It feels nice, doesn’t it? Certainty, that is.
The Ducks throttled the Beavers on Friday night, with no Pac 12 after dark vibes to speak of. They took care of business like they should, and now every Oregon fan gets to calmly enjoy the final Saturday of the 2023 football season. No worrying about if Arizona will do enough to spring our team into the conference championship, no wondering what shenanigans the refs will get into during the game, no concerns over whether Bo Nix will do enough to win the Heisman.
All of those things have answers we can be certain about now.
It started on the first drive of the game. Oregon, in preparation for their imminent move to the BIG 10, spent nearly nine minutes constructing a touchdown drive. It ended with a Nix touchdown, and the game never really felt in jeopardy after that moment.
DJU was under pressure all night long. (Photo by Craig Strobeck)
Sure, OSU scored with about a minute left in the first half, getting the game down to 7 points after their own extended drive. However, more Nix magic sprung Troy Franklin for a magical touchdown with under 1o seconds remaining, Oregon took a two score lead into the half, and the Beavs never threatened again.
At times throughout the season, Oregon has lulled me to sleep with their efficiency. They just score so many points so quickly that when you look up they’ve scored on six consecutive drives and are up by four scores. They end games quickly. This game felt a little different, with the Ducks deciding to out Beaver the Beavers. They controlled the clock so thoroughly that the OSU offense was never able to get into second gear, while the good guys were operating in fourth gear.
Damien Martinez couldn’t get to the second level against Oregon. (Photo by Craig Strobeck)
On the other side of the ball, the Ducks stuffed Damien Martinez every time he so much as thought about carrying the ball, allowing him to rush for only 38 yards. If you drew up a game plan to beating OSU, shutting down their running game would be number one on your list of items, which is just what Oregon did.
Overall the final planned iteration of this rivalry game was a summary of the game as a whole: Oregon pulled ahead, Oregon State looked like they might catch up for a minute, and then Oregon ran away with it. The series ends for the time being with Oregon ahead 68-49-10.
Now Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi have an extra day to prepare for the Huskies, a Heisman Trophy, a conference championship, and a possible playoff berth.
Just your average season.
Ryan Robertson
Sierra Vista, Arizona
Top Photo by Craig Strobeck
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Ryan Robertson is a defense contractor for the United States Marine Corps. A lifelong Duck fan from Grants Pass, he joined the Army out of high school. After four years as an Intelligence Analyst he decided it was time to further his education and pay more attention to his Ducks. One of Ryan’s first memories is of watching the Ducks, led by Joey Harrington, beating up on the Utah Utes in 2001. His grandfather ran track at Oregon in the ‘50s. He loves the Ducks, and has a passionate interest in reading every scrap of analysis centered around the football team.