The week leading up to No. 13 Oregon’s home game against No. 18 Utah, neither team revealed its starting quarterback’s identity. Although Vernon Adams Jr. and Travis Wilson each sat out their previous game due to injury, both ended up getting the nod to start Saturday.
Backup quarterbacks Jeff Lockie and Kendal Thompson also managed to get in the game, but for very different reasons. Lockie entered the game midway through the second quarter to replace a struggling Adams, and Thompson took snaps during garbage time to protect the commanding 55-13 lead Wilson built – a lead that would result in a 62-20 win for the Utes.
“I got pulled because I wasn’t making the throws that I should be making,” Adams Jr. said after the game. His injury, he said, was not the reason why he was taken out of the game. “I would have pulled myself too.”
The Ducks were hard-pressed to move the ball against the stout Utah defense in the first half. Adams Jr. threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Royce Freeman to tie the score 6-6 late in the first quarter, but the offense was forced to punt on his other four drives. He managed just two completions for 26 yards and six carries for five yards.
Midway through the second quarter, Adams Jr. donned a hat and radio headset on the sidelines, while Jeff Lockie taped his ankle and warmed up his throwing arm.
“Jeff went in and did his thing right away,” Adams Jr. said. “I saw everything he saw, I just wasn’t making the throws. Jeff was making the throws.”
Lockie showed noticeably better vision, awareness and agility than Adams Jr. when he entered the game for Adams Jr. He completed his first two passes — a 26-yard lob to Charles Nelson down the sideline and a 16-yard strike to Johnny Mundt — for consecutive first downs, then lofted a screen pass to a sweeping Bralon Addison, who crossed the goal-line untouched. The crowd chanted, “Lockie, Lockie.”
The Ducks went into halftime with a two-touchdown deficit but also high hopes after the quarterback swap.
The Lockie magic, however, was short lived.
“We just slowed down a bit,” Lockie said. “We made some adjustments at halftime but we weren’t able to keep the ball moving.”
On his first drive of the second half, he heaved a pass deep downfield directly into the hands of free safety Marcus Williams, who returned it 52 yards to the Oregon 25-yard line. On the next play, running back Devontae Booker then tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Britain Covey for the wide receiver’s second touchdown reception.
Lockie moved the Ducks 53 yards to the Utah ten-yard line on their next possession, but tried to force a pass into the corner of the end zone and was intercepted again by Dominique Hatfield.
“We can’t turn the ball over like that,” Lockie said. “That starts with me. I’ve got to make better decisions.”
Meanwhile, Wilson shredded the Oregon defense. He completed 18 of 30 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns, and added one on the ground. The secondary blew coverages on multiple scoring plays, including a trick play in which running back Devontae Booker lobbed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Britain Covey.
Down 41-13, the defense finally appeared to have stopped the Utes offense. Utah punter Tom Hackett punted away on fourth down, but in a bizarre turn of events, the ball hit the Skycam and the officials ruled to replay the down. On his next attempt, Hackett handled a high snap, tucked the ball and ran 33 yards for a demoralizing first down. Wilson converted another fourth down the same drive before he tossed a 16-yard touchdown to Caleb Repp.
“It started snowballing after the fake punt,” running back Royce Freeman said. “I started to figure out they were going up by a big number. I was really in shock.”
The Ducks finished with 400 yards of total offense, three touchdowns and three turnovers, while the Utes managed 530 yards, eight touchdowns and no turnovers.
“We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror tonight and move on,” Freeman said. “If you dwell on it, that’s when it continues to hurt you in the future. If we do some soul-searching, we should be all right.”
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby