Oregon and Oregon State football matched up for the 128th time on Saturday night. The game started with an energetic flyover and the Ducks started on defense.
On the first drive, Tysheem Johnson blocked a field goal attempt, which catapulted Oregon’s intensity for the rest of the game. The Ducks scored on every single drive, besides the two drives in which they kneeled to end each half. Oregon scored six touchdowns and two field goals with a two-point conversion on its second touchdown and held the Beavers scoreless in the second half which made the final score 49-14.
The Oregon offense was explosive — they had their way both on the ground and in the air. In the first half, the Ducks accumulated 217 yards on just 21 plays and just under nine minutes of possession. They scored touchdowns on all three full drives in the first half including a Jordan James four-yard run, a Dillon Gabriel 54-yard run and a Gabriel 20-yard pass to Traeshon Holden.
Ten Oregon players recorded a catch in today’s game, including Tez Johnson with seven catches for 110 yards, and Jayden Limar with his first two career catches — his first one being a 65-yard touchdown. Gabriel went 20-for-24 and backup Dante Moore came in at the end and went 3-for-3. The Ducks running game was almost as spread out with six different players getting touches running the ball. Oregon rushed 32 times for 240 yards and four touchdowns on the day coming from James, Noah Whittington and Gabriel.
In this game, Gabriel reached statistical levels that barely anyone has reached in college football. He has 15,779 career passing yards, which helped him pass Sam Hartman for fifth all-time and 14 yards behind fourth. He also threw for his 131st career passing touchdowns tying him with Baker Mayfield, Colt Brennan and Rakeem Cato for fifth place. He needs four more to make it solely into the top three.
On the other side of the ball, the Ducks defense clamped the Beaver offense. Oregon allowed 309 total yards with 131 of those being on the ground and the remaining 178 being in the air. Oregon State was able to keep a lot more time of possession in the first half compared to Oregon. But in that time they ran 42 for 218 yards, amassing only one more yard than the Ducks in the first half on double the amount of plays.
The standout players on the defensive side of the ball today for Oregon were Bryce Boettcher, Tritium Tuioti and Tysheem Johnson. Boettcher had 10 tackles and two pass breakups while Tuioti had seven tackles, including a sack and a tackle for loss. Lastly, Johnson helped the secondary keep breakout plays from happening and blocked a field goal on the first drive of the day. The Ducks kept the Beavers scoreless in the second half and kept them to a total of 91 yards in that same half.
Oregon State scored 14 points, all in the last 15 seconds of a quarter in the first half — both also being Anthony Hankerson rushing touchdowns. Hankerson had 15 rushes for 57 yards and six catches for 36 yards. Gevani McCoy went 22-for-34 for 172 yards with six rushes for 52 yards and Jam Griffin also had seven rushes for 27 yards. Through the air, Trent Walker had eight catches for 68 yards and Taz Reddicks had four catches for 32 yards.
Defensively, the Beavers had three players with at least eight tackles each. From most to least those being Isaiah Chisom, Skyler Thomas and Jaden Robinson. Isaiah Chisom also had a tackle for loss and Koby Singleton had the only pass breakup of the game for Oregon State.
Oregon has a bye week coming up followed by a game at UCLA for their first conference matchup of the season. The Ducks will then come back to Eugene to face the Michigan State Spartans, succeeded by the biggest matchup thus far in the season for Oregon against the Ohio State Buckeyes. All matchups will be on KWVA 88.1 FM.