As Darnell Washington hauled in a dump-off pass from Stetson Bennett, Oregon linebacker Jeffrey Bassa tried to wrap his arms around Washington, in an effort to hold the play to a short gain. But Washington’s 6-foot-7, 270-pound frame made it tough for Bassa to stop the Georgia tight end.
After shaking Bassa’s solo tackle attempt, Washington continued to rumble on. The next Ducks defender in his sight was Bryan Addison. The safety attempted to throw himself into Washington’s legs, but he avoided the maneuver, hurdling Addison and extending the play into a 25-yard gain.
Not only did his catch-and-run help keep the Bulldogs’ second drive of the game alive, but it was an early harbinger for Saturday’s game as the No. 3 Bulldogs beat the No. 11 Ducks 49-3.
Washington wasn’t the only one who found space against the Ducks’ defenders as the Bulldogs’ offense found success attacking the edges and forcing the Ducks’ secondary to make tackles.
Prior to the game, it was tough to judge how Oregon would stack up against the defending national champions. A common assumption throughout the offseason, however — its defense would lead the way. After all, the Ducks had hired Dan Lanning, the former Georgia defensive coordinator who administered a Bulldogs’ defense which led the nation allowing 10.2 points per game, in 2021.
Lanning’s plan to stifle his former team was predicated on controlling the middle of the field and applying pressure on Bennett with the interior defensive lineman.
“We wanted to do a good job of making sure the ball got outside.” Lanning said. “Unfortunately, they were able to get outside, and they were able to win on the perimeter more than we won on the perimeter.”
As the onslaught progressed, he and his staff made a point of filing through defensive personnel and sticking to their game plan, rather than seeking out adjustments to stop Georgia’s offense.
Georgia continuously gashed Oregon on the outside.
“They ran a ton of stuff on the perimeter,” Oregon safety Bennett Williams said. “We schemed for a lot of different stuff and when it comes down to it, we didn’t play the perimeter screens well enough and they kept just going to it.”
Running back Kenny McIntosh was heavily utilized on those screen passes, while Washington paved the way, blocking for him. In their first game under head coach Dan Lanning, the Ducks made a point of filing through defensive personnel, rather than seeking out adjustments to stop Georgia’s offense.
Along with the screen passes, three of Georgia’s four first-half touchdowns came via rushes to the edge, as the ball carriers followed blocks from the tight ends. The first — an end around to wide receiver Ladd McConkey. The second — a quarterback draw from Bennett. And the third — a one-yard, walk-in touchdown from McIntosh. The Bulldogs led 28-3 by halftime.
After Georgia established its short-passing game and east-to-west running attack, it sought out matchups against Oregon cornerback Trikweze Bridges, who was lining up 10 yards off the ball.
On the Ducks’ first defensive possession, they had a chance to hold the Bulldogs to three points. Instead, on 3rd-and-11 from the 35-yard-line, the Bulldogs cleared Bridges’ side, forcing him into one-on-one coverage against wide receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint.
By the time Rosemy-Jacksaint had caught the pass, Bridges was 15 yards away, giving the receiver enough green to make a move. It was a strategy that proved detrimental as the Bulldogs’ playmaker beat Bridges to the inside, setting up a first down deep in the Ducks’ territory.
Throughout spring football camp, Bridges had taken snaps as backup safety, while the Ducks favored Donte Manning at outside cornerback. By Saturday, that order had flipped and the Bulldogs exploited that decision.
As the game progressed, the Ducks’ schematic deficiencies took a backseat to their tackling issues. McIntosh, especially, ran through the secondary with ease on his way to gaining 117 yards on nine catches.
“One of our main goals going into the game is we had to be good tacklers and we certainly didn’t do that today,” Williams said. “They brought physicality and I think sometimes we want to shy away from it, but there were many instances where we needed to finish it.”
On Saturday, Georgia’s playmakers showed more physicality on the outside than Oregon’s tacklers, and the Ducks offense failed to finish off drives. Following the loss, the Ducks will look to right the ship in week two as they return to Eugene for the first home game of the 2022 season against Eastern Washington, on Saturday, Sept. 10, at 5:30 p.m.