3 takeaways from Oregon football's blowout win over Oregon State
Looking at the box score following Oregon football's rout of Oregon State, it's actually hard to believe that the Ducks began the season off slowly.
In fact, Oregon dominated in every phase of the game, winning 49-14 in Corvallis for the first matchup as non-conference foes since the Pac-12 crumbled. The Ducks shook off two ugly wins over Idaho and Boise State at home to go on the road against a rival and win by five touchdowns. That's some truly impressive stuff.
Dan Lanning had the team ready and they didn't disappoint. It was just 22-14 in favor of Oregon at halftime, but the Ducks pulled away with a 27-0 second half.
What did we learn from this critical Oregon win in Week 3?
3. The offensive line looked much better
It's truly amazing what a clean pocket can do. Oregon's offensive line had struggled to keep Dillon Gabriel upright for the first two games of the season but he was able to avoid being sacked at Oregon State and this just shows that the offensive line might be improving, slowly but surely.
Sure, there were still instances of Gabriel running for his life or the run game not quite opening up holes like they had hoped for, but the line was much more effective on Saturday.
File this under "things you love to see".
2. Dillon Gabriel is special
I can safely say just three games into his career at Oregon, Dillon Gabriel is special.
While we all kind of figured he'd be a special replacement for Bo Nix, I don't think anyone expected him to be this rock-solid through three starts. He has been so deadly accurate that defenses truly can't do anything about it. In fact, Gabriel has completed about 84 percent of his passes through three games and has just seven total incompletions over his past two games.
Not only did Gabriel look special with his arm against Oregon State, passing for 291 yards and two touchdowns, but he also dominated the Beavers with his legs (64 yards and a touchdown).
This dude is a special talent.
1. Oregon is a top-five team after all
There were some doubts about whether or not Oregon was a top-10 team after a 24-14 win over Idaho and then a 37-34 come-from-behind victory over Boise State.
But I think those doubts have subsided -- at least for now.
Oregon dominated Oregon State from start to finish on both sides of the ball. The Ducks out-gained Oregon State by over 200 yards and made life difficult for the Beavers' defense. Both sides of the ball were chugging along like a well-oiled machine. This is the team we all expected to see when the season began and I think it's safe to say this is a top-five team, at worst.