Although the Oregon Ducks averaged over 44 points and 530+ yards a game last year while playing a schedule that included six ranked opponents, against the Idaho Vandals they looked a bit anemic in their 24-14 win. This against a team that lost two All-Big Sky Conference wide receivers to the NFL’s Seahawks and Saints, a long snapper to the Lions, their starting QB to Oregon State, a 1,000 yard rusher to Utah, a wide receiver to Tulane, a Linebacker to Central Florida, and two starting cornerbacks to California and Cincinnati. With all that change I’m surprised they were able to put 14 up on a team that was one of the favorites coming into the year to win the national championship as well as holding them to just one TD in each quarter of the first half and actually outscoring them 14-10 after the break.
Dillon Gabriel, Senior starting QB for Oregon, came through the portal from Oklahoma where over the last two years he threw for over 3,800 yards and 55 TD’s with only 12 interceptions. Previously at UCF, he is only the 8th college QB to throw for over 15,000 yards in his career and is on this year’s Heisman Watch along with Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss and Cam Ward with the Miami Hurricanes. In this one he was surgically lethal connecting on well over 80% of his passes for 380 yards, 2 TD’s and no interceptions—spreading the wealth out multiple times to eight different receivers with Senior Wide Receiver Tez Johnson pulling in 12 of his 49 attempts for 81 yards and both TD’s. After averaging 180+ yards on the ground per game last year in this one the Ducks rushed 37 times for 107 yards, averaging less than 3 yards per carry, with RB Jordan James picking up 95 of those yards and their only TD on the ground.
Sophomore starting QB for Idaho, Jack Layne connected on 11-of-25 for 168 yards, 1 TD to Junior TE Jake Cox, and 1 pick while dealing with four sacks and seven tackles for loss by the Ducks. On the ground the Vandals rushed 20 times for a paltry 49 yards but actually didn’t average much less per carry than the Ducks, 2.5 against 2.9 yards—their only rushing TD also accredited to their QB. With 487 total yards the Ducks had no problem moving the chains while picking up 31 first downs compared to just 10 for Idaho. Although not a ton, the Ducks did have over twice as many rushing yards as the Vandals and outpaced them in passing yards 380-to-168 and a time-of-possesion advantage of 18.5 minutes! With that kind of time differential it’s shocking that the Ducks didn’t have a ton more points on the board—being a 44.5 point favorite gong into the game and all.
If you had a chance to hear LSU’s head coach Brian Kelley’s comments to the media after the USC loss you can imagine the ass-kicking that took place in the locker room. In a Sport’s Illustrated article by Bri Amaranthus we read that Oregon’s performance in this game left head coach Dan Lanning wanting more and in contrast to Kelley’s style had these things to say to his team: “I’m disappointed in the process tonight, not the result, the process . . . [it] wasn’t sharp enough. I’m not going to let you down by saying, ‘great win.’ That is not the way I feel. They [Idaho] played a good game. Credit to them. Do not discredit anything that they did. But I want to own our standard. Our standard [is the same] regardless of who we play. Who are we playing?” Asked coach Lanning to the Ducks. “US!” Shouted the team in unison. “We are playing us, we are playing Oregon,” Lanning nodded his head. “So when you play Oregon next week, what is your measure? What you do, is you dust yourself off and say here is where I can get better. Here is where I can make my team better. Every one of you should be really proud to wear that green. I promise you I’m proud to coach you.” Great speech coach!