On Sept. 24, 2022, with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Washington State Cougars were well on their way to an upset victory over a Top 25 opponent. Quarterback Cameron Ward had been having a fantastic day in the air and the Cougars were on a roll after forcing an Oregon 3-and-out and executing an 81-yard touchdown drive that put Wazzu up 12.
The Ducks responded with their own touchdown, but not much was expected of a one-loss team that had been considerably lacking energy on the day. With just under four minutes to play, Oregon dismantled the Washington State offense and forced a dominant 3-and-out.
This gave the Ducks some hope, but they still needed to execute on offense — something they had struggled with on that particular Saturday. In only four plays, Oregon reached the 50-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Bo Nix uncorked a beautiful ball to top receiver Troy Franklin to stun the Pullman crowd and put the Ducks in the lead. After a successful 2-point conversion run from Nix, Oregon took the lead 37-34 with 1:21 left in the game.
Ward and his offense had their way all game, so it didn’t seem likely that the Ducks would get the ball back. Twenty seconds later, linebacker Mase Funa took matters into his own hands, intercepting Ward on the 27-yard line and running it back for the score, putting the game away for Oregon.
This late-game turnaround seemed to fuel the Ducks for the rest of 2022, as they looked stellar until some tough breaks cost them two wins late in the season. They finished the season on a high note with 10 wins, capped off with their Holiday Bowl win against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Ducks’ defensive group has taken a tremendous leap since then, even with a drastically new look this season. They were easily able to replace stalwarts like Noah Sewell, Bennett Williams and Christian Gonzalez with new talent such as Jordan Burch, Tysheem Johnson and Khyree Jackson.
The offense has not missed a beat, with one of the most electric groups in FBS led by Nix, Bucky Irving and Franklin. Even in a heart-wrenching loss this weekend to a playoff-caliber squad in Washington, the offense flourished, posting 33 points in Seattle.
While that loss ends a tremendous run of form, it is not the end of the line for the Ducks who can still win out and take the Pac-12 title.
Ward and his squad saw a much different run of form after their devastating loss at home against the Ducks. The Cougars were 3-0 going into the contest, but they skidded slightly and went 4-5 after their matchup with Oregon.
In the first four games, Ward completely dominated every facet of the game with his always impressive arm strength and incredible ability to run the ball. He was even being considered as a major contender for the Heisman Trophy.
Their only issue was that they still had a lackluster defense, as they haven’t had a single game this season where they held their opponent under 20 points. So, when their offense put up a subpar performance against a Top 25 opponent in UCLA, the defense was no help and they lost a close one.
This past week against Arizona, neither Ward’s offense nor the defense were ever in the game in a meaningful way, losing big 44-6. This was definitely a game to forget for the Cougs, as both the passing and running games were nowhere to be found and Arizona was able to bulldoze their defense all afternoon.
It’s hard to look at the events of the fourth quarter of last year’s contest and not see how they have set these teams on their tracks to now. The stunning ending, the Ducks’ resilience and the failure of the Cougars to finish their meal have all been trends leading up to this point.
This week’s matchup in Eugene has a lot more to it than meets the eye, and one can only expect fireworks when they meet again on Saturday.
