6 takeaways from Oregon football's dominant win over Portland State
Big plays and touchdowns weren’t hard to come by Saturday afternoon in No. 15 Oregon football’s season opening 81-7 win against Portland State at Autzen Stadium.
With plenty of new faces and old ones taking the field, here are six takeaways from Ducks' record-breaking win.
Despite youth, Duck tailbacks showcase depth
With Noah Whittington sitting out most of the game and Bucky Irving taking two of his four carries for touchdowns, Oregon gave its younger tailbacks plenty of run in a blowout victory.
Sophomore Jordan James took a team-high 10 carries for 86 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, and true freshmen Dante Dowdell and Jayden Limar each had eight carries a piece to break in their new careers as Ducks.
Dowdell and Limar each totaled over 50 rushing yards and scored a touchdown, the first of their careers. Limar also caught four passes for 24 yards.
Never shy about spreading the wealth, Oregon coach Dan Lanning said Dowdell and Limar picked up critical reps for the future, whether that comes later this season or in the years to come.
Wait till next week for clarity on key position battles
With the game in hand throughout, the Ducks were able to rotate – mostly defenders – throughout the entire game. If fans wanted any sort of inclination of who won key position battles in the defensive backfield and at linebacker, Saturday’s game against the Vikings didn’t provide clear answers.
From the first drive, Oregon wasn’t shy about rotating players at just about every position, but especially in the secondary.
“We have a lot of guys that know what they’re doing and they’re able to get in and know how to execute at a high level,” defensive back Steve Stephens IV said. “So we’re able to rotate guys and have a lot of good depth that can play.”
The Vikings passed for a measly 52 yards, and while the challenge will exponentially increase next weekend when the Ducks head to Lubbock for a matchup against Texas Tech, Oregon is still looking for the correct pieces to the puzzle at several spots.
“I don’t know if they really got tested today,” Lanning said. “But I thought they did a really good job communicating. I don’t know if they ever had an opportunity where they got tested, but that’s still to come … we have some good players out there, but we have to execute at a high level moving forward.”
At linebacker, two-sport athlete Bryce Boettcher got the starting nod inside opposite Jeffrey Bassa, and rotated in with Connor Soelle, Devon Jackson and others.
Time will tell if the Ducks continue to run their defense by committee, or if guys will emerge in the coming weeks.
Defense settles in after tough start
After an up-and-down 2022 campaign, the 2023 season didn’t get off to an auspicious start for the Ducks’ defense.
After forcing a three-and-out on its first drive, the Ducks made a couple of mistakes and let Portland State drive – mostly on the ground – for a touchdown early in the first quarter with relative ease.
After that, Oregon had Portland State to a goose egg.
“We had two critical errors on that drive and then a really bad execution in the red area on that touchdown,” Lanning said. “But ultimately what you saw is when you don’t do your job bad things can happen. We had a couple of guys not do their job early in that series, and it led to a touchdown. I think we all settled down after that and realized all I've got to do is my part, my 1/11th, and the rest will take care of itself.”
When all was said and done, Oregon’s defense held the Vikings to 52 yards passing, and after allowing 61 rushing yards on PSU’s lone scoring drive, held the Vikings to 87 over all other drives.
Again, the challenge rises next week against a fierce passing attack in Lubbock, but Oregon was happy with the response of its defense after a few mistakes rattled an early drive.
Ty Thompson impresses in relief duty
In two and a half drives – after his third was cut short due to blood on his hand – Oregon backup quarterback Ty Thompson impressed in his 2023 debut in relief of starter Bo Nix.
Nix was impressive himself, passing for 287 yards on 23-of-27 passing with three scores, but Thompson didn’t miss a beat after taking over one drive into the third quarter.
The sophomore completed all but one pass for 81 yards and tossed a short touchdown to Gary Bryant Jr. on his first score of the 2023 season. Earlier in that drive, Thompson kept the ball on a designed run that saw him plow into a defender for extra yards.
“I think that’s a sign of what Ty is capable of,” Lanning said. “Ty performed exactly how we expected him to perform today. He did a really good job. He started his first drive 3-for-3, he was really efficient, had to make some tough runs, play with some toughness which at quarterback you love to see. I think he proved he can run this offense really well.”
The former blue-chip recruit has impressed coaches and teammates with his growth in the last year in learning Oregon’s scheme and operating the offense at a high level, and Saturday’s game was a good showcase for why Thompson was heralded out of high school.
“You could see he’s been waiting for his opportunity,” Bryant said. “Whenever he gets his opportunity he’s going to go out there and make the best of it … he threw great balls, he threw a great slant to me. Even to the other guys, he was getting in there and making the ball move.”
Gary Bryant Jr. makes his Oregon debut
Speaking of the USC transfer, Bryant had a 100-yard outing in his Oregon debut. He caught a team-high seven balls, hauled in a pair of touchdowns, and fair caught the only punt he fielded.
“I’ve been excited and hungry to get back out there on the field,” he said. “It felt good to be out there with these guys. They’ve welcomed me like a brother, so it felt good to be out there and see how they play against another opponent.”
After getting buried on the depth chart and playing sporadically as a Trojan last season, Bryant relished his new opportunity in his first game as a Duck.
He was the only receiver to catch a touchdown pass from both Nix and Thompson.
“We had some guys that caught the ball well and when they got the ball in their hands they were able to create some yards after catch,” Lanning said. “I don’t think you’d go out there and say any of those throws or routes those guys ran today were remarkably tough, so its about doing the simple things better. Those guys did simple things better today.”
Plenty of true freshmen get playing time
With the relatively new rule that allows true freshmen to preserve a redshirt as long as they play just four games, it comes as no surprise that many Oregon players made their collegiate debuts Saturday afternoon.
But while a good chunk of the 24 true freshmen that played Saturday will look to redshirt, Lanning confirmed that several players will be asked to contribute week-in and week-out as well.
“What I did see today and in the fall is we have a group that wants to compete,” Lanning said. “They understood that if they step on the field, they are viewed no different than a starter. We have a standard of excellence that we expect, and I think a lot of guys try to perform to that level. The only way you’re going to get better at football is by playing, so some of those guys getting out there and getting that early experience, those are going to be guys we’ll rely on later in the season and some of those guys we’ll rely on every game.”
While no true freshmen got a start, several contributed in the first quarter, such as Matayo Uiagalelei, Blake Purchase, Kenyon Sadiq, and Cole Martin.
Uiagalelei came on for the first time in a third-and-long situation as a pass rusher and played significantly in the first half.
Whether it was working as a special teamer or getting playing time in the fourth quarter to build skills for the future, 24 of the 43 true freshmen on the Oregon roster played at least a snap Saturday afternoon. That experience will only reward the Ducks as the season wears on.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, women's basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Takeaways from Oregon football's big win over Portland State
