UTAH 0/6/7/7 - 20
OREGON 7/10/10/14 - 41
EUGENE, OREGON - After starting the 2017 season with a lot of excitement by winning their first three games of the season, it appeared questionable whether the team would even make a bowl game after quarterback Justin Herbert suffered a broken collarbone against Cal. The Ducks lost three straight games with backup Braxton Burmeister as a starter, and the possibility of another 4-8 season loomed large for the program. However, Oregon reversed a recent trend by outscoring their opponent in the second half to upset the favored Utes for the second season in a row.
Burmeister connected on all three of his passes during Oregon’s opening 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, which ended with a five-yard pass to tight end Cam McCormick who flew into the end zone. It was the quarterback’s second passing touchdown in four games. Utah’s opening possession was doomed by a false start followed by a sack for a loss of eight yards, resulting in a punt, but a Burmeister fumble on third-and-6 gave the Utes the ball at the Oregon 21. Thankfully, the Duck defense managed to preserve the lead by holding Utah to a field goal.
Utah sacked Burmeister to start Oregon’s next drive, but to the QB’s credit, he was a perfect 4-of-4 on the drive for 29 yards. The Ducks then added to their lead with a 23-yard field goal from Aidan Schneider. Though Darren Carrington was now wearing a Utah jersey, a catch from the former Oregon receiver resulted in a touchdown for the Ducks. After transferring to Utah, Carrington quickly became their go-to receiver, but after catching a screen pass from quarterback Tyler Huntley, former teammate Ugochukwu Amadi lit up Carrington with a vicious tackle, resulting in a fumble that Amadi took to the house for a 47-yard touchdown. Huntley marched his team 59 yards on the proceeding drive to set up a field goal that cut the lead to 11, and the Oregon defense held strong to keep the score at 17-6, preserving their first halftime lead since the Wyoming game on September 16th.
Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss picked up a combined 55 yards on the ground in six plays, setting up a one-yard touchdown pass to Darrin Paulo to cut the Oregon lead to four after the opening possession of the second half. The Ducks put together their own rushing drive which marched 54 yards before concluding with a 38-yard field goal to put Oregon up 20 to 13.
Utah’s typically stellar special teams missed a field goal, and the Ducks responded with a four-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with the most entertaining touchdown of the evening: Tony Brooks-James picked up 56 yards on the first play of the drive, but a false start a few plays later set up a third-and 13 near the Utah red zone, that’s when receiver Charles Nelson survived an attempted tackle to connect with Jacob Breeland on a 22-yard reverse pass for a touchdown. The Duck defense then forced a Utah punt, and the Oregon offense used six consecutive run plays to build a 34-13 lead with a 23-yard touchdown run from Brooks-James.
Huntley scraped up one final touchdown before the conclusion of the game, a 29-yard pass to Siaosi Wilson, but it was the Ducks who had the final laugh. After forcing a turnover-on-downs from the Utes, Oregon took just two carries from Kani Benoit to add the final touchdown of the contest.
Star running back Royce Freeman finished with 139 yards off 20 carries, Tony Brooks-James tallied 106 yards and a touchdown on just six carries, and Braxton Burmeister had the best game of his young career with 9-of-12 passing for 47 yards and a touchdown while adding 37 yards on the ground. Troy Dye led all Duck defenders with 11 tackles.
Oregon Offense (total: 416 - pass: 69 - rush: 347)
Utah Offense (total: 384 - pass: 293 - rush: 91)
Oregon Defense (forced turnovers: 1 - FUM: 1)
Utah Defense (forced turnovers: 1 - FUM: 1)
UO (5-4, 2-4) UU (4-4, 1-4)