The Ducks were scrutinized intensely last week after falling to the USC Trojans, and many fans were hoping for a bounce-back performance like the win at Pullman the week before to answer many of the questions that surrounded the team.
What the Ducks got was a win – and some answers they probably weren’t happy with.
Why? Because the main question on most people’s minds was how the defense would respond to its critics after yet another lackluster performance against the pass. Though the Ducks looked good early by shutting out the Bruins in the first half, and although they did seem to shore up their play against the play-action, especially the bootleg variety, they still gave up career days to several Bruins in the passing game.
Rookie quarterback Kevin Craft threw for a career-high 288 yards. Wide receiver Taylor Embree caught a career-high six passes. Wide receiver Dominique Johnson’s 24-yard catch was the longest of his career, as was fullback Chane Moline’s 20-yard reception. Tight end Jeff Miller (recently converted from defensive end) had his first catch ever in the second quarter, and his first touchdown catch in the fourth.
The defense also dropped several easy interceptions that could have turned the game into the blowout Duck fans were hoping for.
“We had a lot of dropped interceptions,” junior cornerback Jairus Byrd said. “We’ve got to get on the ‘Jugz’ machine and do some things like that maybe.”
Byrd was a bright spot for the Duck defense with Oregon’s only interception and another pick that was overturned by a questionable pass interference call in the end zone.
“We were all kind of confused,” Byrd said of the call. “It kind of tugged at me, but at the same time there’s a game to play and you’ve got to let it go.”
Perhaps the most promising development of the day, defensively, was the emergence of the Oregon defensive line as not just adequate but quite possibly the strength of the entire unit. The four starters on the line combined for 20 tackles, including four sacks and five tackles for a loss of 18 yards. They were in Craft’s face all evening, and also managed to hold the Bruins’ ground game to just 63 yards.
“They did a good job,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said of the line. “We minimized the running game, certainly that’s our first goal, and put on some pressure … I think our D-line always plays well.”
“I thought we got some good pressure tonight,” Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. “I thought we got some pressure with four men and we got some pressure with a little bit of ‘zone dog.’ We got after (Craft) pretty good.”
The Oregon defense was just as good as it needed to be Saturday – but it’ll need to be even better down the stretch if this team wants to remain competitive. The Ducks have proven they can contain the conference’s lower-echelon teams, but there aren’t many of those left on the schedule.
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