Oregon football has balanced attack in statement win vs UCLA
The 2022 Oregon football team has come a long way from the opening week loss to Georgia, and this past week’s win over No. 9 UCLA has the Ducks primed for bigger things.
It was a top-ten matchup at Autzen Stadium in front of the fourth-largest crowd in program history. Oregon showed up early and continued to impress using the ground game in a 45-30 win over the UCLA Bruins.
The Ducks rolled up over 550 yards of offense, and quarterback Bo Nix had three first-half touchdowns. Bucky Irving was the Ducks’ workhouse on the ground with 107 yards on 19 carries, averaging 5.6 yards per carry.
For the Ducks, Nix again impressed with plays using his arm and his legs. The Ducks’ signal-caller was responsible for five touchdowns and also was the third-leading rusher with 51 yards on eight carries.
Oregon football more balanced on offense than ever
One area that has stood out in the last few games for the Ducks has been the ground attack. Against the Bruins, the Ducks had 31 first downs and saw better than half of them (19) on the ground.
Bucky Irving found holes that were opened by the offensive line on nearly every possession leading to the Ducks having over 260 yards. On their longest drive of the third quarter, which was 13 plays, Oregon took over 7 minutes off the clock.
But it’s the balance of this Oregon offense that continues to improve and keep the Ducks winning big games. Oregon only had 21 more passing yards than rushing yards, and the successful running game is opening up some big play for Bo Nix, who completed passes to seven different receivers against the Bruins.
It seemed that once Oregon got started on offense, there was nothing that UCLA could do to stop them as they did their best to play catch-up for more than half of the game.
If there is any area of improvement to focus on right now, it might be penalties – especially unforced errors. The Ducks were penalized eight times for 50 yards against UCLA, and that follows a game versus Stanford two weeks ago when they racked up 14 penalties for 135 yards. Five of the Ducks’ eight penalties against the Bruins were unforced mental mistakes.
Oregon now has two tests on the road before returning home to face a Washington team that is not as strong as they were a few weeks ago. The first is a visit to California on Saturday, October 29th for a 12:30 pm Pacific Time kickoff on FOX or FS1.
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