Following a 50-yard interception return and touchdown from Arizona State, Oregon had less than a minute to score before halftime. Starting on its own 29, Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert found wide receiver Dillon Mitchell on the right sideline for a 34-yard gain. Mitchell went out of bounds on ASU’s 30 yard line to stop the clock.

Oregon’s offense used effective clock management and creative play calling to get inside the 10-yard line with 30 seconds left. Wide receiver Jaylon Redd took a handoff from Herbert and sprinted eight yards into the end zone, putting Oregon up 28-13 on the final play before halftime.

Oregon (7-4, 4-4 Pac-12) eventually hung on to win against Arizona State (6-5, 4-4 Pac-12), which has two of the best offensive players in the Pac-12 with Eno Benjamin and N’Keal Harry. The Ducks used big performances from its underclassmen on offense and defense to beat the Sun Devils, who came into Autzen with a three-game win streak.

Freshman running back Travis Dye and redshirt freshman running back CJ Verdell were effective on the first drive, getting out of the backfield and hitting the gaps quickly. Dye had back-to-back 20-plus-yard runs, and Verdell finished what Dye started, going six yards for the first score of the game, capping a 78-yard, nine-play drive.

“We got rolling, and we got rolling quickly,” head coach Mario Cristobal said. “That’s the kind of football we’re accustomed to playing to.”

Early on, the Herbert-Mitchell connection that Oregon has been so accustomed to seeing reliant was not evident. Fortunately, Herbert connected with Redd on multiple big drives, resulting in one of the sophomore’s most productive games of the season, with 77 total yards and a touchdown.
Verdell and Redd were effective on Saturday because they both got different looks on the line of scrimmage. Verdell didn’t always line up behind Herbert, and would make catches on the run to the flat. Redd’s speed was on full display on screen plays.

“He’s new school, but I call him old school because he reminds me of the guys I used to be in the locker room with,” Cristobal said of Redd. “He’s a hard nosed, tough guy. He wants the ball, wants to make plays, but is unselfish. He will throw his body around with reckless abandon to make blocks for his teammates.”

While Oregon’s offense sputtered in the second half, the defense had to keep dealing with the threats from Arizona’s offense. The young secondary, had a particularly hard assignments guarding Harry, a likely first round pick in next year’s NFL draft. For cornerbacks Thomas Graham Jr. and Deommodore Lenoir, this assignment was personal, as Harry had been so effective against both of them in last season’s game.

“At the beginning of the week we knew that they were going to come at me,” Graham Jr. said. “Me and Deommodore kinda made it just between us, like no matter what happens today, we said, ‘He’s not catching that this week.’”

Cristobal was impressed with how the defense handled the competition. Graham Jr. had six pass breakups while Lenoir had three.

“I can’t speak enough about Thomas, Deommodore,” Cristobal said. “I thought those guys played outstanding, and they were one of the biggest keys to the game.”

Follow August Howell on Twitter @howell_august