Sloppy First Half as Oregon Leads Arizona at Halftime
The Oregon Ducks made a valiant attempt to start the game fast by winning the coin toss and, what appeared to a point, worked their way effortlessly down the field, but found themselves with two fourth and goals – completing the first for a first down, but Byron Marshall dropped a pretty much perfect pass from Oregon Quarterback Marcus Mariota.
It was time for the Oregon Defense to step it up as Arizona took over on downs and ran down the field. The Wildcats could not quite reach the endzone and kicked a field goal to make it 3-0 midway through the first quarter. It was again Mariota’s turn.
Oregon Running Back Thomas Tyner started the second drive with a thirty yard kickoff return. That was all. It was a quick three and out for the Oregon Ducks who did, in fact, punt on fourth down. The ball rolled to the twenty-three yard line and the Wildcats were again with the ball.
During the drive Reggie Daniels picked off Solomon and tiptoed the sidelines. Mariota and the Offense found a first down to Keanon Lowe on the drive for fifteen yards which was the only positive on the drive. Oregon shot themselves in the foot twice on penalties and allowed a sack on Mariota creating a punting situation on fourth down.
The Oregon Ducks Defense woke up on the next Arizona drive pressuring Arizona Quarterback Solomon and sacking him on third down making Arizona punt. Oregon would start first and ten on their own twenty five.
It was not a great first quarter for Oregon. Mariota was 7/12 for 72 yards and the Ducks had a total of 101 yards. The second quarter would start with some trickery as Running Back Royce Freeman threw the ball to Quarterback Marcus Mariota for the score giving Oregon a 7-3 lead after the Matt Wogan extra point.
Arizona was able to move the ball on the next possession, but unable to get past a penalty giving the ball back to the Oregon Ducks on their own one after a punt. Royce Freeman would get two handoffs getting the Ducks out of the shadow of their own endzone to the seventeen yard line. That would be as far as it would go and Arizona would get the ball back.
The Wildcats were unable to move the ball and a TJ Daniel sack of Solomon on third down brought up another punt for Arizona and the Ducks would get the ball back on their own twenty yard line. Byron Marshall would pickup two first downs on the drive(back to back). The Ducks would face a fourth down and get an interference call on the defense for an automatic first down. On the next play Oregon would fumble the ball and Arizona recovered.
Arizona Quarterback Solomon would throw a pass, which was deflected and caught by him. He took off and ran for twenty-one yards. Solomon handed the ball off to Running Back Joe Walker who rand for nine yards bringing up fourth and one. Arizona would have a first down at the Oregon twenty-one with just over a minute to go in the half.
Oregon would get a fumble recovery from Derrick Malone with twenty-one seconds to go in the first half. After penalties on both teams the teams broke for halftime with Oregon up 7-3 on Arizona.
Arizona would start the second half with the football.