Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel became the all-time touchdown leader in NCAA Division I football history with now 180, passing Case Keenum en route to a 39-18 Ducks victory.
No. 1 Oregon (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) took down a pass-heavy Maryland team in what was the first-ever meeting between the two programs. This is now Oregon’s fourth consecutive win by 20 points or more, yet Saturday night’s performance was not exactly perfect by 2024 Oregon Duck standards.
“Nice to walk away with a victory,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “That being said, I feel like we can play a whole lot better and I think everyone probably saw moments of that.”
The Ducks had a season-high 12 penalties against them, accumulating to 95 total penalty yards allowed. Their previous high was nine penalties way back in the second game of the season against Boise State.
“I definitely feel like early on we started off fast,” senior defensive back Kobe Savage said. “We were really just killing ourselves with penalties. I feel like that was the thing [Lanning] was getting at with the lack of focus, like within our technique being too grabby.”
Even with the penalties, Oregon’s defense came up with key takeaways throughout the game, including a 62-yard fumble return for a touchdown by senior defensive back Brandon Johnson early in the second quarter. Senior defensive end Jordan Burch made the strip sack on Terrapin quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. to initiate the first defensive score for the Ducks all season.
Maryland (4-5, 1-5 Big Ten) was held to under 300 yards of total offense for the first time all year. Senior star wideout Tai Felton, who came into the night second in the nation in total catches and sixth in receiving yards, recorded seven receptions for 72 yards.
The Ducks offense tonight was highlighted by the record-breaking 179th touchdown from Dillon Gabriel, who is in his sixth collegiate season. Who caught the historic pass? None other than the redshirt freshman offensive lineman Gernorris Wilson.
“I was expecting to get it last week at Michigan,” Wilson said. “I actually changed my number for it, but it didn’t happen. I was glad it happened today though. I’m very happy.”
Wilson did play just a single snap last week at Michigan.
Junior tailback Jordan James was limited to one of his least productive games of the season, logging just a season-low 29 yards on seven carries, another season low. James did score however late in the first quarter to put the Ducks up 7-3 at that point. He only received one carry in the second half potentially due to an undetermined injury.
“We’re not exactly sure where he’s at,” Lanning said. “I think he could have gone back in, but we were being pretty conscientious of where he was.”
Redshirt junior Noah Whittington got the bulk of the carries as a result, tallying 13 touches for 77 yards.
The Ducks will head to Madison, Wisconsin for their next test. Oregon’s final road game of the season is set for 4:30 p.m. next Saturday.