It was the most complete team victory and focused effort since last week.
The Ducks manhandled and blew by previously unbeaten and #4 ranked Stanford in Stanford Stadium. 53-30. It was supposed to be a matchup of The Cardinal’s power and physical dominance versus Oregon’s speed, but the Ducks showed some power and physicality of their own. They dominated Stanford, with three sacks and five turnovers, and the soggy turf that was a concern prior to the game turned out to be much more of a problem for Andrew Luck and his teammates than it was for the underdog Webfoots.
photo left: Oregon’s pint-sized superman, LaMichael James, darted and bulldozed for 146 yards and three touchdowns in a 53-30 victory over Stanford Saturday night. But the Ducks have to produce an encore against a USC team that is already talking trash. (photo Ezra Shaw, Getty Images).
Andrew Luck, who probably lost his strangehold on the Heisman Trophy in the loss, was composed and gracious afterward. Asked in the media room, “How would you rate your performance?” He said, “Not good enough to win.”
Oregon won with big plays and tenacious defense. They held Stanford to 4.9 yards per play and made them work for every yard, dealing out punishment on every play. The Cardinal couldn’t score quickly, having to grind out long drives of 12 plays to reach the end zone, and when the Ducks built a lead, that difference left them in deep trouble. In the fourth quarter the Ducks forced errors that turned the game into a rout. The celebration was jubilant, first with the Oregon fans in one corner of the stadium, and then the visitors locker room was rocking. They earned the right to dance, and almost immediately, talk turned to next week and USC.
Matt Barkley continued his long-standing habit of sticking his foot in his mouth, telling the L.A. papers that he didn’t think the Ducks were as good as they had been in the past. Matt, Dion Jordan, Terrell Turner, Taylor Hart and Dwight Stuckey would like a word with you: BLAM!
The Grades, on Saturday’s keys to the game:
Containing Andrew Luck
The Ducks harrassed the Stanford star and hit him. He appeared almost dazed after the game, uncharacteristically tossing two picks and sacked three times. With good coverage on his underwhelming wide receivers he constantly had to check down and throw underneath, and that made the Cardinal a plodding football team that had to string together a lot of plays to get a score. 27-41 for 271 yards wasn’t enough to keep his team in this game, especially with Oregon holding their running attack to 129 yards, 3.7 per carry. The Ducks made the Cardinal work for their points, while scoring quickly and often themselves.
Grade: A
Breaking Big Plays
Oregon’s playmakers were stellar in this game, delivering the blows that kept Stanford down and on the defensive. LaMichael James took a run up the middle and darted left for an electrifying 58-yard touchdown. De’Anthony Thomas took a very ballsy and well-execute screen pass on 4th and 7 for a dazzling 41-yard burst up the right sideline and a score. In the third quarter, after Stanford had closed to six with a drive to end the first half, Josh Huff took a hook pass, juked two defenders and scampered for a 59-yard pass and run, his longest touchdown catch of his career. Steady Lavasier Tuinei opened the scoring with his 8th touchdown reception of the season, getting loose in the right corner of the end zone. And Bo Lokombo, a big-play scoring machine with four career tds on defense and special teams, grabbed a carom off the hands of a Stanford receiver and scooted 41 yards for the Ducks’ final six.
These were back breaking, discouraging moments for the opponent. Stanford didn’t have an answer for the quick-striking ability of the Ducks, who used their speed to build a lead, then kept their football on the Cardinal’s intelligent heads.
Grade: A
A solid performance from Darron Thomas
Maligned and questioned for his lapses and reluctance to run, thought by many to be in a quarterback controversy with redshirt freshman Bryan Bennett, Darron Thomas responded with the steadiest and most effective performance of the season, managing the Oregon offense beautifully, 11-17 passing for 155 yards, 3 touchdowns and no picks. On the screen pass to the Black Momba, Thomas’ execution was perfect, coolly drawing the blitzing defenders toward him, then laying the ball off to De’Anthony in the open field. He threw strikes to Tuinei and and Huff for the other scores, finding the open man with solid reads, and also hit David Paulson in the end zone for another potential score that the veteran tight end uncharacteristically bobbled off the turf. The Ducks scored anyway a couple of plays later.
Thomas also had 3 timely runs on keepers, the last for 18 yards as the Ducks were winding down the clock with a four minute and 22 second field goal drive; DT having the presence of mind to slide and stay in bounds.
Thomas responded in a big game and earned his second win as a collegian over prep adversary Andrew Luck. As Houston high schoolers Luck beat him twice, but DT is 2-0 against him in the PAC-10/12. His quarterback rating last night was 199.5.
The experience of succeeding in a big game on the road against a highly-ranked opponent will only increase Thomas’ command and confidence, and reaffirm his teammates confidence in him as the Oregon starter. Clearly Bryan Bennett has to wait another full season for his turn.
Grade: A
Building on last week, solid execution by the defense
Matt Hinton of Yahoo Sports Dr. Saturday made the point today that the high-powered offense and high scores generated by the Webfoots obscure the fact that Oregon has a very good defense, and has had for the last three years. Think back to the National Championship Game last year, holding Auburn to 22. Even in the 2009 loss to Boise State, the defense played a very good game, holding Kellen Moore and the Broncos to 19. And although LSU got 40 points in the Cowboys Classic, turnovers and special teams played a detrimental role; the Oregon defense allowed just 273 yards.
Last night, they were their swarming, intense, competitive best. The Oregon defense hits hard, and they’ve become a tremendous unit at all three levels, a group that makes the opponent work for every yard and forces mistakes. They are ripping and stripping and flying to the football. The young cornerbacks, backed by veteran safeties John Boyett and Eddie Pleasant, keep everything in front of them and contest every football. Troy Hill and Terrance Mitchell battle, and keep getting better. Luck constantly had to settle for the crossing route or the seven-yard out, and the Cardinal couldn’t string enough of those together to stay in this game. The hard hitting of the defense led to a number of drops; Stanford receivers, pounded every time they caught the ball, lost concentration over the middle a number of times. Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the mouth.
Grade: A
Oregon’s fans and players are understandably jubilant about a big win on national TV that gets the Ducks firmly back into the discussion for a berth in the national title game, but they can’t take their eyes off the USC Trojans, who come to Autzen next Saturday night for a game that is the USC Super Bowl and bowl game this season. The Trojans are a more challenging matchup for the Ducks in that they can match Oregon’s speed and athletically ability. Needing a win to clinch the PAC-12 North title and stay relevant nationally, Chip Kelly’s improving, focused team has to stay that way. Matt Barkley, Robert Woods and the rest of the Trojans would get a huge charge out of spoiling what has become a great story.
From Oregon Duck Soup and cbsports.com, here are some great video highlights of the game:
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