Oregon Football: Ducks Power Past Stanford 35-14
It took some time to shake off the offseason rust, but in the end Oregon Football found their ground game for a 35-14 win over Stanford to open the season.
Stanford started with the ball. Running Back Austin Scott had all the yards on the first drive of the game. With the undercurrent of crowd noise in an empty Autzen Stadium he racked up all 40 yards on the ground that ended with a missed field goal.
For the Ducks, the first drive of the game was led by Tyler Shough. After a promising start by Running Back CJ Verdell, it too stalled at the 49 yard line and ended in a 51-yard punt.
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Both teams exchanged possessions, and the Cardinal used their ground game. Austin Jones added a touchdown off the right side after a run up the middle. Stanford was up 7-0 with 3:25 left in the first quarter. It was up to the Ducks Offense to answer.
On the first play of their next drive Shough threw a 44-yard pass to Mycah Pittman and Oregon was on the move. CJ Verdell put the Ducks inside the Stanford 20-yard line. Two plays later Verdell found the endzone as Oregon tied the game at 7.
There would not be another score until just over a minute to the half. It was a 96 yard drive for Oregon that saw a pass from Shough to Johnny Johnson III before DJ Johnson took it in for a score and a 14-7 lead with 1:05 left in the first half. It was not a very clean first half by the Ducks or the Cardinal. Oregon would get the ball to start the second half.
Quarterback Tyler Shough did not was a lot of time getting the ball downfield. A long pass to Johnny Johnson III was caught in the endzone, but was incomplete and out of bounds. The play did see a Stanford pass interference call putting the ball at the 21 yard line. Two plays later it was Travis Dye who scampered 14 yards for a touchdown extending the Oregon lead to 21-7.
Oregon would go on a 10 play, 80 yard drive that saw Tyler Shough show off his feet, scampering on the final play to the right side for a touchdown pushing the Ducks lead to 28-7 with just under a minute left in the third quarter.
Stanford would add a score with 7:39 left to make it 28-14 Oregon. Somewhat lost in the first three an and a half quarters are four missed field goals by Jet Toner which would have amounted to 12 points and had the Cardinal in the game.
With 3:37 left in the game Cyrus Habibi-Likio added a four-yard touchdown capping off a 9 play, 73 yard drive to make it 35-14 Oregon over Stanford. That would be the final score.
Oregon racked up close to 500 yards of offense with 269 yards on the ground led by CJ Verdell with 105. Tyler Shough finished 17 for 26 for 227 yards, with two touchdowns (one running, one passing) and an interception.
Oregon hits the road next week to face Washington State. Gametime and network will be announced on Sunday..