College Football
The Oregon Ducks came into their second game fresh off a win. They defeated Bowling Green 58-24. Heisman hopeful Justin Herbert would score 6 touchdowns before being taken out of the game in the 4th quarter. Portland State was torn apart in their loss to Nevada, the final score 72-19. They came into this game looking to put up a fight against a far superior opponent. The Ducks were also looking to put up a better showing by their defense. Most expected Oregon to pull its starters sometime in the 3rd quarter if they were up big.
1st Quarter
The Ducks started fast, which was one of their goals for this game. They took a 7-0 lead on their first possession of the game. Justin Herbert threw an 18 yard strike to the speedy Jaylon Redd. This was Redd’s third TD of the year. PSU punted on their next possession, the punt would stop at the 1 yardline. On the next Ducks’ possession they drove 99 yards, Hebert capped off the drive with another TD to former Wake Forest transfer Tabari Hines. Hines was a big acquisition and was hurt most of camp. Hines finally got his hands on the ball after not recording a catch against Bowling Green. This score put the Ducks up 14-0 early in the 1st quarter.
PSU got the ball back and Justin Hollins picked up a sack on third that forced them to punt. The Ducks would then get the ball back and go three and out. The punt on fourth was kept out of the end zone and was downed at the two. The Ducks led 14-0 after 1 quarter.
2nd Quarter
Portland State started with the ball in the 2nd quarter and went three and out in their first possession. The Ducks would drive the ball down and score. Justin Herbert finished the drive with a touchdown to backup TE Kano Dillon. Dillon dragged what looked to be 6 PSU defenders on his way to the end zone.
PSU would finally get on the board on their next possession with a 71 yard catch and run from PSU QB Telani Eason. Eason scrambled out of the pocket and found a receiver open that ran for the long TD. Oregon would respond to the long Eason TD with a 1 yard run by goal line back Cyrus Habibi-Likio after a few chunk plays. Oregon would score one more time before the end of the half on an 11 yard pass from Herbert to Johnny Johnson. The Ducks would go into the half with a 35-7 lead.
3rd Quarter
The Ducks started the third off with more of a run first approach. Tony Brooks-James ran for a 1 yard TD that put the Ducks up 42-7. The two teams punted on their next two possessions. The stalemate was broken when the Oregon running back by the name of Travis Dye broke off a 49 yard run that resulted in a TD. With that score the Ducks extended their lead to 49-7. No other scoring took place in the 3rd but the Ducks did bring in their 2nd team offense with Braxton Burmeister leading the charge.
4th Quarter
PSU got on the board for only the second time of the game. Talani Eason threw his second TD of the game on a 4 yard strike. The Ducks responded with a drive that was finished by Tony Brooks-James. Brooks-James ran for a 1 yard TD which was his second of the game. The Ducks dug further into their depth chart with freshman and former four star recruit Tyler Shough coming into the game. This was a questionable desicion by the Oregon coaching staff. Since Shough appeared in the game it uses one of the 4 games that he can play and still be redshirted for the season. He also never attempted a pass. Oregon capped the game off with a run by CJ Verdell that gave them the win with a score of 62-14.
What it means for Oregon
For the Ducks it moves their record to 2-0 on the season. Their first two games have been cakewalks as they scored 120 points, or an average of 60 points per game. This has obviously been a great start for them. There are still some things that the Ducks need to clean up to be competitive in PAC-12 play. They will play San Jose State in their next game, this should be another cakewalk as SJSU is not on the same level as Oregon. The running game finally emerged in this game after being shut down against Bowling Green. The Ducks totaled 296 yards on the ground with two backs that went over 100 yards. Justin Herbert put together another masterful performance with 250 yards and 4 touchdowns in only 3 quarters of work. The Ducks will look for win against SJSU before facing Stanford in their 4th game.
Photo credit to Dave Sizer via Flickr
