2. Oregon wasn’t able to do what it’s supposed to do
The Oregon style of play is great as long as there’s production behind it. When that fast pace and up-tempo thing isn’t working, there’s a big, big problem.
Give Iowa State credit for stepping up and making Oregon’s offense stop, but the machine wasn’t working.
The rushing attack was just okay all season long, the O was too inconsistent, and when the thing stalled, there was a bit problem. Not caring about time of possession is one thing, but only having the ball for 17:12 is a total disaster.
Again, give credit to Iowa State for dominating the tempo and the time of possession battle, but Oregon needed to be able to take over the game and give its defense a bit of a break, and it couldn’t.
Oregon was 0-6 on third downs, was -4 in turnover margin, and it couldn’t do much of anything to get control in the second half when it needed to.