Clock Management Among Concerns For Oregon Ducks Entering Bye Week

The trip to Seattle appeared all business on Saturday night as the Oregon Ducks took down Washington for the 12th straight time with Vernon Adams returning from a broken index finger. He was able to get Oregon right on track with some quick passes and by games end he showed his escapability when things broke down and completed an ungodly amount of long plays on third down keeping drives alive throughout the contest and ending the night with two touchdowns passes. Oregon built a nice lead on the Huskies, but once again the Defense almost let one get away.

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One of the biggest enemies this season for the Oregon Ducks is the clock. Once again, the clock management was horrible. As time ticked away in the final four minutes, the Ducks worked down after down with Running Back Royce Freeman, but Adams decided to attempt a pass which fell incomplete setting up Washington not only with a stopped clock, but one minute and ten seconds left to attempt something to get a score and win the game. If this was a Washington Offense from even last year, it may have been in the cards, but not last night. Quarterback Jake Browning was no longer in the game having injured his arm/shoulder and the Oregon Defense did their best at keeping anything worth big yards in front of them.

Ugo Amadi ended the threat with an interception and the Ducks took a knee to close out the game. Two games in a row that the team left fans with an ulcer. Two games where the Oregon Offense made something so simple look extremely difficult. Closing out games should be nothing new for this team, it is just in previous seasons, mainly the last three, it was something they did not have to worry about – as much. When you have a 30 point lead you have pretty much closed out the game.

Now, Oregon did win the game against the Washington Huskies, but had a 10 point lead last weekend at home against Washington State, and lost. Clock management is likely something this team will work on over the next week, a bye. Oregon will not see the field of play again until the face another road test in a feisty Arizona State team that kept up with Utah on Saturday night for most of the game.

With upcoming games against the Sun Devils, Cal, Stanford, USC, and Oregon State one could think that this could be a factor in all of those games, even with Vernon Adams at the helm. It is something that Oregon needs to master quickly or the rest of the season may be lost with fans scratching their heads and reaching for the medicine cabinet. Oregon could be known as the cardiac kids and for all the wrong reasons. The ship is now pointed in the right direction at 4-3 with a big win over a Northwest rival. The challenge now is to get to the Pac-12 Championship and there are plenty of hurdles ahead. One game at a time begins after some down time.

The Oregon Ducks visit Arizona State on Thursday, October 29th at 7:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN.

Next: Vernon Adams Sparks Oregon Offense In Win Over Washington

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