Oregon Football: 3 positives to take from Alamo Bowl loss

Oregon football lost a tough one to Oklahoma in the 2021 Alamo Bowl and despite the double-digit defeat, there were some positives to take from it.

It’s tough to look at a game that was lost by double digits and saw a deficit of 27 points and find positives, but Oregon football fans have to be pleased with what they saw in the second half of Wednesday night’s game against Oklahoma.

The Ducks were down 30-3 at the half, but they battled back to make things interesting in the fourth quarter before losing 47-32.

Now that the season is over, it’s time to look forward to the Dan Lanning era, but before we do that, let’s dive into some positives to take from the Alamo Bowl loss.

3. Defense clamped down late and will only get better, healthier

Oregon ran out the walking dead in the Alamo Bowl. The Ducks were down a number of key defenders including Justin Flowe (though he did miss the entire year), Keith Brown, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Mykael Wright, and even Noah Sewell left with an injury.

It was a tough sight to see as the Ducks had few scholarship linebackers left as it was and the defensive line wasn’t nearly as effective without Thibodeaux dominating up front.

The defense was not at full strength — not even close. But yet they came out in the second half and held Oklahoma to 17 points and kept the Ducks in the game.

While giving up 47 points isn’t positive, things are only going to improve for this unit next year when they get everyone back and healthy.