When talking about Oregon Ducks’ offenses of the past some people might go straight to the quarterbacks of legend: Joey Harrington, Dennis Dixon, Marcus Mariota, Bo Nix, etc. But real Duck fans know where the consistency of the Oregon offense lies year in and year out: the running back room.
In a 16-13 point win over the Badgers (5-5, 3-4 in Big Ten) on a cold November night in Madison, Wisconsin Oregon Ducks (11-0, 8-0 in Big Ten) running back Jordan James cemented his name on the all-time list of greats to carry the rock in green and yellow.
The junior running back finished the game on Saturday with 25 carries for 121 yards and a massive touchdown that tied the score in the fourth quarter and gave the Ducks a chance to win the game late.
“We felt like coming out of half we had to establish that run,” said Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. “He had some great runs tonight and there were some big holes up there. There were some wideouts perimeter blocking their tail off there was o-linemen pushing piles but [James] ran hard tonight.”
James is now the 29th running back in Oregon history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season. And with a guaranteed spot in the Big Ten title game and what looks to be a surefire shot at the new 12-team college football playoff, James will have at least two extra games to add to his season total.
“It means a lot,” James said. “I want to thank my offensive line, you know that's not possible without those guys and what they do up-front.”
James’ big night also pushed him over 2,000 career rushing yards as a Duck, moving him ahead of Reuben Droughns at 17th on the all-time career rushing yards list at Oregon, with ex-running back roommate Bucky Irving looming on the horizon at 13th all-time.
With just under 14 minutes left to play in the fourth quarter and the Ducks down 13-6, James hit the edge on a handoff from Dillon Gabriel and barreled into the endzone for an 11-yard touchdown, setting up a pat to tie the game at 13. This marked James’ 27th career touchdown and tied him for seventh place on the all-time list with both CJ Verdell and Johnathon Stewart. He now sits three scores away from tying Jeremiah Johnson for fifth on that list with 30 touchdowns.
“It was just a counter,” James said when asked about his game-changing touchdown run. “They clogged the middle up so I bounced it and followed [Terrance Ferguson] to the endzone, it felt pretty good… [Wisconsin] did a good job today for sure it was hard for us to get into the endzone so that felt good.”
In the case of Saturday’s win over Wisconsin, this game cannot be talked about without covering James’ fourth-quarter explosion. After scoring the touchdown that tied the game, James saw 10 handoffs for a total of 36 yards and chewed three minutes of the game clock by himself, not to mention five handoffs on the Oregon drive that set up Atticus Sappington’s final go-ahead field goal with just under three minutes to play.
With the caliber of opponents increasing from here on out, James will play a vital role in Oregon’s postseason success. With his career numbers inching closer and closer to big-time names like Mariota and Irving, it will be interesting to see how James caps off his historic season.
Oregon looks ahead to its final bye week next weekend, they then welcome the Washington Huskies (6-5, 4-4 in Big Ten) to Autzen Stadium for its final regular season game before heading to Indianapolis, Indiana for their first Big Ten championship game.