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Wilson Leads Utah Utes Past Oregon Ducks Dismal Defense

By Justin Phillips

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It started out as a beautiful Fall Afternoon in Eugene. Temperature at Kickoff was seventy degrees with a fifteen to twenty mile per hour wind on the field. The breezy conditions would last throughout the game on Saturday night between the Utah Utes and Oregon Ducks. Questions all week surrounded who would play Quarterback for both teams and the answer came just before kickoff as Vernon Adams was announced as the Starter at Quarterback to cheers of the Oregon crowd, including students returning for the Fall semester.

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Oregon would start with the ball and would see Vernon Adam as Starter. Royce Freeman would get the ball three out of the first four plays for the Ducks and pick up two first downs in the process. The drive would stall resulting in a forty-nine yard punt from Ian Wheeler. Utah would begin at the eight yard line. Travis Wilson would get the start and the Ducks would be ready forcing a punt. Utah’s punter was ready.

Tom Hackett would kick a career long seventy-six yard punt that an Oregon Receiver would let bounce right past. The ball took a few bounces the Utes way before stopping at the eight yard line. Adams would take the ball again and complete a pass on a third down play to Tight End Evan Bayliss. That play would mark the eleven-thousandth passing yard in the Senior’s Career, but the Ducks again would be forced to punt.

Travis Wilson would find himself with better field position starting at the forty yard line on their second drive of the game. He would call his own number and rumble thirty-three yards getting into Oregon territory. Devontae Booker after a missed Oregon tackle would take the ball to the 11 yard line. The Utah Running Back would be tackled for a loss by Tyson Coleman and Utah Kicker Andy Phillips would boot through a 28 yard field goal giving Utah a 3-0 lead on the Oregon Ducks.

Byron Marshall would return the ball to the 12 yard line on the next drive. Adams and the Ducks would again struggle to move the ball forcing a punt. Utah would again have good field position at the 44 yard line. Wilson would go back to work firing two passes before Devontae Booker was stopped and Kicker Andy Phillips hit another field goal, this time from 42 yards. Utah 6, Oregon 0.

Marshall would break open the Special Teams game with a 77 yard return. Running Back Royce Freeman would take the ball in off a 13 yard reception from Vernon Adams. The Ducks would go for two and miss, the score would be tied at 6. Utah would look to counter and start at their own 25 yard line.

1st Quarter Reaction:

Oregon is not a team that typically punts in a game, but so far they have three in this game. Vernon Adams has not been given much with the Utah Defense, but it looks like Royce Freeman has the opportunity to get through the Utes D. The Ducks Defense is holding their own hurrying Travis Wilson. One batted ball could have been an interception.

Sep 26, 2015; Eugene, OR, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Travis Wilson (7) throws the ball to Utah Utes wide receiver Britain Covey (18) before the game against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Wilson would start the second quarter with a pass, a long pass that would be broken up by Cornerback Ugo Amadi. His next play was a five yard handoff to Devontae Booker. Holding would then cost Oregon 10 yards and the ball would be at the 49 yard line. Utah would break the deadlock as Travis Wilson would catch the Oregon Secondary off guard and Britain Covey would score a touchdown. It was up to Vernon Adams to put together a scoring drive and answer.

Adams would be sacked for an eight yard loss leading to another Oregon punt. Covey would be back deep for the Utes. This time Wheeler would see his punt returned close to the fifty after a twenty-eight yard kick.

Travis Wilson would take Utah down the field for a score, led by a twenty-two yard run to the right side by Devontae Booker. Wilson would throw a rope to Kenneth Scott from seven yards out between two Oregon Defenders for the score. The Ducks would need to respond. Oregon would have Jeff Lockie in for the drive and the difference was immediate, following a pass to Charles Nelson, Lockie would take the ball to the Utah one yard line and throw a pass to Bralon Addison for a touchdown bringing the Ducks within seven. 20-13 Utah.

Travis Wilson had some tricks up his sleeve on the next Utah drive as he would again use his legs to go sixty yards before he was taken down by Ugo Amadi. Three plays later Utah would score to extend their lead to 14. Oregon would have a minute to respond before halftime. Oregon would go three and out after a few misfires would lead to an intentional grounding call on Lockie and the first half would come to an end with Utah leading 27-13. The Utes would start the second half with the ball.

To start the half Travis Wilson would find Wide Receivers on long passes down the field, followed by a run from Devontae Booker that saw a facemask penalty on the Ducks Defense moving the ball to the Oregon 2 yard line. Wilson would call his own number and walk in to the end pulling away from Oregon 34-13.

Byron Marshall would receive the kickoff and get to the 12 yard before going down. He would not get up under his own power and was down for several minutes before gingerly walking off the field with assistance from trainers. He was seen minutes later getting on a cart and headed to the locker room. On the ensuing drive for the Oregon Ducks, Jeff Lockie would throw an interception that took just eight seconds to turn into a Utah score as Travis Wilson found Britain Covey in the end zone for his second score of the night. 41-13 Utah

Sep 26, 2015; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Jeff Lockie (17) throws the ball away as Utah Utes defensive tackle Filipo Mokofisi (45) rushes at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Lockie would get the Oregon Ducks down the field and throw an interception into the end zone giving Utah the ball at the 25. Don Pellum’s Defense would get a rare stop on the night as Andy Phillips kicked off, but the camera over the field got in the way of the kick. It stalled the game for five minutes and Don Essig, the Public Address Announcer said over the PA, “We’ve never had a camera play defense before.” When they reset, Utah ran a fake and Tom Hackett ran the ball to the Oregon 39 yard line and Utah was again in business.

Caleb Repp would haul in a pass from Wilson for another score as the Autzen faithful began to leave their seats. It was the one-hundred fifth consecutive sellout at Autzen Stadium but the hope of a comeback was becoming bleak with the Ducks down 35 points 48-13. The Ducks would go three and out on their next possession and Utah would score a special teams touchdown pushing the score to 55-13.

Oregon would begin at the one yard line on their next drive with backups. Taylor Allie and Kani Benoit would lead the Offense and on the third play from scrimmage Benoit would fumble with the Utes recovering the ball and scoring to start the possession pushing the lead to 62-13.

Second Half Reaction:

The night was clearly not a good one if you were an Oregon Ducks fan. The Secondary was left wide open for Quarterback Travis Wilson to get the ball into the hands of his receivers. At one point reeling off 21 straight points on five consecutive drives before Oregon thought they stopped Utah, but a fake punt gave life back to the Utes. Utah wanted to make a statement in this game and they did. At that point there was still four minutes left in the third quarter. Big pass plays and the unlikely legs of Travis Wilson is what ultimately won the game for the Utes.

It was a double edged sword loss for the Oregon Ducks Not only are they 2-2 on the season, but one of their biggest threats Byron Marshall left the field on a cart. It did not look good. Of course we likely won’t know the injury or how long he will be out, but it may be for quite a while. Oregon was torched through the air to the tune of 257 yards and 5 touchdowns by Wilson and the Utes.

The Ducks gave up 530 yards of Offense on Saturday nigh against Utah. That included five touchdowns from Quarterback Travis Wilson, who also had one-hundred yards rushing in the blowout win for the Utes. The Oregon Secondary was tested and lost the battle and the war to the tune of two-hundred fifty seven yards. The Ducks loss was the worst since the 2003 season.

The final: 62-20.

Oregon hits the road next weekend for a game at Coloradof(7:30pm Pacific Time, ESPN)

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