Oregon Football: Three Things We Learned Against Arizona

The Oregon defense proved their performance against Tennessee Tech was no fluke by shutting out Arizona.  Arizona came in with one of the top ranked offenses in the country but they could do nothing against the Ducks’.  The Wildcats only managed to convert six of seventeen third down conversions and failed to convert any fourth down attempts.

The Wildcats totaled 332 yards of offense after averaging almost 605 in the first three games.  Oregon also scored two touchdowns on interception returns by Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and Troy Hill in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

The Ducks established a more balanced offense in this game.  Surprisingly De’Anthony Thomas had a quiet game even failing to score.  Thomas was held to 48 rushing yards and 11 receiving yards while his biggest play was a 38 yard punt return.  Freshmen receiver Bralon Addison introduced himself to a national audience by catching three passes for 83 yards.  His fifty-five yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota in third quarter put the game away at 28-0.

Seven different Ducks rushed the ball while nine different Ducks caught a pass.  Tight end Colt Lyerla rushed the ball seven times for 63 yards and a score and also caught two balls for 53 yards.  Kenjon Barner had the most carries with 20 for a total of 86 yards.

We learned Oregon can close out a nationally ranked opponent.  The Ducks never let Arizona crawl back into this game at any point outscoring the Wildcats 36-0 in the second half.  The game was close at halftime with the Ducks leading 13-0.  The Ducks arguably played their best half of football in the second half of the game.  Arizona’s final nine possessions went punt, punt, punt, punt, interception, interception, turnover on downs, interception and fumble.

Check out Raymond Mencke’s blog at www.sportissue.com. Also follow him on Twitter @RaymondMenckeJr,

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