Since being destroyed by Georgia in Week-1 Oregon has wasted no time in outscoring their opponents, dropping 70 on Eastern Washington in Week-2 and 40 on No. 12 BYU this past Saturday. Playing like a program with a big chip on their shoulder after their humiliation by last year’s national champion, the Ducks held BYU to just seven points through the first three quarters. Up 10-0 at the end of the 1st Qtr and 24-7 by the break, Oregon scored on their first six possessions of the game with five of those being TD’s. BYU didn’t really start eating into the score until the beginning of the 4th Qtr when they scored back-to-back TD’s, one aided by an interception just five yards outside of Oregon’s own red zone. But by then it was too little too late with the Ducks adding on an additional field goal exclamation point at the end of their last and most time consuming possession, going 68 yards in 12 plays while eating up well over 8 minutes of the time remaining—leaving just over two minutes and leading 41-20 where the score would stay.
It was the Bo Nix show on Saturday with the Oregon Senior QB connecting on over 70% of his passes for 222 yards, 2 TD’s, and no picks in addition to rushing 9 times for 35 yards and three more scores! Sophomore TE Terrance Ferguson was the recipient of both TD’s in the air while the Ducks rushed for 212 yards on 44 carries total. BYU Junior QB Jaren Hall was more than equally productive in the air, also connecting on 70% of his passes for 305 yards, 2 TD’s and no interceptions. On the ground the Cougars couldn’t really get it going, rushing 24 times for just 61 yards and 1 TD.
After knocking off No. 9 Baylor the previous week and coming into this matchup as the No. 12 team in the nation, the Salt Lake Tribune wrote that; “BYU entered the day on the doorstep of a Top-10 ranking, starting to see a path to a New Year’s Six bowl game, being the darling of the college football landscape.” Like Oregon learned in Week 1, it can all come crashing down so quickly. Oregon came into this game ranked No. 25 and came out ranked No. 15 while BYU dropped seven spots to No. 19. Oregon hits the road out to the Palouse this coming Saturday to meet a solid Washington State team in Martin Stadium in Pullman—a team that knocked off No. 19 Wisconsin in Week-2. It will be the conference opener for both and should be a great game.