USC’s defense has not allowed a scoring play of more than 9 yards during its last three wins, and Wilcox understands that not allowing explosive plays is the key to stopping Oregon. “He made a lot of great throws”.
Advertisement
OR won in classic Ducks fashion, using a second-quarter avalanche to bury the No. 24 Trojans. Davis put together arguably the best game of his career, picking up 141 yards on 16 carries. Dogged by countless injuries on the defensive side of the ball, including one to star linebacker Myles Jack, the Bruins first loss was an unexpected one to ASU, a team that isn’t now bowl eligible. “We couldn’t get the signal (with the crowd noise)”.
USC evened the score on Kessler’s 27-yard pass to Darreus Rogers.
The Ducks had five plays of at least 30 yards against the stout Cardinal, including touchdowns of 75, 47 and 49 yards. “We need to get everybody on the same page, somehow, and get a little uniformity”, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. Kessler started things off by throwing three consecutive incompletions. Thankfully the Ducks, Vernon Adams Jr. was just hitting his stride.
DeForest Buckner and the OR defense stepped up yet again forcing USC into a quick three and out.
On the next series, Adams scrambled and completed a pass to Stanford on third down and, later, running back Benoit ran a route from the backfield to an open spot in the secondary and caught a 30-yard TD pass from Adams. “We definitely wish he had another year, but we’re trying to make the best of it”.
Running the ball successful will take Kessler out of those 3rd and longs on the road in a hostile environment.
Adams’ completion percentage over the last two weeks is a remarkable 81.2.
With OR looking to respond it was the Trojan defense who stepped up for the first time of the night, sacking OR on third down forcing a punt.
Oregon’s 48 points and 578 yards were season highs for a USC opponent. When the Ducks were 3-3, having just lost in overtime at home to Washington State, there were a few who were questioning if Helfrich was the right person to lead the OR program.
With a weekend off following the Tennessee Titans’ game Thursday in Jacksonville, Marcus Mariota had a chance to be a fan Saturday afternoon at Autzen Stadium. The Cougars are an Apple Cup victory away from securing a nine-win regular season, but their primary concern at this point resides with quarterback Luke Falk, who was carted off the field after an apparent head injury. USC defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said all can be correctly in place leading up to a freeze-frame. But Oregon’s Arrion Springs caught him from behind and stripped him.
If the Ducks continue on and win their remaining games, I don’t think there’s any way you can’t ask yourself, “What if?” With Adams and the offense knocking at the door inside the 10, Scott Frost pulled out the trick book and Bralon Addison was taken down for a large loss on the attempted reverse pass. The Ducks had to settle for a field goal and a 20-point lead with 7 to play.
Even when OR (8-3, 6-2) wanted to run out the clock, Wilcox let them score.
UCLA can win the South title with victories over Utah and UCLA.
Adams then found two-way player Charles Nelson in the end zone with a 26-yard pass and the Ducks pushed their lead to 45-28.
Advertisement
On to the Civil War.
