After two weeks of lukewarm Oregon football, Ducks fans can sleep a little easier. No labored breathing, chest pain, night sweats, irritable bowels and midnight calls to urgent care this weekend. No, sir. Not for this guy.
The No. 9 Ducks (3-0) FINALLY lived up to their billing, delivering a long-awaited 49-14 butt-whuppin’ of the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday in the 128th Civil War rivalry game in Corvallis.
Following a grab bag of bonehead plays, sloppy execution and ding-dong penalties over the last two games, everything just clicked into place for the Ducks against their longtime in-state rival — a rivalry made all the more bitter after the Beavers were left without a Big Ten chair when the conference realignment music stopped.
The Ducks fired on all cylinders in a 49-14 rout of rival Oregon State. Photo by Eric Becker
All the questions, kvetching and handwringing over Oregon — complaints ranging from a bumbling offensive line and gunshy Heisman-caliber quarterback to a defense incapable of stopping the run — were swiftly put to bed in one afternoon.
The Men of Oregon finally delivered a performance worthy of the hype, improving to 69-49-10 overall in the series with OSU
Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, recently engaged to girlfriend Zoe Caswell, continued to quietly and ruthlessly dissect his opponents through the air, completing 20 of 24 pass attempts (83.3%) for 291 yards and two touchdowns against the Beavs (2-1). (For what it’s worth, several of Gabriel’s “incompletions” against OSU were simply dropped after hitting the hands of Oregon receivers.)
Gabriel, who has completed 79 of 94 pass attempts for 914 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions, is ranked third nationally in passing completion rate (84.3%). On Saturday, he looked laser-focused and cozy in the pocket, delivering frozen ropes to Tez Johnson, Evan Stewart and Traeshon Holden.
Dillon Gabriel delivers on-target during the Ducks’ 49-14 rout of rival Oregon State on Saturday at Reser Stadium. Photo by Stephen Chan
Outside from the aerial display, for the first time this season, Gabriel found success in two critical areas: 1) The former Oklahoma signal-caller went off-leash, finishing with 64 yards rushing, including a 54-yard touchdown run. 2) Gabriel wasn’t sacked once after being pummeled, pancaked, and thrown to the ground SEVEN times over the past two games.
Gabriel and the Ducks were 4-of-6 on third down conversions and didn’t even have to attempt converting on fourth down.
Overall, Oregon’s offense was firing on all cylinders, amassing 546 total yards, including 240 yards rushing, led by bell cow Jordan James, who carried the rock 12 times for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
Dillon Gabriel runs for a 54-yard touchdown against the Beavers on Saturday in the 128th Civil War rivalry game in Corvallis. Photo by Stephen Chan
All of this is credit to a much-improved offensive line performance from Josh Conerly Jr., Nishad Strother, Poncho Laloulu, Marcus Harper, and Ajani Cornelius, who helped Oregon slash the Beavs for 7.5 yards per carry on the ground without drawing a penalty for 60 minutes (the revolving Ducks’ O-line had amassed seven penalties in the last two games).
On the other side of the ball, Oregon’s defense stuffed a Beavs’ rushing corps that had racked up nearly 600 yards rushing in the two previous games heading into the Civil War. (And yes, it’s the Civil War. It’s always the Civil War. It’s a game. Just stop with the nonsense already.)
The game ball goes to Oregon senior linebacker Bryce Boettcher, who led with 11 tackles, including five solo, and two pass breakups. Boettcher resembles a Nordic berserker, roaming the secondary hungry and angry, looking for skulls and pads to smash. Fellow linebacker, sophomore Teitum Tuioti, finished second for the team with seven tackles (four solo) and a sack.
Oregon’s defense held the Beavers to 131 yards rushing. Photo by Eric Becker
Every phase of this young man’s game was dialed in, silencing a chainsaw-wielding a record-breaking crowd of angry slack-jawed yokels donning black and orange at the nicely-remodeled Reser Stadium. For fans, this is the Oregon team that we had envisioned in the weeks and months following a heartbreaking loss to the Washington Huskies in last season’s Pac-12 Championship game.
Will this team show up in two weeks to play against UCLA on Oregon’s first Big Ten conference game? Only time will tell. But whatever went into yesterday’s game, bottle it and sell it. This season is only getting started and I feel like we have seen a completely new team. What do you think? Talk about it at the FishDuck Forum.
Keep quacking. Go Ducks!
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Jordan is a lifelong Duck fan currently living in San Diego. Jordan graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, after serving a prestigious fellowship with the Washington State House of Representatives. Upon graduation, he worked as an English language teaching assistant for the Spanish Ministry of Education’s Ambassadorial Program in Monforte de Lemos, Spain. Jordan has worked as a journalist, writer, and editor in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and California, covering a wide range of topics, including sports, local politics, and crime. He is VERY excited to be writing about his beloved Oregon Ducks.