody quit.
While certainly the 2019 team has to learn to play better on the road, a young coaching staff kept the team together and continued to coach for progress. They regrouped. They improved their preparation and achieved better balance.
A myth dispelled: fans often worry about recruiting impact after a humiliating loss, but DSA's Scott Reed wrote in his 5th Quarter column:
"Having talked to a lot of recruits over the years, it can only be said that wins and losses do not really matter in the grand scheme; if they did, lower tier teams would rarely rise, and elite recruiting teams would never lose. What matters is usually a combination of multiple factors."