Not unexpectedly the Ducks had little problem dispensing with Michigan, never relinquishing the lead in a 38-17 victory in front of 110,756 mostly Wolverine fans in the Big House and earning for the first time in program history a unanimous No. 1 placement in the AP Top-25. Other Big Ten teams in the Top-10 are Ohio State who moved up to No. 3 after topping previously unbeaten Penn State, who fell to sixth, with Indiana the only other Big Ten team with a perfect record at No. 8. Looking at the Duck’s Big Ten matchups so far this year, Erik Skopil points out in Duck Territory that; “. . . like the past few weeks, the Ducks put their foot down early. Oregon has now outscored Big Ten opponents 155-to-44 in first halves—that’s an average halftime score of 26-7.”
In this one they were up 28-10 at the break scoring a TD on their first possession of the game on a pass to Junior WR Evan Stewart by Senior QB Dillon Gabriel and then three more in the 2nd Qtr, all of which were rushing TD’s–two by Junior RB Noah Whittington and one by Gabriel. Michigan scored a TD in the 1st Qtr on a David Warren TD pass to Tyler Morris after a punt return fumble by the Ducks to make it a 7-7 game with under two minutes left in the quarter. Having to punt their next two possessions the Wolverines were finally able to get some more points on the scoreboard before the half on a Dominic Zvada 38 yard field goal.
The Michigan defense stiffened up after the break holding Oregon to a three-and-out on their first possession while scoring a TD of their own at the end of a 10 play 75 yard drive on another David Warren TD pass—this one to Peyton O’Leary to make it 28-17 half-way through the quarter. The Ducks would make it 31-17 on an Atticus Sappington 26 yard field goal with less than a minute left in the 3rd Qtr. Holding Michigan to a three-and-out in addition to a turn-over on downs after their failed attempt on 4th and 5 at the Oregon 10 yard line, Junior RB Jordan James would run one more in for the Ducks to make it 38-17 with just 25 seconds left in the game.
James would lead the Ducks on the ground in this one, rushing 23 times for 117 of the team’s 176 yards and that one TD to go along with one by Senior QB Dillon Gabriel and two by Junior RB Noah Whittington . Gabriel would also connect in the air on 22-of-34 passing attempts for 294 yards, 1 TD to Junior WR Evan Stewart, and no interceptions. For the Wolverines, Senior QB Davis Warren connected on 12-of-21 for 164 yards, 2 TD’s—one to Junior WR Tyler Morris and one to Senior WR Peyton O’Leary—and no interceptions. Senior RB’s Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullins as well as backup QB Alex Orji led their ground game, collectively rushing 24 time for 107 yards, but never found the end zone.
With a 3-3 conference record after this loss, Michigan is currently sitting in 9th place in the Big Ten, just below Washington. Even though they have a 5-4 record overall and only need one more victory to become bowl eligible, two of their last three games are against No. 8 Indiana and No. 3 Ohio State—both on the road. If they loose to Indiana this coming Saturday they better win their game at home against Northwestern at home on November 23rd after their bye week. Otherwise, they will have gone from a national champion last year to a team with a losing record and not even a bowl game to look forward to this year. For Oregon—with a remaining schedule that shouldn’t get in their way—they remain on track to play for the Big Ten Conference Championship and capturing the No. 1 seed in the 12-team playoff and earning a Round 1 bye.