OREGON 14/7/13/21 - 55
OREGON STATE 0/3/6/6 - 15
CORVALLIS, OREGON - Mario Cristobal finished his first regular season as an Oregon Duck with a 55-15 road beatdown of the Beavers in the Civil War. The Oregon offense totaled 510 yards of offense despite losing quarterback Justin Herbert to injury late in the second quarter. Travis Dye and CJ Verdell had a combined seven touchdowns and 411 yards, while the Ducks won the turnover battle 4 to 0 to fuel the offensive onslaught.
The Beavers, led by quarterback Jake Luton, managed to reach the Duck 33-yard line on their opening possession, but on fourth-and-5 Deommodore Lenoir broke up a pass intended for Timmy Hernandez that killed the drive. Then, Travis Dye and CJ Verdell moved the ball 46 yards in five plays to set up a 21-yard pass from Herbert to Verdell for the game’s first touchdown. Oregon’s first drive was an early example of the damage the Duck rushing attack would do to the Oregon State defense, which allowed 392 yards on the ground.
The Ducks forced back-to-back punts from the Beavers before they were able to score a second touchdown; Utilizing just six carries, Verdell gained every yard of Oregon’s 56-yard touchdown drive. Oregon State’s proceeding drive ended with a missed field goal, and Herbert and the offense were able to take advantage by marching down the field from their own 22-yard line to set up Verdell’s second short-yardage touchdown of the evening, giving the Ducks a 21-0 lead. OSU’s Jordan Choukair hit a 45-yard field goal with 33 seconds left before the half.
Due to a sack that sidelined starting quarterback Herbert late in the second, Cristobal elected to rely on the run game in the second half. In fact, backup quarterback Braxton Burmeister threw just three passes in the second half. Oregon’s first three touchdown drives of the second half resembled the Army football team, featuring no passes but plenty of big run plays from Verdell, Dye and even a handful of runs from Burmeister.
The Beaver offense, on the other hand, only managed to score 15 points: a field goal in the second quarter, and two touchdown passes to Timmy Hernandez in the third and fourth quarter, respectively. Both of OSU’s touchdowns were followed by failed two-point conversion attempts.
Oregon’s running backs weren’t the Ducks to score, cornerback Thomas Graham Jr, picked off Luton in the final quarter and returned it 38 yards for a pick-six that gave the Ducks a 41-9 lead. Graham Jr. recorded another interception about three minutes later, the Ducks third interception of the game, the first being a pick from Nick Pickett in the second quarter. Gus Cumberlander also joined the turnover club when a double-reverse fleaflicker by Oregon State ended in disaster for the Beavers thanks to a hard hit from Ugo Amadi that forced a fumble that was eagerly gobbled up by Cumberlander.
In Cristobal’s first season as head coach, he delivered wins over Oregon’s biggest rivals. And a few weeks later, he would deliver Duck fans their first bowl win since the 2014 season.
" We wanted to continue to get better at playing on the road, in difficult environments, so we made that a huge point of emphasis. And we wanted to start fast, and we started fast, and continued building momentum."
- Mario Cristobal
Oregon Offense (total: 510 - pass: 118 - rush: 392)
Oregon State Offense (total: 336 - pass: 282 - rush: 54)
Oregon Defense (forced turnovers: 4 - FUM: 1 - INT: 3)
Oregon State Defense (forced turnovers: 0)
UO (8-4, 5-4) OSU (2-10, 1-8)