WASHINGTON 10/7/7/0/3 - 27
OREGON 10/7/7/0/6 - 30
EUGENE, OREGON - Oregon’s 12-game win streak over Washington ended in 2017 when a freshman Justin Herbert led a Duck team that lost in Autzen 70 to 21 to quarterback Jake Browning and the Huskies. The year after that, Willie Taggart’s team lost 38 to 3 in Seattle, due in large part to the absence of Herbert, who was still recovering from a broken collarbone. Mario Cristobal had the locker room on his side before he even became head coach, but after Oregon’s 30-27 overtime win against Washington, Cristobal won over countless fans by restoring the balance in the rivalry.
When Justin Herbert was a freshman, his first throw of the 2017 matchup against the Huskies resulted in an interception; the tables were flipped when senior quarterback Jake Browning’s first throw was picked off by Deommodore Lenoir on Washington’s opening possession. Herbert went 0-of-3 during Oregon’s first drive, but Adam Stack connected on a 39-yard field goal to start the scoring.
Browning and the Washington offense found their footing on their second possession, and were able to travel 59 yards to set up a Peyton Henry 41-yard field goal to tie the game at thee apiece. Then, Autzen grew silent as Tony Brooks-James fumbled the ball after returning a punt 34 yards. Five plays later, Salvon Ahmed ran 25 yards for the touchdown, giving the Huskies their first lead of the game.
Tony Brooks-James’ next punt return was far more successful, catching the ball in the Oregon end zone and finishing at the Washington 41-yard line. Running back CJ Verdell carried the ball seven times on Oregon’s next drive, then Herbert found Dillon Mitchell for a 12-yard touchdown to tie the score 10-10 with less than two minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Washington and Oregon traded punts until the Huskies put together a 75-yard, nine-play touchdown drive that featured a heavy dose of Salvon Ahmed and was capped off by the running back scoring his second touchdown of the game, this time from a short distance away from the end zone. Down by seven with 3:12 to play before the half, Oregon crafted a 13-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with a dramatic nine-yard, toe-tap touchdown from Jaylon Redd as he extended to catch a pass from a scrambling Herbert to tie the game at 17 each moments before the half.
Oregon struck first in the second half; after swapping three-and-outs with Washington for the first few minutes, freshman running back Travis Dye helped fuel an 88-yard drive before Verdell was put in to score on first-and-goal from the one-yard line. Washington responded with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Ty Jones to pull even with Oregon late in the third, then a 42-yard missed field goal attempt from Adam Stack ended what looked like a promising drive from the Ducks.
Browning found Sean McGrew for a 30-yard gain to start Washington’s next drive, but the Duck defense was able to limit the Huskie running backs to nine-yards on three carries, setting up a crucial 4th-and-1 at the Oregon 26. Browning attempted the quarterback sneak, a staple during his career at Washington, but nose tackle Jordon Scott blew up the interior of the Huskie o-line, and Browning fumbled the ball which was recovered by Johnny Johnson III.
Oregon’s offense managed to reach the Washington 27-yard line with a fresh set of downs, but were forced to punt after moving backwards nine yards on their next two plays. Things looked bad for the Ducks when Browning marched his team to the Oregon 27 with 50 seconds left on the clock. Sean McGrew picked up eight yards on his next carry, then just one on second down. Chris Petersen elected to run the clock down to three seconds before calling a timeout to set up for the game-winning field goal, and Cristobal used two timeouts to freeze kicker Peyton Henry. And to the delight of Oregon fans around the world, Henry missed the 37-yard attempt wide right, sending the game into overtime.
Kamari Pleasant kicked things off with a 19-yard run on first down, but after that the Washington offense stalled at the Oregon 3-yard line, forcing the Huskies to settle for the field goal. Oregon was on the cusp of having to settle for three themselves when a holding penalty put them at 3rd-and-11 on the following possession, but a 17-yard pass to Mitchell gave the Ducks a chance to go for the win. Then, on 3rd-and-goal from the Washington 6-yard line, CJ Verdell ran up the middle to seal the victory.
In Oregon’s heartbreaking loss against Stanford, the young back looked devastated after fumbling the ball in what could have been a game-winning carry, but against Washington he was filled with joy as the home crowd filled the stadium with victory shouts. The knock-out blow against the Ducks’ most hated rival more than made up for the early season blunder, and also gave Duck fans a glimpse of what they could expect from the hard-running CJ Verdell.
“ Coach Cristobal just told us we were a downhill team, and we were gonna keep running downhill, I was just glad coaches put the trust in me to run the ball, and we executed it.”
- CJ Verdell
Oregon Offense (total: 379 - pass: 202 - rush: 177)
Washington Offense (total: 437 - pass: 243 - rush: 194)
Oregon Defense (forced turnovers: 1 - INT: 1)
Washington Defense (forced turnovers: 1 - FUM: 1)
UO (5-1, 2-1) UW (5-2, 3-1)