LAS VEGAS — An early punch in the mouth and a series of penalties and play calls that amounted to nothing more than sundry what-ifs. A blunder seconds before halftime that shouldn’t have cost Oregon, but did.
Another crucial outcome decided in the game’s opening minutes.
On a day where more time was spent heeding the future of Ducks’ head coach Mario Cristobal than Friday’s matchup itself, an Oregon team seeking redemption after their lopsided loss to Utah in Salt Lake City, which players called an “embarrassment,” looked unprepared and distracted in the Pac-12 Championship. The Ducks were undone by the same hindrances of two weeks prior, again floundering on the national stage to the Utah Utes, 38-10.
“The other team earned it, and I want to emphasize that,” Cristobal said. “I think football deserves that kind of credit when it’s earned.”
Oregon could have seized momentum early and quieted the swaths of red that packed Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Ducks could have re-wrote the narrative from the last meeting with the Utes. Instead, Oregon unraveled like the red and white confetti that fell from the ceiling as the clocks hit zero.
The Ducks again failed to weather the storm that the more physical Utah brought.
Utes quarterback Cameron Rising made plays with his arm and his legs (231 total yards and two touchdowns) and his backfield mate, running back Tavion Thomas, ran for 63 yards and two back-breaking touchdowns against the Ducks’ defense. Britain Covey led Utah with 73 receiving yards.
“They won their matchups, both from a coaching standpoint and from an execution standpoint, and did a better job than we did,” Cristobal said. “There’s no excuse to make.”
Utah took the opening possession nine plays and 61 yards to the house, and Utes linebacker Devin Lloyd snatched a poorly-timed pass over the middle from Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown Jr. for a 34-yard pick-six to build a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Ducks’ offense sandwiched an explosive 38-point output against Oregon State with their poorest performances of the season.
Seven points two weeks ago. Ten on Friday night.
Oregon repeatedly found itself in third-and-long situations. Brown Jr. (13-for-24, 147 yards) often dumped it off short of the sticks or found himself engulfed in the arms of the Utes’ pass-rush which finished with four sacks.
At one point the Ducks were 1-for-9 on third down. They finished the game 4-for-12.
“That was a recipe for a bad night,” Cristobal said. “That was something we poured a lot of time into.”
On two occasions, Oregon interceptions gave the Ducks hope. First, linebacker Noah Sewell snagged his first career interception.
Missed field goal, Ducks.
Then, defensive lineman Kristian Williams leveled Rising, whose pass floated aimlessly into the air and into the outstretched arms of a diving safety Verone McKinley III.
Three-and-out, Oregon.
“With turnovers, we always want to get some type of points out of that or just swing momentum,” McKinley III, who leads the nation with six interceptions, said.
The offense squandered what momentum their defense gifted them, and Utah turned on the gas with a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive.
With 27 seconds remaining before halftime, disaster struck again. Brown Jr. rolled out to the sideline and lofted his second interception of the game into the hands of defensive back Malone Mataele.
Back in Oregon territory, Utah knocked through a gift-wrapped 50-yard field goal as time expired in the first half, eerily reminiscent of the Covey punt return touchdown that ended the first half 13 days earlier.
“We were confident,” McKinley III said. “We felt prepared; we felt we had a good game plan, and then to let what happened happen again is a tough pill to swallow.”
Down 23-0 entering the third quarter, a listless Ducks team — one not built to play from behind — mustered a field goal on the half’s opening drive. Back to back punts ensued before Utah’s TJ Pledger delivered a 4-yard touchdown run. With 6:33 remaining in the third quarter, it served as the dagger in what was Utah’s first Pac-12 Championship win.
In Oregon’s third consecutive trip to the Pac-12 Championship it delivered a performance which ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit dubbed a “setback as a program,” also calling it the second worst performance he’d seen for a team with lots on the line.
“You gotta move on,” McKinley III said. “That’s a part of football, bad things happen. We didn’t like the outcome of this one, so what are we going to do about it? We can sit here and ‘woe is me’ and reflect on it the whole time and go get whooped in the bowl game, or we can send a message going into next year.”
Members of the Sewell family were some of the last on the field Friday night. Parents Arlene and Gabriel celebrated with one son, Utes linebacker Nephi, while consoling the other. Nursing a limp, Noah waded through the confetti, grappling to muster what positivity he could.
Just like Sewell, the ailing Ducks are searching for something to glean from a blowout loss. Something, anything to uplift a program that, after a 9-1 start, is 10-3 and staring down the barrel of 10-4 with a trip to the Alamo Bowl in four weeks time.
