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Sunday, October 1, 2023

Ducks shake off first quarter lethargy to stun Stanford, 42-6

 


On a Saturday when the PAC-12's two other 5-0, top-ranked teams struggled to put away opponents on the road, the Oregon Ducks stumbled early but surged through the last three quarters to best Stanford in Palo Alto, 42-6.

It was a game that started with eerie portents and a creeping familiarity. Oregon struggled out of the gate while the hosts put together two long field goal drives, choking the clock. After The Cardinal's Joshua Karty nailed a 53-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter they led 6-0. Stanford had 120 yards of offense in the first fifteen minutes of the game. The Ducks had run just three plays, gaining a total of six yards. Bo Nix missed an open Tez Johnson on a deep shot on third and 4.

With their opening possession of the second quarter the Ducks misfired again. Bucky Irving ran for four, Nix was flushed out of the pocket and missed Irving down the right sideline, on a throw he didn't have time to set his feet and bounced to his receiver, then threw underneath to his running back again on third down, stopped short of the sticks. Oregon chose to punt on 4th and three, their second three and out in two possessions.

A sack by Evan Williams got the defense off the field in 5 plays.

It was 9:08 of the second quarter before the Quack Attack made a first down, on a keeper to the left side by Nix. That led to a six-play, 69-yard touchdown drive. Nix hit the ever-reliable Troy Franklin for 13 yards, then Jordan James busted loose behind Josh Conerly and Marcus Harper II for a 13-yard run followed by a 30-yard touchdown run and a 7-6 lead.

Jordan Burch burst through the line on third and five to tackle Lake Oswego product Casey Filkins for a loss and Stanford went three and out.

Ahead now, Nix and the offense found their rhythm, driving 75 yards in six plays. Nix hit Franklin on passes of 15, 12 and 11 yards, Irving ran for 11, then on 2nd and 4 from the Stanford 17, he performed a shake, bake and stiff arm to power his way for a TD, again behind the duo of Conerly and Harper.

The Ducks led 14-6 at the half. After his early struggles Nix settled down to complete 12-15 passes for 96 yards, and the Oregon o-line powered Irving and James to 94 yards and the two touchdowns, 10.2 yards a carry. Burch spearheaded the defensive effort with 5 tackles, two of them for loss. Williams, Khyree Jackson and Mase Funa all had sacks. After their 120-yard start Stanford managed just four net yards in the second quarter. 

The pattern continued in the second half. Unleashed now, the Oregon offense would score six unanswered touchdowns, 4 second half TD passes by Nix, two to Troy Franklin, a back shoulder throw high over the defender to Troy Franklin, then a slant zipped to Traeshon Holden with 11:33 to go in the fourth quarter to reach 42-6.

Stanford would not score again, the defense getting back-to-back sacks from Bay Area product and true freshman linebacker Jerry Mixon and then veteran Brandon Dorlus. Dontae Manning and Nikko Reed made nice plays in the secondary. Ty Thompson took over at quarterback. The Ducks reached the Cardinal 31, then took a knee twice to end the game.

After the game Dan Lanning told the press, “We started off a little slow, but we kicked it into gear. I thought our guys responded. We just had to get through that lull to start."

They'll probably need a stronger start in two weeks when they face UW in Seattle. The Huskies reached 5-0 in the PAC-12's nightcap by edging Arizona 31-24 in the desert. In Boulder, Colorado USC jumped out to a big lead then hung on to beat the Buffs 48-41. Shedeur Sanders shredded a suspect Trojan defense for 371 yards and 4 TDs; Colorado piled up 564 yards of offense, but Caleb Williams threw six touchdown passes to win the shootout.

Those are matchups for another day. In Palo Alto the salty Oregon defense churned out 5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss to establish itself as the league's most dominant. The Ducks outgained Stanford 506-222 and they were perfect in the Red Zone. Three times the defense stopped them on fourth down.

Posted by Dale Bliss at 5:03 AM

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