No panic in the Ducks after sloppy second half vs JMU

When Blake Purchase blocked a James Madison punt with 7:05 to play in the third quarter and Jayden Limar scooped it up for a 15-yard score, the Ducks led 48-13.

The rest of the game was forgettable. Oregon substituted liberally after that, using 32 different players on defense while adding just one more field goal. The Dukes kept their starters in, intercepted a second Dante Moore pass and put together three touchdown drives to make the final 51-34.

With a lineup sprinkled with threes and fours in the second half Tosh Lupoi's defense surrendered 504 total yards to the Sun Belt Champions, 194 of them in the fourth quarter, looking as soft and leaky as the worst units of the Don Pellum and Brady Hoke eras, or like refugees from a vintage Chip Kelly blowout. It had all the elements: blown assignments, missed tackles and a general lack of urgency.

"The whole team understands that this wasn't our best game, but at the end of the day, we won the football game," Dante Moore said.

"This is an unacceptable performance in the second half by our defense," Tosh Lupoi said.

Defensive lapses mar fourth quarter

True, the Ducks played twos, threes and fours after establishing a comfortable lead. Will Stein went back to the default screen pass on every third down as the offense slipped into neutral. It was almost as if the coaching staff manufactured a sloppy second half so they could get after players over the next 11 days during practice.

Whether accidental or orchestrated, the incomplete result will afford the team an opportunity to practice with intensity and set their sights on a complete, four-quarter effort against Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl. They'll need one.