Oregon Football: Manny Wilkins, Arizona State Hold On For Win Over Ducks
Oregon(3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) struggled to find a rhythm on Offense down the stretch suffering their first loss of the season.
The Oregon Ducks opened Pac-12 play on the road without Wide Receiver Charles Nelson. It was announced before the game he would not play against Arizona State. The Ducks were already off to a 3-0 start and a win vs the Sundevils would give them their win total from last season, that ended at 4-8. Oregon would start with the ball.
Arizona State forced a 3 and out on Oregon for the first series of the game. Manny Wilkins wasted no time with a short field off a blocked punt. Starting from midfield, the Sundevils took the ball into the endzone off a Wilkins 8 yard run for a 7-0 lead. It was the first time this season that Oregon was behind.
The Ducks wasted no time with Justin Herbert leaning on experience, going through his reads and leading Oregon down the field with big plays to Jacob Breeland, Royce Freeman and capping off the drive with a touchdown to Dillon Mitchell. Oregon tied the game at 7.
Oregon came back to strike quickly. Herbert found Johnny Johnson to cap off a 7 play drive to pull the Ducks back within 10 points. Tony Brooks-James and Jacob Breeland played key roles on the drive.
Jalen Jelks made his presence felt on two key plays of the next Arizona State Drive, the first was a tackle for loss. The second may be the play of the game with a sack of Manny Wilkins forcing a punt and giving the ball back to Herbert and the Offense.
Royce Freeman opened the next Offensive Drive with a big gain. The drive ended with a touchdown from Herbert to Tony Brooks-James. Oregon pulled to within three and was finding a way back. As a team they showed no sign of giving up, unlike the team from last season.
As the third quarter came to an end, the Oregon Defense gave up a conversion on 3rd and 27. ASU would start the 4th with a 1st and 10 from the 12 yard line. The Oregon D would hold Arizona State to a field goal and a 34-28 lead.
Both teams exchanged punts before Oregon Football had the ball back and Justin Herbert and Royce Freeman went to work. Jacob Breeland caught a 51 yard pass from Justin Herbert as Oregon was on the doorstep to taking their first lead of the game. Herbert called his own number to tie the game at 34 and Aiden Schneider added the extra point putting the Ducks up one, 35-34.
The Oregon Defense was able to hold Arizona State out of the endzone, but allowed a 41 yard Brandon Ruiz field goal giving the lead back to ASU 37-35.
Oregon would likely have the ball last with 2:25 remaining in the game. The Ducks were able to get to the 50 and faced a 4th and 3. The Ducks were unable to convert giving the ball back to Arizona State with just over a minute left in the game.
In the end, Oregon lost their first game of the season 37-35 to Arizona State on the road. Quarterback Justin Herbert was solid, but penalties killed Oregon Football all night. On the Defensive side of the ball Jalen Jelks was a beast. He had 8 tackles, 7 of them were solo to go with three sacks on Manny Wilkins on the night.
Next: Oregon Volleyball Drops Match vs UCLA
It was a night that saw Running Back Royce Freeman held to just 85 yards on the ground to go with a touchdown. The Ducks Defense has improved every week this season and took another step Saturday night. Oregon welcomes Cal to Autzen Stadium next week. (7:30pm PT Fox Sports 1)