Prior to the Ducks knocking off Maryland 39-18 this past Saturday in Eugene, the NCAA record for total career touchdowns at 178 was held by Case Keenum who played for Houston from 2007-2011. But in Oregon’s 14th straight home win, their Senior QB Dillon Gabriel broke that record while throwing for 183 yards, 3 TD’s, and no interceptions while also rushing four times for another 28 yards. Getting the ball to start the game, Maryland had the lead briefly after kicking a field goal to make it 3-0 with over ten minutes left in the first quarter. But after a three-and-out each, Oregon would go out in front 14-3 on a TD run by their Junior RB Jordan James at the end of a 92 yard 14 play drive and then a fumble returned for TD eight plays into Maryland’s next possession. Both teams would score once more before the end of the half to put Oregon up 21-10 at the break.
Oregon would hold the Terrapins scoreless in the third while adding eight more points on a TD and two-point conversion to go up 29-10 after three. Maryland would close the gap to 29-18 on their first possession of the 4th quarter on a Junior QB Billy Edwards Jr TD pass to Junior WR Octavian Smith Jr and a successful 2-point conversion run by the QB into the end zone. But they wouldn’t score another point as the Ducks would intercept their quarterback two possessions in a row leading to a field goal, a TD, and a 39-18 lead where it would stay with both teams held to three-and-outs on their final possessions.
Oregon rushed 31 times for 180 total yards with Noah Whittington leading the way while gaining 77 yards on 13 carries with James picking up their only TD on the ground. In the air those 183 yards from Gabriel were distributed multiple times to six different players with Junior WR Evan Stewart and Senior TE Terrance Ferguson collecting a TD each while collectively gaining 90 yards on 12 receptions. Both teams had 19 first downs with Maryland passing for more yards and the Ducks rushing for more. Oregon was slightly more successful converting third down, but not by much, and both teams played a pretty sloppy game with three turn-overs and nine penalties for the Terrapins while the Ducks had a season high 12 penalties for 95 yards. In the AP Recap for ESPN Oregon head coach Dan Lanning expressed his overall concern: “We didn’t play as well as we could, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think our guys had a lack of prep. But we didn’t play as well as we can. I’d say every game this year I’ve felt like we’ve grown. This one, we’ve got some growing moments, so we’re going to learn from it.” Oregon has just two regular season games left. This coming Saturday on the road against Wisconsin and then back at home after a bye week on November 30th against the Huskies.