Welcome back to another edition of the “Opponent Film Room,” where I break down what to expect from every team using their film from previous games as a visual guide. This week, I will analyze the Ducks in two top-ten matchups that had an impact on the Big Ten and national college football picture. Here is my analysis from Oregon at Penn State and Oregon vs. Indiana, as the Scarlet Knights will host their first top-ten (and ranked) opponent of the year on Saturday evening at SHI Stadium.
First off,
an important thing to note about the Ducks is that they have a variety of offensive playmakers. Dante Moore is yet another dual-threat quarterback, and may be the best one the Scarlet Knights have seen yet, which should be a troubling sign if you have watched Rutgers against dual-threat QBs this season.
Oregon’s stable of running backs includes Dierre Hill Jr., Jordon Davison, Jayden Limar, and Noah Whittington, and it is hard to know who their true number one back is, as each of the top four backs has led the Ducks in rushing. The receiving room is similar, with Dakorien Moore, Gary Bryant Jr., and Malik Benson each having the team in receiving, while tight end Kenyon Sadiq is another prominent option in the Oregon offense.
On defense, Oregon has a relentless defensive front, which features defensive linemen Bear Alexander and A’Mauri Washington, as well as the linebacking trio of Bryce Boettcher, Matayo Uiagleilei (DJ’s brother), and Tetium Tuioti. In the secondary, cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. and safety Dillon Theineman are the names to watch out for, as each had a critical interception in the previous two games. Let us start with the now-infamous whiteout game at Penn State.
As you may remember, Oregon at Penn State was a massive game at the time for both programs. It started as a defensive slugfest, with the teams scoreless after a quarter before Ryan Barker hit a 49-yard field goal to put the Nittany Lions up 3-0. That trend continued in the second quarter, with Oregon’s defense forcing a three-and-out with a first-down sack by Matayo Uiagleilei and pressure from safety Dillon Thieneman resulting in a punt.
Dante Moore led the Ducks into field goal range, finding Dakorien Moore on a 20-yard pass on fourth-and-one from midfield to move Oregon close to the red zone. However, Penn State stuffed Jayden Limar for no gain on back-to-back run plays before the Moore-to-Moore connection failed on third down. Atticus Sappington converted the field goal to tie the game at 3.
The Ducks’ defense remained stout to end the first half, forcing three straight incompletions from the PSU 49 and having Penn State punt from just shy of midfield. With Tetium Tuioti getting a first-down sack, the run defense slowed down Nick Singleton and Drew Allar, leading to another punt from the Lions, this time in plus territory.
The offense took advantage of the next possession, going 80 yards in 10 plays, which included a 23-yard pass to Kenyon Sadiq. However, Dierre Hill Jr. was the star of the drive, with a 24-yard run and a six-yard run putting Oregon into the Penn State red zone on back-to-back rushes. He then caps the drive off with an eight-yard touchdown reception.
With the Scarlet Knights regularly allowing intermediate and long completions to tight ends and running backs, the Ducks have the personnel to exploit that. Hill catches the quick screen pass and takes it to the house to put Oregon up 10-3 late in the third quarter. The Ducks then allowed just one yard on the next Penn State possession, forcing a three-and-out and getting the ball right back.
Hill continued to be the star of the show, with multiple double-digit rushes on a run-heavy drive that extended into the fourth quarter. Dante Moore then connected with Dakorien Moore for a 29-yard gain that put the Ducks in the red zone before handing the ball off to Jordon Davison for an eight-yard score on a critical fourth down inside the Penn State 10-yard line. Davison found the hole and rushed in nearly untouched for the touchdown.
Penn State reversed the trend in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns of its own while forcing defensive stops on the other end, which sent the game to overtime. After PSU went up 24-17 in the first overtime, Dante Moore recovered his own fumble, scrambled a couple of times, and found Jamari Johnson on a shovel pass from two yards out for the tying score. The creative play design and execution were close to flawless.
With Dan Lanning’s team getting the ball first to start the second overtime, Oregon wasted no time, with Dante Moore evading Dani Dennis-Sutton in the backfield, stepping up in the pocket, and finding Gary Bryant Jr. over the middle for a 25-yard touchdown on the first play of the period, putting Oregon up 30-24 (the two-point conversion failed, with Penn State attempting an unsuccessful two-point runback.
Bryant was wide open in the middle of the field around the PSU 10-yard line and was nearly uncontested in the final ten yards for the score, which has also been a problem for the Scarlet Knights. Not only are receivers, tight ends, and running backs able to find the soft spots in Robb Smith’s zone coverages, but they can rumble for yards after the catch as well. They must do a great job in closing those gaps this week against Oregon’s quick playmakers and efficient offense, as they will likely look to use similar concepts against the Scarlet Knights.
The play of the game, however, came on defense, with Dillon Theineman sealing the game by picking off Drew Allar with his precise timing and athleticism on his jump. Oregon survived the raucous whiteout environment and set off the unexpected domino effect that led to James Franklin’s surprising firing at Penn State.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, and College GameDay was on the scene again for another top-ten showdown involving the Ducks, but this time it was at Autzen Stadium against the upstart Indiana Hoosiers. Despite Indiana also being in the top ten, most analysts and fans thought that the Hoosiers had met their match. They were wrong, but it’s not because Oregon played a particularly poor game.
Indiana had an outstanding defensive afternoon, forcing a turnover on downs near midfield with Davison getting absolutely obliterated on a fourth-and-one at the Oregon 46-yard line. The run defense from the Hoosiers was stout, resulting in a short field and a field goal from Nico Radicic to open up the scoring out west.
The Hoosiers forced a three-and-out on Oregon’s next drive, not allowing one yard to be gained, but Indiana did even worse on its next drive, with a pair of procedural penalties on either side of a big sack from A’Mauri Washington, who drove back an Indiana offensive lineman directly into Fernando Mendoza for a big colission in the backfield. The Rutgers offensive line will need to make sure to protect Kaliakmanis in the pocket On against a massive front capable of creating that kind of disruption.
On the ensuing Oregon drive, Dante Moore unleashed a thing of beauty, dropping further back and launching a 44-yard touchdown pass to Malik Benson, who burned past the IU secondary and scored the go-ahead touchdown. If this play looks familiar to Rutgers fans, it is because opposing offenses have been doing that to the Scarlet Knights all season long. The secondary will need to tighten up against some of the best receivers they have seen so far if Rutgers wants to have any chance to hang around against the Ducks.
Indiana answered right back with a touchdown drive of their own before an Aided Fisher sack derailed the Ducks’ next possession, which resulted in a Sappington field goal to tie the game at 10. Both defenses continued to stand on their head, with the next few possessions resulting in short drives and punts, two for Indiana and one for Oregon. The reason I mentioned a packed and loud crowd playing a role is precisely because of things like this.
SHI Stadium already caused a pivotal play that resulted in a blocked punt touchdown that swung the game against Ohio (and Rutgers did indeed need every one of those points). In a game where Rutgers will be the team that is a double-digit underdog, a pivotal stop, turnover, or maybe even another scoop-and-score on a punt block would be absolutely huge for momentum.
Oregon had the opportunity to take the lead on its next drive, using its variety of playmakers in the pass and run game to move the ball inside the IU red zone, but the drive stalled and Sappington missed a relatively short field goal from 36 yards out. In just 24 seconds, Indiana moved 40 yards (assisted by a 15-yard pass interference penalty), with long-range kicker Brendan Franke drilling the go-ahead field goal with the ball being snapped at the Oregon 40-yard line. Franke kicked the 58-yarder from near midfield as time expired in the second quarter.
The ferocity of each defense showed up early in the third quarter, with each team being forced off the field in surprisingly short drives. The Ducks were able to use this sequence to flip the field, which resulted in a beautifully executed near-fake punt from Aussie punter Jake Ferguson-Reynolds that pinned the Hoosiers at their own 2-yard line.
Scarlet Knights fans should be the first to appreciate a play like that; it looks like Ferguson-Reynolds had the option to keep the ball and run, but with the pressure coming, he boots the ball while on the run, and it takes a few Oregon bounces to the Indiana 2-yard line, where it is downed perfectly by Dillon Theineman.
After forcing a three-and-out and the Hoosiers to punt right back to the Ducks from their own 4-yard line, Oregon started at IU’s 38-yard line and got as far as the 16 before having to settle for a 33-yard field goal, with Sappington connecting on it this time to tie the game at 13. However, Indiana was undaunted, as they answered back with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to go ahead 20-13 to end the third quarter.
One of the game’s biggest plays came on Indiana’s next offensive possession, with Mendoza picked off by Brandon Finney Jr., which was returned for a 35-yard interception touchdown. This play starts with the defensive line putting pressure on Mendoza, which forces him to throw off his back foot, and ends with Finney Jr. making a play for the football and returning it for six.
With the Ducks down by a touchdown and having been forced to punt on their last possession, this was the momentum swing they needed to get back into the game. However, Mendoza quickly made the most of his second chance, flushing the interception and engineering a touchdown drive of his own, with a 29-yard pass to Elijah Saratt leading up to the two of them connecting for an eight-yard pass to put the Hoosiers back in front.
Unfortunately for Oregon, Dante Moore threw an interception of his own, with the football caroming off an Indiana defender at the line, taking a high bounce, and landing in the hands of defensive back Louis Moore. The Hoosiers proceeded to take valuable time off the clock and kick a field goal that gave IU breathing room up ten.
Dante Moore was intercepted again, this time effectively ending the game, as Isaiah Jones anticipated the incoming pass and jumped the route perfectly. All in all, Moore threw for just 186 yards and one touchdown, while being picked off twice and sacked six times. If Rutgers wants any shot at beating the Ducks, they have to put pressure on Moore, force him into mistakes, generate turnovers, and come up with some sacks.
Even more importantly, Rutgers must be sound on the back end of its defense. The run defense also must continue to hold up after shutting down the Gophers and holding Jonah Coleman to just 44 yards on the ground. But against another dual-threat QB like Moore, they must prevent him from taking off for long gains on the ground, and they certainly must not allow “flyover yards” from big passing plays down the field and in the soft spots of the zone, as Oregon demonstrated an ability to do both against much stronger defenses.
On offense, Rutgers must get out to a quick start, as it has previously, to give itself the best chance to win. They were tied with Iowa at halftime and up against both Minnesota and Washington going into the locker room. But more importantly, they must be able to keep it up in the second half, as the offense has slowed down dramatically in each Big Ten game (plus Ohio). Both Antwan Raymond and the receiving core have been sensational, making life easier for Athan Kaliakmanis, but this defense should be the best one Rutgers has seen yet.
Finally, special teams must continue to execute at a high level. The Scarlet Knights cannot afford any missteps, such as kickoff return touchdowns, missed or blocked field goals, or any boneheaded mistakes that could prevent them from picking up easy points or give easier points to the Ducks, who will already be massive favorites coming into Piscataway.
Even if all of this goes right, Rutgers will still likely be in an uphill battle, but if they can keep the game close going into the second half, anything can happen. We have seen UCLA and Northwestern stun Penn State, and a litany of other upsets in recent weeks, so with the Scarlet Knights playing in front of a packed crowd with house money this week, maybe the ability to play free can result in some game-changing plays.
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