It looked as if Oregon was producing in all the right ways after Marcus Mariota and Devon Allen hooked up for a 70-yard touchdown pass with 10:12 in the second quarter left to put the Ducks up 18-7. However, what followed was a scoring drought that Oregon’s offense isn’t particularly used to being exposed to.
Michigan State, just as Stanford had done in its two previous defeats of the Ducks, suddenly began to control the tempo of the game and the combination of Connor Cook through the air and Jeremy Langford on the ground tallied together 17 unanswered points to put the Spartans up 24-18 at half.
It started to follow an annual script the Ducks normally have been criticized for so much in the past. From an execution standpoint, Oregon was succumbing to exactly what Mark Helfrich said the team did last year against Stanford.
“We lost in an execution style,” Helfrich said earlier this week, eluding to the Ducks’ 26-20 loss to the Cardinal last November. “We were out executed. They out executed us, plain and simple.”
Now it seemed as if those comments would carry over. The Ducks had rushed the ball for just 13 yards on 14 carries, while Connor Cook had abused Oregon’s secondary for 218 yards and two touchdowns. To begin the third quarter the Ducks would go three-and-out and Michigan State would tack on three more.
What followed though, destroyed that line of thinking.
After five straight drives of creating nothing offensively, with the defense providing consistent stops on Michigan State’s every turn, Mariota and the offense finally mustered together a bit of consistency.
Putting together a drive that lasted 8 plays and went 59 yards, Mariota found Allen in the back corner of the end zone to end the scoring drought with 2:13 left in the third quarter. What the touchdown provided was a deficit cut to just two points. But what it also ignited was an offensive flame that just needed a spark.
Mariota would find the rhythm he had been searching for all game and two offensive drives later the Ducks had opened the floodgates and would cruise the rest of the way towards a 46-27 victory.
“The guys never quit,” offensive line coach and running game coordinator Steve Greatwood said. “Once we got going, they saw Michigan State struggling with fatigue and once that happened it was all over.”
With a defense that held Michigan State to just 162 total yards in the second half, Mariota and the rest of his offensive weapons like Royce Freeman and Allen took off. The run game finished with 173 yards as opposed to the Spartans’ 123 and the Ducks’ Heisman candidate tallied 318 yards passing, three touchdowns and no turnovers.
“We knew coming in I would have to sit in the pocket a bit and kind of have to make plays on my own,” Mariota, who would complete 17 of his passes to seven different wide receivers, said. “I think as a unit we did a great job battling back and playing through some adversity.”
Execution wise, Oregon had outlasted its counterparts.
“There’s so many things that go into it,” Helfrich said. “There defense is a boom or bust type deal, your not going to grind out six yard gains, you have to earn every inch. And our guys weathered the storm.”
For Helfrich and the rest of his staff, it was the first complete game they had played against an opponent like No. 7 Michigan State in his short tenure. When the offense sputtered, the defense came through, forcing 17 third-down situations for Cook behind center and two turnovers that would lead to 15 Oregon points.
“Getting stops early in the third quarter were huge,” defensive coordinator Don Pellum said. “The kids really came out and played. They executed the plan with more intensity and emotion.”
Starting a game and then finishing one, a cliche often associated with any sport, seemed to be the overall summation that both coaches and players took away from its marquee win at Autzen Stadium Saturday. However, how it got to be played that way seemed to be a reflection of the head coach’s personality, according to offensive coordinator Scott Frost.
“Mark Helfrich is a high character guy and our kids love him and want to play for him,” Frost said. “I think it was a real mark of our character when they had us on the mat and our kids kept fighting. I think our team really grew up today.”
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JWISE25