As he strutted, and celebrated his way off the field, Bennett Williams pointed right at his teammate J.J. Greenfield. Despite remaining on the sidelines for the entirety of Saturday night, Greenfield had made an invaluable contribution, and Williams knew so.
Throughout the practice week leading up to No. 12 Oregon’s game against No. 10 Utah, the two shared the film room, where Greenfield pointed out ways in which Williams could try and contain Utes’ tight-end Dalton Kincaid — who entered Week 12 with 784 receiving yards, the most by any tight-end in the Pac-12.
“We knew that they were gonna try to get the ball to him,” Williams said. “Especially, in that fourth quarter, when it’s on the line, fourth down, we know they’re going to 86.”
Even with that preparation, Williams knew the cover wouldn’t be easy. His prognosis was accurate. Kincaid was targeted 17 times. He caught a total of 11 passes for 99 yards. Essentially, he was the Utes’ only form of consistent offense, on a night where they gained 326 total yards.
Williams finally caught on.
When it came time for him to defend target No. 17, he didn’t flinch. He thought back to those mid-week film sessions with Greenfield, and the conversation the two shared before Williams and the Ducks defense retook the field with 6 minutes remaining, trying to protect a 3-point lead, their Pac-12 title hopes hardly breathing.
“‘[Greenfield] had told me right before the drive, ‘They’re going to throw you one, just catch it,’” Williams said.
He almost didn’t. But after a slight bobble, a tuck-and-roll, he secured the interception. His intuition to thank. Greenfield’s advice, too.
Prior to the snap, Williams had guessed the Utes were checking Kincaid into a hot route: a quick slant. He had watched them do it in film, ad nauseum. He had been a step behind it all night. But on first-and-10 from the Utes 48 with just over 4 minutes remaining, he finally guessed right. He stepped in front of Kincaid and corralled his second pick of the night, and the third for a Ducks’ defense that made just enough plays to counterbalance the offense’s shortcomings, on their way to a 20-17 win over Utah.
The win that now means Oregon (9-2, 6-1) controls its own destiny on the path to a Pac-12 Championship appearance. And that it didn’t fall victim to the program that dismantled them not once, but twice at the end of last season. And for Williams, the performance redeemed the mistakes that he and the defense had made against No. 15 Washington, which cost the Ducks a chance at a College Football Playoff berth.
Last week, the senior safety took responsibility for conceding the game-tying 62-yard touchdown to Taj Davis that helped Washington defeat the Ducks 37-34.
“I really thought I was going to make that play,” Williams said after the game against Washington. “I got a good break on it. [Michael Penix] put it in a good spot right on the sideline. That’s on me. That’s one I got to have.”
It was one of many gaffes that defined the Ducks’ defensive showing against Washington as they conceded 522 total yards and passing touchdowns of 76 and 62 yards. Yes, Williams took accountability for the one that led to Washington’s victory, but Oregon’s defense and defensive play-calling was just as much at fault.
Williams felt that taking onus was the first step in making up for it.
“I think that’s what enabled me this week to be able to go out there and not have that fear,” he said.
Along with his two interceptions, the senior safety led the Oregon defense with 14 total tackles.
As a team captain, Williams strives to set that standard for his fellow teammates, many of whom know all too well what can happen to a team after it loses out on a chance at competing for a national championship.
The sixth-year senior was injured and didn’t play against Utah last season. He sat at home and watched as the Ducks were blown out by the Utes 38-7, dropping from their No. 3 rank, and out of CFP contention. After that loss, they bottled up, and lost to Utah two weeks later in the Pac-12 Championship, 38-10, and Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, 47-32.
Following the loss to Washington, and the stakes that went away with it, the Ducks could have succumbed to the same fate. Instead, those who experienced the despair coupled with the loss to Utah last season, used it as fuel.
“We held that loss for a year,” defensive end Brandon Dorlus said. “That was always in the back of our consciousness.”
When it came time to face the team that had stripped the Ducks of their shot at a national championship in 2021, the same one that had dominated them in the Pac-12 championship two weeks later, they channeled that resentment they had held onto.
It showed.
It showed in the performance of Dorlus and that defensive line — a unit that had rendered liable in Oregon’s previous two matchups against Colorado and Washington, where they failed to record a sack.
It showed when Utah — a team predicated on smashmouth football — met its match, with the interior of Oregon’s defensive line. And when two of those three interceptions came off tipped passes at the line of scrimmage.
Finally, it showed in Williams’ ability to read Kincaid’s hot route when it mattered most, not letting the pass-catcher’s success throughout the night diminish his spirit.
If he felt he owed the offense an apology after the loss to Washington, then certainly, the score is settled.
