Oregon took down JMU in the first round of the college football playoff and the first playoff game in Autzen. However, the game was a tale of two different Duck teams.
Good Duck
Let’s start with the good stuff. For two and a half quarters, there was plenty to be happy about. Even Mr. FishDuck took a break from his analysis of a superb essay writing service in EduBirdie to chime in about the near-perfect start in this first round Playoff game.
On Oregon’s first five drives of the game they scored touchdowns, and the longest of all those touchdown drives took five plays. Oregon’s offense was averaging 1.6 points per play, which is an irrelevant stat.
The offense was rolling, and receivers Jeremiah McClellan and Malik Benson were having their way with the JMU defense. Dierre Hill and Jordon Davison were equally explosive in the run game.
Before the half, the Ducks were averaging around 15 yards per play. Almost every play was an explosive play, and many weren’t just 20-yard explosives, but closer to 40.
The defense was making stops in the first two and a half quarters as well, including some major red zone stops. JMU got themselves to the 10 yard line and between some of their own self-inflicted penalties and an aggressive Duck defense, they were pushed back and had to settle for a field goal attempt.
This is the Oregon team that we expected to see against a G6 opponent, and they put the game away in the first half.
Dierre Hill runs for 56 yards and a touchdown.
(Photo By: Gary Breedlove)
Bad Duck
Then the second half of the third quarter rolled around, and it was some of the worst Duck football all season — especially on defense.
JMU was throwing out trick plays. They ran a fake punt that kept the drive alive, and then a few plays later they scored their first touchdown. By this point in the game the Ducks had already started to rotate out their starters for the twos and threes, which may have been a little early for a G6 match-up in the early season, but by the end of the season the twos and threes should have been more reliable.
But it wasn’t just the backups having second-half struggles, but some of the starters as well. The defense was getting beat and certainly not playing up to its standard.
Credit JMU, because they were flying around the field and were effectively playing with house money. They weren’t expected to make the playoff or win a playoff game, but they could certainly bloody Oregon’s nose on their way out, which is what they did.
This was absolutely frustrating for Oregon fans, as fans were expecting a score like 51-13 but instead, the Ducks gave up a whopping 34 total points (with 28 of them coming in the second half alone). This is the most total points the defense has given up all season long, as well as the highest total offense as JMU piled up 509 yards. They had 11 more minutes in the time of possession, had 23 first downs to Oregon’s 22, ran 31 more plays than Oregon and won the turnover margin by two, with two interceptions on Dante Moore. One interception was a bit of a fluke where Benson actually knocked the ball into a defender’s hands, and on the other Jamari Johnson fell down, but it was also just a bad pass.
Jordon Davison led the Ducks in rushing with 90 yards on 10 carries.
(Photo By: Scott Kelley)
No other team, including Indiana, got even close to that total yardage this season. If you looked at these stats without the context of the game and without the final score, you would think JMU won this game in a shootout, but the first half Good Ducks were so efficient and so good that they overcame the second half Bad Ducks by a wide margin.
It felt like the team was done with JMU at the half and the game was never in doubt, and instead of finishing off the Dukes they were looking ahead to the next playoff match-up against Texas Tech. But the Ducks cannot afford to bring this level of play with them into the Orange Bowl or else their playoff run is over.
Lanning is going to have to take this team to the doctor this week and make sure they are mentally ready for what’s ahead. This team showed just how good they could be in the first half and just how bad they could be in the second half.
Let’s hope we see the Good Ducks show up for the rest of the playoff.
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo By: Gary Breedlove
Natalie Liebhaber, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in financial technology in SLC, Utah.
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David Marsh is a high school social studies teacher in Portland, Oregon. As a teacher he is known for telling puns to his students who sometimes laugh out of sympathy, and being both eccentric about history and the Ducks.
David graduated from the University of Oregon in 2012 with Majors in: Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Geography. David began following Ducks Football after being in a car accident in 2012; finding football something new and exciting to learn about during this difficult time in his life. Now, he cannot see life without Oregon football.