We learned three things Saturday night, when the Ducks trounced Arkansas State 57-34.
Most importantly, Marcus Mariota is going to be just fine as the Ducks quarterback. Secondly, we learned — er, were reminded — about just how special DeAnthony Thomas is.
But we also saw the Ducks get outscored pretty badly in the second half. Granted, the team on the field in the second half wasn’t the Ducks first-string talent, and Arkansas State really isn’t that much of a scrub program, but the numbers are still there.
Let’s start with the positives.  Marcus Mariota — wow.  The young Hawaiian threw for 200 yards on 18-for-22 passing before Bryan Bennett took over midway through the second quarter.
More impressive than his final numbers, however, was his 12-of-13 start, where the one incompletion was a drop. Mariota’s accuracy was hard to miss. His passes were on point — the receivers didn’t have to do much body contortion to reel in passes, which means they were able to take off running immediately, and run they did, reaching the end zone three times.
Overall, his command of the Oregon offense was just fun to watch. The Ducks scored 50 points and reached the end zone seven straight drives before he was taken out of the game. And while Arkansas State isn’t exactly a juggernaut, they were a ten win team and conference champions a season ago, a far cry from opening up against a team that had a losing record in the WAC.
And of course, there is the one and only  De’Anthony Thomas. Four receptions, three carries, 119 yards, three scores. It’s kind of hard not to get excited whenever he touches the ball (or for that matter, whenever he tweets), and that includes the Ducks’ coaching staff as well. Ask Kelly about Thomas and his face lights up like a six-year-old telling you about his favorite toy, which I guess is to be expected when a coach talks about an underclassmen averaging a touchdown about every seven times he touches the ball.
The best line I’ve seen about Thomas comes from a friend of mine on Facebook, who wrote that Thomas was playing like a “real-life cheat code.”
Pretty much.
But then the second half happened, and Ryan Aplin torched Oregon’s reserves on his way to finishing with a 300-yard night. He found his favorite target, Josh Jarboe, 13 times to tie a Red Wolves school record. That only cost the Ducks 66 yards, but you can bet if Matt Barkely finds Robert Woods 13 times, it will translate into more than just 66 yards and one touchdown.
I know, I know, I know.
Those weren’t the starters. But second string or otherwise, a defense that has gotten preseason hype as possibly the best defensive unit in the Kelly era can’t be okay with giving up 37 points.  That just shouldn’t happen, and Nick Aliotti was rightfully upset about it after the game, though he said he wasn’t letting it overshadow the fact that the Ducks won.
That’s about right, but second-half defense is something that needs to be addressed in practice, as I’m sure it will be.