Something big is going to happen, Ducks fans. Call it good fortune, serendipity, or divine football providence. The No. 2 Oregon Ducks rolled to a 35-0 rout of the Purdue Boilermakers, easily handling their business on Friday night at Ross Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. Sure, the Boilermakers are Big Ten bottom feeders, but the Ducks (7-0) avoided the dreaded “trap game” hangover just six days after the program’s biggest victory against No. 4 Ohio State.
This wasn’t just a win—it was a straight-up road shutout, Oregon’s first since 1992, the same year Billy Ray Cyrus and Boyz to Men topped the Billboard charts. Ducks fans are resting a little easier. Purdue fans, on the other hand, have probably already moved on to next year’s basketball season. (The Boilermakers have now dropped six straight games, with three of those losses coming by at least 35 points.)
Oregon’s Jordan James got things rolling early with a couple of touchdown runs in the first two series after way too many goal-line attempts. James finished with 50 yards on 10 carries for his fifth straight game with a score. Dillon Gabriel continued thread needles like a tailor, going 21 of 25 for 290 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Noah Whittington took the majority of snaps in the second half for the Oregon backfield. Photo by Zachary Bolinger
Evan Stewart had four receptions for 96 yards, including a 49-yard bomb down the sideline. Tez Johnson, Gabriel’s trusted wingman, had seven catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. Noah Whittington, clearly still struggling to find his footing after his ACL injury last year, played most of the snaps in the second half for Oregon’s backfield, finishing with nine carries for 42 yards and four catches for 24 yards and a Top 10 touchdown grab.
On defense, Teitum Tuioti, Matayo Uiagalelei and Devon Jackson each had a sack and Kam Alexander snagged an interception for the Ducks in a pitch perfect performance. Oregon allowed 208 rushing yards, but was never in danger of giving up a score.
Something feels different after Friday’s win. In seasons past, Oregon was notorious for stubbing its toe on lesser opponents after a red-hot start, dashing all hope for a postseason. The four-team format of the College Football Playoff demanded perfection, or darn close, and the Ducks would manage to torpedo their season with a midseason loss to a sub-.500 team.
But this Dan Lanning squad is proving a different animal. Every week, this team punches the clock, executes its game plan, and calls it a day with another win—all business. Mainstream media figureheads (I’m looking at you, Joel Klatt) expected the Ducks to show up sluggish from the short rest and long flight, while others simply expected Oregon to succumb to the Spoilermakers. Nope.
The Ducks sacked Boilermakers quarterback Ryan Browne three times on Friday night in West Lafayette. Photo by Zachary Bolinger
While the Ducks remain Steady Eddy by consistently delivering high level performances, chaos continues to roil the college football landscape: No. 1 Texas lost to No. 5 Georgia at home; No. 11 Tennessee hands No. 7 Alabama its second loss of the season; Michigan loses (again) in a freefall out of relevance, and No. 16 Indiana bludgeoned the Huskers to remain perfect.
With the top-5 shakeup, the Ducks are primed to take the nation’s top spot. The last time the Ducks were ranked No. 1 for roughly a week in 2012. Before that, Oregon held the No. 1 spot for seven weeks in 2010, the same year Chip Kelly led them to the national championship appearance where they finished runner-up to Cam Newton and Auburn.
My mandatory weekly dunk on Washington huckster Jedd Fisch is twofold. First of all, the Huskies’ 40-16 loss to unranked Iowa was good for some sidesplitting guffaws. Somehow, Fisch’s defensive game plan managed to make the Hawkeyes’ offense look proficient.
Secondly, Fisch and Washington are about to bumble their way into Coach Cig’s den of nightmares in Bloomington next week in a date with the skull-smashing Hoosiers. Circle the date. light your cigars, kick up your feet and enjoy the Huskies as they tumble to their doom in the Big Ten. Keep the hits coming, Fisch. At this rate, he’ll be looking for a new coaching job before Thanksgiving.
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.