Ducks use balance, depth and explosiveness to bury Minnesota, 42-13

Dan Lanning's teams take care of games they're supposed to win. He's now 25-0 against unranked teams, 44-7 overall.

They beat Minnesota Friday night despite being banged-up, missing starters and key subs throughout the lineup. Dakorien Moore, Evan Steward and Gary Bryant sat out at wide receiver. Devon Jackson and Jayden Limar had to miss another game. The offensive line had to rotate and reshuffle.

Fortunately starters tight Kenyon Sadiq and right tackle Alex Harkey played despite being questionable on the pregame injury report.

Offensive coordinator Will Stein did a great job of using the players on hand to fashion a potent offense. He mixed and matched formations, plays and personnel groups to crank out 510 yards of offense and six touchdowns.

They took the ball first to start the game and drove 75 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead. Two short runs sandwiched around an eight-yard pass in the left hook zone to Jamari Johnson got them started, then Dante Moore rifled a 38-yard pass to Malik Benson down the right sideline, connecting on another big play when Kenyon Sadiq made a diving catch at the 1-yard-line, good for 23 yards.

Freshman Jordon Davison punched it in on third and goal, his first of two touchdowns.

They scored again on their second possession, a quick drive capped off by Davison's 39-yard scoring run.

With so many key players out they did it with depth, variety and creativity. Lanning said after the game, “We’ve said strength in numbers all season. In these last couple games, it’s really starting to show up where we need other guys to step up and create opportunities, and they’ve done a great job of that."

In all ten players caught passes, with the three tight ends, Sadiq, Johnson and redshirt sophomore Roger Salepaga combining for 14 catches for 178 yards. The running backs showed they could be weapons in the passing game also with Dierre Hill and Noah Whittington both having a catch for a first down. Hill even lined up at wide receiver, grabbing a tunnel screen for a good gain.

Redshirt freshman Jeremiah McClellan is proving to be a weapon, three catches for 36 yards including a 13-yard toe-tap reception in the right corner of the end zone that withstood a lengthy review.

Despite injuries and reshuffling on the offensive line the Ducks used six runners to produce 179 yards rushing on 30 carries with four touchdowns, 6.0 yards per carry. On the night they threw 33 passes with 30 runs, both explosive and efficient.

Noah Whittington's 40-yard touchdown run was both a highlight for his tremendous second effort and a lowlight for his sloppy ball-handling at the goal line. His casual, attention-seeking prance into the end zone marked the second time in his career he's nearly ruined a great play with a premature celebration, the first being a 100-yard kickoff return against Boise State.

Put aside the negatives, however: It was another strong performance from A'lique Terry's o-line, a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award for the fourth year in a row. They allowed just one sack while providing the drive train for 8.1 yards per play.

The offense produced 12 big plays good for 276 yards, even while throttling down the attack in the fourth quarter when Dante Moore and many of the starters went to the bench

Minnesota head coach P. J. Fleck said after the game, “I have to give (Oregon) credit. They designed a bunch of things to put you in space. They do that to everybody. They gap you out. You make one guy miss in that gap, and you don’t take a good angle. At times, your “X” isn’t as good as that “O,” it makes it miss, and there is a lot of space."