All I can say is WOW, on both sides of the ball. I was especially impressed with the Oregon defense, which, if not for a live ball during punt return and short field, the Ducks probably would have kept the score to 77-3. With a field goal kicker with a long leg like the Wolf Packs kicker, the score is especially impressive. Only three of Nevada’s 16 drives even reached Oregon territory and one started there.
The final stats are as lopsided as I’ve seen. Oregon saw 28 players record a tackle with 13 for loss, which matched the most since week 4 of 2017 in a loss to Arizona State. Three forced fumbles two of which were recovered with one resulting in an 11 yard touchdown return by Brady Breez.
On the offensive side, 11 different receivers caught 11 touchdowns. That has to be some kind of weird record. I’d go down the list but Aiello, REALLY? Herbert came out a bit excited and overshot everybody but once he settled in it was lights out.
Back to defense, the Ducks got contributions up and down the depth chart.
Starters Troy Dye, who we found out can dance, and Javon Holland each had four tackles, corners Thomas Graham Jr. D. Lenoir, setting the tone of the game, combined for three pass breakups. What a game. Even guys that don’t get mentioned a bunch contributed Saturday,
Oregon just stepped up both offensively and especially defensively and took the Wolf Pack to school.
Next up for the Ducks, another night game (7:45pm) as the Ducks take on Montana, coming off a 61-17 drubbing of North Alabama.
I think Montana might run into a buzz saw this time out. Welcome to the PAC.
The number of different receivers for touchdowns was indeed a record. As we saw in the days of Chip, when you can step on the gas the way the Ducks did in the second quarter, you take the fight out of the other team. Lots of weirdness this week in the Pac. Cal beat Washington in a storm delayed game that didn’t finish until 1:30 am in front of an empty stadium on a last second field goal. Stanford lost to a USC team who has found their real true freshmen quarterback, and who will do some damage of its own in the Pac. One thing I noticed in the Pac games I watched yesterday was that the refs are, generally speaking, letting the players play more. That was especially true in the USC vs Stanford game, which was brutal. I was happy to see the tight ends getting used more by the Ducks. Also, the receivers seemed to catch every single catchable ball thrown to them. The only way the Duck’s running game out of the pistol works is if their passing game is working. That should be the big lesson they take from Auburn. Great to see Davis, who was drafted out of Florida as a wide receiver, was moved over to cornerback this season, and has been moved back to receiver, had a great game yesterday. Also good to see Sean Dollar and Tyler Shough get some meaningful playing time yesterday. Go Ducks!