After the Oregon Ducks got an impressive win over the UCLA Bruins a week ago and looked to actually find some cohesion on the offensive side of the ball, I think that I was left feeling similarly to many other Duck fans.
“Okay, that was nice. But can you do it again?”
More importantly, can you prove against a lesser opponent that you are by far the superior team and win convincingly for once this season?
The Ducks had a chance to do that against Colorado on Saturday, and they absolutely checked the box. In a 52-29 drudging that was never as close as the final score would suggest, Oregon proved their their offensive woes may finally be a thing of the past, and that the talent they have on the roster is good enough to handle anyone in the conference, and potentially anyone they should face going forward.
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We had a lot of doubts about senior quarterback Anthony Brown after the first several weeks of the season, but to say he’s been anything but great over the past couple of games is wildly inaccurate. On Saturday, Brown turned in his best performance as a Duck, throwing for a career-high 307 yards and two touchdowns on 25-for-31 passing. For anyone doing the mental math, that’s 80.6% completion, which is by far the best we’ve seen from him in Eugene.
Brown’s performance didn’t exactly come as a shock, either. We saw last week against UCLA that he had this type of passing day in him, and aside from two frustrating interceptions late in that one, he would be riding a streak of impressive games going into Week 10. Here’s a look at his stats since the bye week:
- vs. California: 20-for-28 (71.4%) // 244 yards // 1 TD // 0 INT
- vs. UCLA: 29-for-39 (74.4%) // 296 yards // 0 TD // 2 INT
- vs. Colorado: 25-for-31 (80.6%) // 307 yards // 3 TD // 0 INT
Brown seems to have found his rhythm with the offense, and it’s noticeable on the scoreboard.
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On Saturday against Colorado, the Ducks finally got off to a hot start, which was another thing to note. The Ducks opened the game by marching 67-yards down the field for a touchdown, and they never looked back after that. Oregon scored a TD on their first 4 consecutive drives, and found the endzone on 7 of their nine drives of the game. The only drives that didn’t result in six points were a field goal at the end of the half, and an interception thrown by true freshman Ty Thompson in the fourth quarter.
For anyone who wasn’t buying Oregon’s offensive success last week against UCLA, it’s going to be hard to deny the fact that they’re clicking after this one. The Ducks put up a season-high 568 yards of total offense and 52 points. You may argue that it came against a lowly Colorado team, but the Buffaloes entered this game ranked 6th in the Pac-12, allowing just 376.6 yards per game, and third in the conference in points per game, giving up just 20.7 on average.
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Was it the most impressive win of the season? Hardly. That award still belongs to Week 2 against Ohio State, and is followed by last week’s victory over UCLA. However, it was exactly what we were asking to see: A good football team beating up on a bad football team. There was never a doubt who was going to come out on top. The defense was never asked to get a stop in the fourth quarter to save the lead. Sure, the Buffs scored a couple of touchdowns late, but with the influx of backups on the field, it’s hard to get mad at the players on the field.
There is still a long way to go before the end of the season, and Oregon has some important games left on the schedule, starting with a trip up to Washington this coming week.
Had you asked me a week ago how the Ducks would fare on the road against the Huskies or the Utes, or at home vs. Washington State, there might not have been much confidence in my answer. After seeing this version of the Ducks, though, that feeling has changed.
Anthony Brown is rolling, the offense is clicking, and Oregon now looks like a good team that can beat bad teams.
Luckily, there seem to be a lot of bad teams in the Pac-12.
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