Maryland was on the field, but Oregon was its own worst enemy and biggest opponent on Saturday night in its 39-18 win over the Terrapins.
Yes, the score would indicate that the No. 1 Ducks dominated the Terps, and they did. But Oregon allowed 95 penalty yards on 12 infractions, dampening the mood of its 10th win of the year.
“Nice to walk away with a victory,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said after the win. “That being said, I feel like we can play a whole lot better. I think everyone probably saw moments of that.”
Maryland only conducted three scoring drives in the 60 minutes of play. On two of the three drives, the Ducks’ defense should have gotten off the field, but committed a penalty to keep the drive alive.
“Yeah, you know, it’s poor, poor, poor performance for us,” Lanning said. “We got to go back and look at the film and figure out how we can eliminate that.”
Maryland’s offense picked up 19 1st downs in the contest, but six of them came automatically on an Oregon infraction.
“We weren’t focused,” Lanning said. “I feel like our guys had good energy and enthusiasm, but we put ourselves in some bad spots on defense, giving them opportunities for first downs and hurt ourselves with some pre-snap penalties on offense. So, it’s definitely something for us to tackle.”
Penalties plagued the Ducks’ first two games of the season. A pair of wins by a combined 13 points over Idaho and Boise State had fans scratching their heads early in the Ducks’ 2024 campaign.
In the win over Boise State, Oregon had to rely on special teams and big plays to eke out a 37-34 victory. On Saturday, Lanning and the Ducks again turned to unconventional methods to overcome sloppy play.
Within the span of an eight-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, Oregon ran a 36-yard fake punt to defensive lineman Jordan Burch, a flea flicker, a trick-play passing touchdown to lineman Gernorris Wilson and a two-point conversion run from lineman Josh Conerly.
“Play to win, you know,” Lanning said. “We’re playing to win.”
Madness.
Perhaps, as a defense, the time in which you’d least expect a trick play is immediately following a trick play. But, Maryland head coach Michael Locksley won’t admit to that.
“It’s not frustrating because a lot of those things were plays we expected,” Locksley said of the trick plays. “It’s a matter of being lined up. It’s a matter of these are the plays that we talk about. When you watch [The Ducks] on tape, they’re always lined up in formation. They fake punts, they attack on special teams, and we’ve got to do our part.”
Ready or not, Oregon appeared to catch the Terrapins on their heels on arguably its most-important scoring drive of the night. The touchdown and two-point conversion gave Oregon a hearty, 29-10 lead midway through the third quarter.
Lanning commented after the game that “momentum is real” in a game like that. The Ducks were undeniably able to create some on a wild drive and put Maryland in too big a hole to climb out of.
So, when things that should be conventional (avoidable penalties) don’t go Oregon’s way, the Ducks can get unconventional to get the job done. It’s just another creative component that makes this Oregon team so lethal. Once they clean up the penalties, the Ducks will be back on track with a few additional tricks up their sleeve.
