Oregon’s College Football Playoff position remains intact. Its reputation as the nation’s No. 1 pass defense will probably take a hit, however.
Quarterback Dante Moore threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns, the Ducks rushed for three more scores and added another on an 85-yard punt return by Malik Benson as No. 7 Oregon defeated No. 15 USC, 42-27 in the penultimate game of the regular season, Saturday, Nov. 22.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was also the final regular-season game at Autzen Stadium, though the victory kept alive the Ducks’ chances of hosting a CFP first-round game Dec. 19 or 20.
The Ducks (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) fell behind 7-0 after the Trojans (8-3, 6-2) scored on their opening drive but followed with a pair of first-quarter touchdown drives to go up 14-7. Oregon would not trail again.
Tight end Kenyon Sadiq led the Ducks with six catches for 72 yards and touchdowns grabs of 8 and 28 yards, and running back Noah Whittington rushed 19 times for 104 yards and a 9-yard score.
Oregon football made USC’s offense one dimensional
The Ducks outgained the Trojans 436 yards to 382, though USC QB Jayden Maiava passed for 306 yards and three touchdowns, and the Trojans scored another TD on a 24-yard pass by wide receiver Makai Lemon.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe 330 yards were the most allowed by Oregon’s FBS-leading pass defense all season, topping the 215 yards recorded by Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza on Oct. 11. The Ducks came into the game allowing an average of 127.3 passing yards per game.
Maiava instigated many explosive plays throughout the game with seven completions of 16 yards or more.Though the Ducks struggled at times to keep the Big Ten Conference’s leading passer in check, they had no such problems stuffing a USC running attack that was averaging 190.8 yards per game. On Saturday the Trojans were held to 52 yards on 28 carries.
“They’ve been able to run the ball really well this season and for us to be able to stop it was big,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “Obviously we want to go back and clean up some of the passing attack that they had. You know, they’re quarterback is special and they some wideouts that made some bigtime plays today.”
Highlight-reel scores in second quarter give Ducks halftime lead
The score was tied 14-14 with 9:58 to play in the first half when Benson fielded a punt at his own 15-yard line, found a path to the sideline and sprinted untouched into the end zone to give the Ducks a 21-14 lead.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“You saw his speed,” Lanning said. “We’ve seen his speed all season. … We did feel like we were gonna have some aggressive opportunities for us on punt return, that he was gonna have a chance. He did a great job of fielding the ball and getting into high gear and getting vertical real quick.”
The touchdown gave the Ducks a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Oregon’s Jordon Davison, center, break a tackle for a first-half touchdown in the Ducks' 42-27 win against USC at Autzen Stadium.“It was very important,” said Benson, who joked that he “blacked out” on the return because he was so excited. “We haven’t really had an explosive punt return so for us to show that we have that, it’s gonna be another thing teams will have to game plan against and it’s gonna be harder for teams to beat us.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat's not the only new wrinkle opponents will have to plan for.
Just before halftime, the Ducks extended their lead to 28-14 when inside linebacker Bryce Boettcher scored on a 1-yard run off a direct snap on a play that also included defensive tackles Bear Alexander and A’Mauri Washington as lead blockers.
Boettcher, a former dual-threat quarterback during his days at South Eugene High, plowed his way through two would-be tacklers en route to the end zone.
“He’s been asking for the ball year,” Lanning said. “But we really put that in this week, something we worked multiple times this week, worked it again yesterday.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen Oregon got to the goal line with 1:58 to play in the half, Boettcher knew his time was going to come.
“I was on the sideline ready to roll,” he said.
Oregon offensive lineman Charlie Pickard hoists tight end Kenyon Sadiq into the air to celebrate a touchdown against USC. Sadiq had two touchdown catches in the win.Oregon won, but it wasn’t always pretty
There were definitely some flaws in the Ducks’ performance Saturday.
They committed a season-high 11 penalties for a season-high 130 penalty yards. Oregon came into the game averaging 4.7 penalties and 41.9 penalty yards per game.
“Disappointed in general at our lack of composure at times,” Lanning said. “Some of (the penalties) made sense, some of them maybe didn’t, but ultimately, there’s certainly some ones that we can go clean up and attack.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOn the drive that eventually ended with Boettcher’s touchdown run, the Ducks were penalized twice for unsportsmanlike conduct – one a late hit by offensive guard Dave Iuli, and another on a Benson for taunting a defender after a 30-yard catch – and also for a face mask.
Defensively, Oregon was penalized four times for pass interference.
“We talked all week about execution not emotion and it’s unfortunate that that showed up,” Lanning said. “But I hope that can be a learning lesson and we can take that and grow from it.”
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: How Oregon football got its victory against USC
AdvertisementAdvertisement
