Oregon Ducks Top Feisty Eastern Washington, Vernon Adams Throws Two Touchdowns

The Oregon Ducks took the field on Saturday evening in a sun drenched Autzen Stadium to take on FCS foe Eastern Washington, who most recently beat Oregon State in Corvallis in 2013 then led by Quarterback Vernon Adams. After a rough month over the summer, Oregon fans waited with baited breath for Adams to pass a math exam allowing him to join the Oregon Ducks. In just over two weeks of Fall Camp he earned the Starting nod over Jeff Lockie. Now, he looks to lead the Oregon Ducks back to the National Championship. To do that he will have to get a win against his former team.

It took just two minutes and seventeen seconds for Adams to march the team down the field for a score as a handoff to Kani Benoit put six on the board for Oregon. On the third play of the first series Adams used his feet to pick up ten yards to the roar of the crowd. Royce Freeman also had two carries for eleven yards on the opening drive.

Chris Seisay and Terrodney Prevot handled Eastern Washington Quarterback Jordan West on the Golden Eagles first series which would lead to a punt. Vernon Adams would be at it again quickly throwing a sixteen yard pass to Bralon Addison  to start the next Oregon series. Several plays later the Oregon Ducks  traveled seventy yards as Vernon Adams found Bralon Addison in the endzone as Mark Helfrich saw his team extend their lead to 13-0 with just under half of the first quarter left to play.

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Jordan West would not give up as on the next drive Eastern Washington went seventy yards and completed a fourth down against the Oregon Defense as West found Hill in the endzone over the top for a touchdown making it 13-7 Oregon. The Ducks would respond. Dwayne Stanford would bring in a forty-six yard pass from Adams followed by a one yard run for Royce Freeman for the score giving Oregon a 20-7 lead. The scoring drive took all of fifty-eight seconds. Eastern Washington would get the ball back with just over four minutes left in the first half.

The Golden Eagles managed thirteen yards on the ground in the first quarter. Oregon had one-hundred forty yards between Royce Freeman and Kani Benoit and a nineteen yard run by Tony Brooks-James who would score the first touchdown of his career on the next play making it 27-7 Ducks.

Cooper Kupp would make an appearance for a seventy-three yard reception from Jordan West taking th ball to the Oregon two yard line. The Ducks would stand for three downs, but on fourth down, the Golden Eagles would convert again for six points. It was 27-14 Oregon. Adams would find what appeared to be his favorite target again.

The Oregon Ducks would respond as Adams found Stanford again this time for thirty-six yards. Royce Freeman would pick up his second touchdown of the game three plays later extending the Oregon lead to 34-14.

On the next drive Oregon Ducks Defensive Back Chris Seisay would pick off Jordan West, but Oregon would not have the ball long as Quarterback Vernon Adams would fumble while trying to get past a former teammate giving the ball back to the Golden Eagles. Eastern Washington would again have to contend with a fourth down play. Jalen Moore would make it three for three on the day on fourth down as the drive would continue. Kupp would keep the drive going with a sixteen yard gain. He would score two plays later pulling within thirteen points of the Ducks. Oregon would have the ball to finish out the first half with forty-eight seconds on the clock.

Aiden Schneider would hit a thirty-eight yard field goal as the teams would head to halftime. Oregon put up over four-hundred yards of offense. Eastern Washington had two-hundred ninety-nine yards at the break.

The second half would not start well for Eastern Washington with a sack, giving the ball back to the Oregon Ducks. Royce Freeman would carry from the one-yard line into the endzone extending the Oregon Ducks lead to 44-21 as the sun began to set on another day of college football.

The Ducks would shoot themselves in the foot on their next Defensive series with numerous penalties that led to an Eastern Washington score. Oregon would hold into a 44-28 lead with 5:35 left in the third quarter. Adams would connect again with Bralon Addison for a score to make it 51-28. However the Eagles would not go away.

Cooper Kupp did his best as he crossed the two-hundred yard receiving mark helping the Golden Eagles score again with Jabari Wilson pushing it to 51-25 Oregon. It was a seven play, seventy yard drive capped off by a three yard run into the endzone by Wilson.
Both teams would put up over one-thousand yards of combined offense and Eastern Washington would out pass the high flying Oregon Ducks Offense, but it was the ground game that hurt the Golden Eagles. The Ducks put up four-hundred yards on the ground to Eastern Washington that mustered just under one-hundred.

One area of concern was the Oregon Defense, which appeared sloppy at times and allowed a ton of yards to Kupp. They not only couldn’t stop him with a head of steam, it was hard to wrap him up once they got to him. Vernon Adams showed everyone in Eugene on Saturday evening that he is the real deal. If he can lead this team into East Lansing next weekend and earn a win he could become an early favorite for the Heisman Trophy.  On Saturday he was nineteen for twenty-five through the air for two touchdowns and he ran for eighty-seven yards on the ground.

The Oregon Ducks now prepare for a road test in the Big Ten against Michigan State in Primetime next weekend. (5pm Pacific Time, ABC)