In Week 3 the Ducks welcomed the Portland State Vikings to Autzen stadium for the annual game against an FCS opponent.
After an embarrassing loss the week prior the Ducks were looking to get back on track but sadly as an FCS team, and an FCS team in transition, the Vikings didn’t pose much of a challenge. Here is how the game went down.
1st Quarter
Portland State won the toss and elected to defer meaning the Offence would take the field to start the game and had the first opportunity to bounce back in Week 3.
I was curious to see the Ducks o-line lineup to start the game. The Ducks rolled with
- LT – Addison
- LG – Rogers
- C – Poncho
- RG – Iuli
- RT – Crader
The Ducks ran the ball effectively on the first drive getting multiple chunk plays on the ground. Merhinger dug into his bag of tricks on one when he had action fake left and then flipped the ball to Dierre running right to get the Ducks inside the 10 yard line. Davison would punch it in to make it 7-0 Oregon and the Duck offence was off and running.
On Portland State’s first possession the Vikings were able to get into 3rd and 1 with an opportunity to pick up thier first 1st down of the game but just as Hythloday predicted Portland State decided to go for a deep shot on 3rd and short. The Vikings rolled out their QB and he was able to hit a receiver deep down field but the Portland State pass catcher let it hit his shoulder pads and then hit the ground. Not the best start for the defense but the scoreboard doesn’t care a 3 and out is a 3 and out.
The 2nd drive got started with an RPO WR screen slip out to Evan Stewart who would make a few men miss to pick up a big gain and the very next play Portland State busted a coverage leaving Dakorien Moore wide open deep down the middle of the field. Dante hit him perfectly in stride and just over 5 minutes into the game it was 14-0 Ducks
The ensuing kickoff the Viking return man ran into his own blocker which caused a fumble the Ducks would recover to give the ball immediately back to the offence. The Ducks only needed 4 plays to get back to the end-zone and half way through the first quarter it was 21-0 Oregon
The 2nd Portland State drive the defense was able to win on 1st down to hold the Vikings to no gain and then take care of a swing pass check down to force 3rd and long. On 3rd and long the Viking QB had a miscommunication with his receiver and threw it to an area with no one in the area code for an intentional grounding. I did find it notable that in the secondary the Ducks were electing to go with Offord and Ify on the outside with Finney playing on the inside. A shaky punt gave the Ducks offence good field position for their 4th drive of the game.
The Ducks 4th drive got started with the fake run play toss to the opposite direction that Dierre Hill took earlier. Seeing it a 2nd time made me think the Ducks were definitely trying to put something on tape for USC and I think we will see some fake off of that against the Trojans next week. The very next play Evan Stewart simply ran by a Viking corner down the sideline and Dante hit him in stride for the Touchdown. 28-0 Oregon
The next Portland State drive the Vikings were able to get a first down via penalty but the Ducks were able to get them into 3rd and long. Again the Portland State QB appeared to have made a nice downfield throw to his TE but the play came back due to an illegal formation penalty. The Ducks were able to get off the field but Portland State was at least able to pin the Ducks inside their own 20 for Oregon’s worst starting field position of the game.
After running to pick up the first first down of the Drive Dante hit Messiah Hampton for back to back first downs, with the final play of the quarter being a pass to Kendre Harrison and the Ducks were back into the red zone to start the 2nd
2nd Quarter
The 2nd quarter the offence was hit with an illegal formation penalty. The first unsuccessful run of the day was followed by a couple of incompletions, but on 3rd and 15 the Portland State defender was dragging Evan Stewart’s jersey for a PI penalty that would give the Ducks a first down at the 10. On play-action Dante was able to hit Kendre in the flat and he would muscle into the end-zone for his first career TD to make it 35-0 Ducks.
Portland State’s next drive they were able to pick up their first first down that wasn’t via penalty. But the Ducks would hold them there for nothing else.
After less than 20 minutes of gametime the score was 35-0. Oregon had:
- Net YPP of +9.88
- Net effiencey +54%
- Net Explosiveness +29%
Not that it was particularly impressive, given the gap in talent of the two teams that was to be expected regardless of the state the Ducks were in, but at the very least they took care of business. My big takeaways before the game got completely out of control:
- The starting offensive line was the same until the final drive of the 1st half
- No Jeremiah McClennan as he was in street clothes and a walking boot during the game after warming up with the team
- Kendre Harrison being used early and often indicating to me he is the starting TE until Jamari comes back
- Finney playing at Nickel to start the game but Davon Benjamin was in during the 1st half
The Ducks next drive they would march 80 yards and have it capped off with a 7 yard Dierre Hill run into the end zone to make it 42-0 Oregon.
On the 2nd to last play Dakorien appeared to be limping a bit after a Portland State defender rolled up on him making a tackle. It looked like he was able to get his feet away before they got pinned and seriously hurt an ankle. He also was on the field the very next drive.
That next drive the Ducks took advantage of strong field position after a bad Portland State punt and drove for another touchdown. This time Messiah Hampton won a 1 on 1 battle and came down with the ball in the end-zone for his first career TD that would make it 49-0 Oregon.
Portland State could do nothing with just under two minutes left in the first half and Oregon took that lead into half-time. Oregon scored on every offensive possession and Portland State had two total first downs. Again given the opponent it’s hard to take anything particularly positive away after the week prior. But at the very least the Ducks didn’t give us anything additionally to be concerned about. The true question of whether or not the issues that plagued the Ducks in the first two weeks are actually fixable were never going to be answered Friday night and we knew going in the answers to those questions wouldn’t come until after playing the Trojans.
3rd Quarter
To start the 2nd half a handful of starters were still in the game for the Ducks on their first offensive and defensive possessions but the majority were backups now. Specifically Dylan Raiola who was making his Oregon debut. Da’Jaun Riggs was toting the ball on the ground for some effective runs mixed in with some Raiola passes to give the Ducks their 8th touchdown of the night and put Oregon into the 50’s. The drive was capped off with Raiola’s first Touchdown pass as a Duck to Andrew Olesh for his first career TD.
The very first play of the next Viking drive Davon Benjamin secured an interception for the first of his career and give the ball right back to the offence.
For the first time all night though the Ducks were unable to score. They had appeared too on the very first play but a holding penalty brought it back and the Ducks would give up a Sack to put them in 3rd and long which they couldn’t convert resulting in the Ducks first punt of the game.
The first play of the Portland State drive the Vikings hit a big play to Terence Loville to put them into Duck territory. But Jett Washington would secure his first INT of his career to end the drive and give the ball back to Oregon.
A nice run for Brandon Smith on the outside followed by Messiah Hampton catching what looked like a throw away on the sidelines and then laying out the very next play to secure a diving TD for his 2nd of the night. Combined with some nice reps the week prior against Oklahoma State and I think the Ducks have something in the true freshmen. Kendre Harrison was probably the true freshmen that impressed me most given that he was with the first team offence, but a close 2nd place was Messiah.
The next Portland State drive it appeared Oregon had committed pass interference on a Jett Washington interception but replay review determined the pass was tipped, there was no foul, and Washington had his 2nd pick of the game.
The next drive Raiola was still in the game where he and Riggs continued to lead the Ducks down the field, including the first 4th down conversion of the year. The drive was capped off with a 7 yard touchdown pass to Brady Bidwell to make it 70-0.
Another 3 and out for the defense including an Aydin Breland sack gave the ball back to the offence, with it now being Brock Thomas’ turn to lead the offence. The Ducks continued to lean on the ground, this time with Tradarian Ball who had a nice drive running the ball and capped it off with a run into the end zone to make it 77-0.
The final drive of the game for the offence saw the 4th QB enter the game, with Akili Smith Jr. taking snaps. He just missed getting his first TD but Tradarian Ball and Brandon Smith continued to run the ball well, all the way into the endzone with 29 seconds left to make it 84-0.
After taking care of business Oregon now turns it’s focus to its first B1G game of the year were they head down to LA to take on the Trojans of USC in a pivotal game that will actually inform us what this team is capable of doing and they fixed what doomed them in Stillwater.
