From the AP wire even though we were there. Getting down to talk to Herbert and Cristobal was not in the cards for Larry and I. However I can cut and paste so the record is here on DuckPoll. Hey, that’s really how it’s done everywhere. They just don’t come out and say it. LOLZ
Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert completed just 10 passes, but five of them were for touchdowns against Bowling Green.
”I like that ratio,” Ducks coach Mario Cristobal said. ”Let’s keep that going.”
Herbert ran for another score to finish with six touchdowns to lead No. 24 Oregon to a 58-24 victory on Saturday night. He finished 10 of 21 for 281 yards and the five passing TDs were the most for a Duck in a season-opening game.
The victory extended Oregon’s winning streak in home openers to 14 straight.
Herbert said afterward there was room for improvement.
”I think at times we moved the ball really well. At times things were clicking and the defense was playing really good defense, and we kind of feed off each other. For a short moment there, we were playing really good football,” Herbert said. ”If we could stretch that out for a complete game I think we could be a really good team.”
Bowling Green, which went 2-10 last season, jumped in front 10-0 in the first quarter, but the Ducks scored 37 unanswered points until the Falcons scored again just before the halftime to make it 37-17.
Bowling Green quarterback Jarret Doege threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Scott Miller had 166 receiving yards and two touchdowns and Andrew Clair ran for 113 yards.
”They did most of what we thought they were going to do,” Doege said. ”We just had to execute a little better. We had some missed assignments and a couple of turnovers that we need to clean up, but mostly they did what we thought they were going to do.”
The win kicked off Cristobal’s first season as head coach of Oregon. Cristobal was promoted when Willie Taggart left after a single season to become head coach at Florida State. The Ducks went 7-6 last year.
Following a 36-yard field goal from Nate Needham, Bowling Green stretched its early margin on Doege’s 6-yard pass to Miller. Doege started the Falcons’ final four games last season as a freshman and the team averaged 35 points.
But The Ducks answered on the ensuing drive with Herbert’s 33-yard pass to Jaylon Redd in the end zone before pulling in front with Herbert’s 9-yard scoring pass to Dylan Mitchell. Herbert added a 2-yard keeper to put the Ducks up 21-10.
Herbert missed five games last season with a fractured collarbone and the Ducks went 1-4 over that span. This season he’s being mentioned as an early Heisman Trophy candidate.
Herbert hit Johnny Johnson with a 40-yard TD before a bad snap on a Bowling Green punt led to a safety and Cyrus Haabibi-Likio scored on a 5-yard run.
With six seconds left to halftime, Doege found Clair with a 9-yard scoring pass for a 20-point lead at the break.
Ugo Amadi had a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown to open the second half for the Ducks. Herbert added an 83-yard TD pass to Taj Griffin before he left the game and Braxton Burmeister took over.
Doege’s second scoring pass to Miller was for 63 yards with just under three minutes to play in the third. Herbert returned before the end of the quarter and connected with Redd for a 48-yard TD midway through the fourth before leaving the game for good.
Cristobal said he wanted to get Burmeister some work with the first team but decided to bring back Herbert.
”When we didn’t move the ball and they scored we thought we wanted to get back on track,” he said.
Herbert was intercepted twice. He has just seven interceptions in his Oregon career.
So there you go. Record made of the huge victory over Bowling Green. Hummm, paying a school way too much money come to our house to get slaughtered. Somehow feels a bit ironic they took it to us early as we started in an 0-10 deficit. Looks like they played over their heads early then flat ran out of gas three quarters of the way through the first quarter. Even the BG Eagle fans sitting next to us could not bear to watch the rest of the game. Either that or they didn’t read the memo that if you leave the stadium, you cannot come back.
