How about those Ducks!

There's a growing feeling among Duck fans that this could be a special season. It isn't just that the team began the year with two blowouts, 59-13 over Montana State, 69-3 over Oklahoma State, it was the way they won those games.

Both were complete victories in all phases, offense, defense and special teams, all four quarters, no let up. Saturday versus OSU there was little dropoff until late in the game when the Cowboys found some running success against players from the four-deep, 8 plays for 50 yards on the last possession of the game.

The execution was superb. Even when the Ducks had to punt for the first time, James Ferguson-Reynolds dropped the ball at the 5 yard line.

Lost a bit in Oregon's massive offensive explosion was a tremendous effort by the Oregon defense, even through garbage time. They limited the visitors to 3.5 yards per play. Before the last meaningless drive, 3.0 yards per play.

The Ducks scored two defensive touchdowns on textbook plays, defensive pressure, reading the quarterback's eyes, filling the zone, plucking the ball out of the air, by Jerry Mixon and Peyton Woodyard, two guys stepping into much bigger roles this season.

Defensive leaders Bryce Boettcher and Teitum Tuioti stood out, but this was a total team effort. The defense played with purpose; tackling and pursuit were excellent. It's great to see Oregon's young defensive backs position themselves, track the receiver, find the ball and avoid penalties. No more 10-yard cushion on 3rd and 7.

Boettcher led the team with 9 tackles, Tuioti four tackles, a sack, and 1.5 tackles for loss. Bear Alexander was active with five tackles, and a healthy Devon Jackson posted five. Mixon's big play can only increase his confidence.

Matayo Uiagalelei had a quiet day, but leading 41-3 they didn't need him much. All the young edge rushers, Elijah Rushing, Tobi Haastrup, Nasir Wyatt, Blake Purchase, Ashton Porter, Matthew Johnson, got snaps and playing time. In all 31 different guys made a tackle.

It was incredible to see all the explosive plays. Will Stein's creativity and his vision to feature so many different players really puts some pressure on future opponents. This wasn't a "plain vanilla" offense. Opposing defensive coordinators have plenty to prepare for.

The Ducks ran Jet Sweeps/ end arounds (touchdowns of 19 yards by Dierre Hill and 25 by Dakorien Moore), a Flea-Flicker Throwback Screen with all five offensive linemen pulling, 12 different ball carriers, 10 different receivers. They took deep shots, scored touchdowns on seven of eight possessions when Moore was at quarterback, averaged 10.7 yards a play.

Moore continues to be accurate and on-time and on track with his reads. He throws a beautiful deep ball and drives the ball to the sideline. He's dangerous on the move. The two deep touchdowns to Dakorien Moore and Malik Benson were just gorgeous throws. Benson and Gary Bryant have quickly established themselves as the targets Moore needs to complement Dakorien, and Jeremiah McClellan caught pass plays of 51 and 25 yards.

It won't be this easy all season. The Big Ten slate will feature some teams that can punch back. It's impossible to play 13-16 games at a fierce emotional pitch and be "up" for every opponent. Sometimes, like Wisconsin last season or Purdue, a team just has to grind it out.

But the depth, unity, purpose, execution and work habits this team has displayed will sustain them through a lot. It's a team with great internal leadership and pride in performance, and it helps them a lot that those leaders (Dante Moore, Alex Harkey, Noah Whittington, Kenyon Sadiq, Boettcher, Uiagalelei, Tuioti, Thieneman) are not me-me guys-- there's a strong commitment to letting your play do most of the talking.

They are playing as well as anyone in the country right now. Yet Duck fans who have been around since 2007 know that adversity always lurks.

This is a team that does the little things with great attention to detail, downfield blocking, pursuit on defense. They're coachable and committed to improvement. The NIL and recruiting get a lot of attention, but Lanning and his staff have done a marvelous job of finding guys who love football and play as a unit.

Lanning had his team ready to play at a perfect emotional pitch. You wonder what Mike Gundy was thinking, stirring the Ducks up that way leading up to the game. Gundy has been a head coach for 20 years. Even if his statements were mild, literally true and directed at his own boosters, he ought to have known the Ducks would use them for motivation.

Lanning said, "I told our team right before the game, it never requires extra motivation for an opportunity to go out and kick ass but it never hurts when someone pours gasoline on the fire."

The gasoline was high-octane racing fuel for an engine built for speed.

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