Oregon’s defense was unable to muster consistent turnovers throughout the season, until Friday night. 

The Ducks (4-2) ability to cause three turnovers helped them upset No. 13 USC (5-1) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 31-24, and defend last season’s Pac-12 championship. 

“Back in March we said whoever handles this pandemic best is going to end up holding that trophy,” head coach Mario Cristobal said. “Sure enough we found ourselves here in the Pac-12 championship.”

The biggest matchup coming into Friday’s game was Oregon’s secondary versus USC’s wide receivers. And it proved to live up to the billing. 

USC and quarterback Kedon Slovis wasted no time testing the Oregon secondary. On the first play from scrimmage Solvis attempted a pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, but was unsuccessful. Then, just two plays later, Oregon’s secondary did something it only did twice all season. 

Intercept the ball. 

Slovis stepped back, set his feet and darted a pass that was intended for Tyler Vaughns, but Oregon’s Deommodore Lenoir was waiting for it. Lenoir jumped the route and picked off Slovis, giving the Oregon offense great field position and a chance to open up the scoring. 

The Ducks used a quick three-play, nine-yard drive that ended with backup quarterback Anthony Brown finding Jaylon Redd for a touchdown to put the Ducks up 7-0. 

Oregon’s consistent ability to pressure Slovis and bully USC in the trenches allowed Oregon to go up double digits early on. 

“Right away with the turnover, with the pressure on the quarterback, stopping the run game, physical on the line of scrimmage, physical on the perimeter really just came out with an attitude and purpose and mission,” Cristobal said.

At the middle of all the chaos was Kayvon Thibodeaux. He finished the game with five tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup to earn Pac-12 championship game MVP. 

“We know when Kayvon plays like that he’s hard to stop,” Cristobal said. “He changes everything because he’s an every down guy.”
Slovis, yet again, found himself being hounded by the Oregon front line and it forced him to throw an errant pass into the hands of Jamal Hill. Oregon’s offense, again, quickly took advantage of an errant throw by Slovis and turned it into points. This time, Tyler Shough found Hunter Kampmoyer in the endzone to put the Ducks up 14-0. 

With the defensive front playing aggressive for Oregon, it made USC abandon its run game. The Trojans rushed the ball 28 times for an abysmal 38 yards, forcing Slovis and the passing game to generate points for the Trojans. 

Slovis caught the Oregon secondary on their heels, finding St. Brown for a 47-yard touchdown to put the Trojans down one score. 

Oregon’s offense had multiple chances to go up multiple scores on USC, but it sputtered time and time again. Shough, despite the two touchdowns, was subpar for the night as he finished 8-of-15 for 91 yards. USC secondary made the multi-dimensional quarterback one-dimensional. He was unable to throw over the USC secondary and was forced to rely on short passes and the running game. 

“They played great coverage on the back end, they got great players as well,” Shough said. “We did what we had to do to get a win. It doesn’t matter if we had 300 yards rushing, 300 yards passing, whatever it takes to get a dub. That’s all that matters.”

Due to CJ Verdell being out with an injury, the Ducks turned to Travis Dye. The back produced 72 all-purpose yards on 15 touches along with a touchdown to help the Oregon offense. Another factor in the Oregon rushing game was Sean Dollars. The redshirt freshman finished with a career-high seven carries for 52 yards. 

As the Ducks offense became stagnant in the second half, USC began to find its rhythm as it chipped away at Oregon’s lead. 

With 6:16 left in the game, Slovis found Bru McCoy for a four-yard touchdown which put the Trojans within seven. 

The Trojans defense forced a three-and-out, giving themselves a chance to tie the game.

With 2:49 left in the game, Slovis was driving the Trojans towards the end zone when Hill struck again for the Ducks. Mase Funa forced Slovis, again, to escape the pocket to find a receiver. Slovis threw an errant pass to the sideline with a USC receiver nowhere in sight. Hill was able to make the grab, keeping his toe in bounds to ice the game for Oregon. 

“Thank god I got my foot down,” Hill said. “Where I’m from a lot of people don’t get this opportunity, especially in a big game to make big plays. I was just grateful.”

Along with the Dollars, another wrinkle was added to the Oregon offense. The Ducks featured Brown to give the Trojans a different look and put them on their heels. Brown finished the game with two passing touchdowns and 17 yards through the air. 

“We developed a short-yardage goal line package for him,” Cristobal said. “He’s a really good player and he deserved to play somehow some way.”

For USC, Slovis finished his day 28-of-52 for 320 yards and two touchdowns, along with the three interceptions. McCoy led the way on the receiving end for the Trojans with 76 yards and one touchdown.

Now, as Pac-12 champions, the Ducks await their destiny for bowl season. Oregon is likely to play in the Fiesta Bowl against Indiana, but an official matchup will be announced on Sunday.