Oregon survives its final test, shifts attention to postseason

The Ducks overcame a tough Husky front seven and some boneheaded mistakes of their own to escape with a 26-14 win. At 11-1 without a berth in their conference title game, Oregon has the luxury of sitting back and watching chaos unfold over the next two weeks.

Texas A&M's loss to Texas could already provide Oregon with the opportunity to move into the coveted fifth seed, and conference championship Saturday is likely to provide two more teams that could fall below the Ducks.

Taking a break from the postseason picture, this wasn't close to Oregon's best game. The offense stalled in the redzone multiple times, one coming after a Kenyon Sadiq drop on a well thrown football, and another on their first drive when Dante Moore put a pass too far inside that was almost picked off.

Thankfully, for the first time in years, Oregon *might* have a kicker they can rely on in crucial moments. For all the jabs Atticus Sappington has taken from the fanbase, he showed up in Iowa City and he showed up today.

As for the offense, Dante Moore continues to come up huge when the Ducks need him most, with no better example than his 64 yard touchdown pass to Malik Benson on third and eight.

Moore's big throws saved a sloppy but determined win

To make a big time throw like that during the Huskies' biggest surge of momentum all day is championship mentality from a guy who has remained calm and composed down the stretch of this season. Moore went 20/29 for 286 yards and a touchdown while Oregon's run game produced a shockingly low 2.5 yards per carry on 42 rushes. They need to make sure this performance on the ground was just a blip on the radar, but the offense showed the ability to adapt today, much like they have all season.

The star of the day was Tosh Lupoi's defense. The Ducks harassed Demond Williams Jr. for all 60 minutes. His 129 passing yards and 94.8 QBR were both season lows. Williams did give Oregon's defensive linemen fits with his ability to break out of sacks, and he turned what should have been another 10-sack effort by the Ducks into just four takedowns.

The Huskies' run game was able to carve out some chunk plays, but the Ducks' defense did a good job not letting 10-15-20 yard runs turn into 60-yard touchdowns, and Washington often failed to string successful plays together.

It wasn't pretty, but Oregon once again found ways to win on Saturday. Dan Lanning and his staff deserve every ounce of credit they'll receive for taking a team with so many young players and being able to run the table after that humbling loss to Indiana.