Stock Report: Ducks’ defense struggles, while third-down offense goes missing vs. Huskies

Typically this season, when we’ve gone through a postgame stock report to see which players on the Oregon Ducks roster improved or struggled the most in a game, we’ve found mostly positives to focus on. That shouldn’t come as a surprise when talking about a team that went 11-1 in the regular season and made an appearance in the Pac-12 Championship game.

However, when you lose that Pac-12 Championship game to your biggest rivals, the Washington Huskies, in a fashion that has become all-too-familiar over the past couple of years, it’s hard not to find many areas where improvement is needed.

That’s the case Saturday morning for the Ducks, who woke up with a bad taste in their mouths after a 34-31 loss to Washington that felt like it shouldn’t have been that close. With the loss, Oregon missed out on a spot in the College Football Playoff, and QB Bo Nix likely missed out on a Heisman Trophy.

For Oregon fans, the feeling of disappointment is likely pretty prevalent on Saturday morning. As we continue to dive into the game to find out what went wrong and what went right, let’s go through our stock report to break down a few individuals.

Stock Down: Rushing Defense

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

The Oregon Ducks likely believed they had a pretty strong game plan going into this game. They knew that to beat Washington, you had to slow Michael Penix and hold his trio of incredibly talented wide receivers to moderate numbers. Do that, and they had a shot.

That is assuming that they could stop the rushing attack, which is something that the Ducks have been very good at doing so far this year. They ranked seventh nationally in run defense, allowing just 92 yards per game.

It was a different story on Friday, though. Washington running back Dillon Johnson rushed for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns, including more than 80 yards in the fourth quarter as the Huskies drained the clock on the Ducks.

“We were putting an extra hat in the box there at the end, and they were breaking for extra yards,” Lanning said. “They had some successful runs. We didn’t have their number they had ours.”

In one of the biggest games of the year, Oregon’s defensive line was unable to step up when it needed to. That will be frustrating for Duck fans to come to grips with as this loss settles.

Stock Down: Bo Nix

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

It’s hard to criticize someone when he has over 230 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, but when you’re talking about Bo Nix, the former leading Heisman candidate, the standard is higher.

Nix was uncharacteristically inaccurate on Friday, completing one of his first five passes and throwing a brutal interception in the third quarter when the Ducks had a chance to build on their first lead of the day.

Whether it was because of Washington’s stout defensive secondary that showed up at a great time, or the fact Nix was just trying to force the ball more than normal, the end result was arguably the worst game of the season for No. 10 at the worst possible time. He has fallen out of the Heisman race, and has his college season ended short of his ultimate goal.

Stock Down: Dan Lanning

Ian Maule/Getty Images

Once again, Dan Lanning is drawing tough criticism from the Oregon fan base. While much of the anger is overstated, there is a valid reason for fans to be frustrated after their head coach failed to beat his biggest rival for the third straight time.

Do I think that Lanning is a bad coach? Absolutely not.

Am I less encouraged about Oregon’s future under Dan Lanning and his staff after this loss? Absolutely not.

I think we’ve seen this year more than ever that there is proof in the pudding: Oregon’s program is heading in the right direction. A lot of people, myself included, thought the ultimate goal of hoisting a championship trophy in Eugene was more possible this season than it ever has been.

Ultimately, Lanning and his team came up short. The perception from the outside will be that Lanning can’t get it done in big games, no matter what the belief is among people who matter.

Stock Up: Terrance Ferguson

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

One of the bright spots on the night for Oregon’s offense was tight end Terrance Ferguson, who pulled in a couple of the best catches of his career, both of which went for massive touchdowns in the game.

Throughout the course of this year, I wasn’t sure about Ferguson’s future at Oregon, meaning that I didn’t know if we could expect him to stick around for another year or head to the NFL this offseason. After this type of performance on this big of a stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes off and enters the draft. He is clearly seeing his stock rise.

Stock Up: Traeshon Holden

Ian Maule/Getty Images

It’s been the Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson show in Eugene over the past month, but on Friday night it was Traeshon Holden who stepped up in the biggest moment of the game, scoring on a beautiful catch-and-run 63-yard touchdown to make it a one-score game with just 2 minutes left.

Holden finished with just that one catch, but I think he showed his ceiling once again when he gets the ball in space. I’m under the impression he will stick around for another season in Eugene, and I think he could be a dynamic playmaker for Oregon.

Stock Down: 3rd Down Offense

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

When you zoom out and look at it, this really was just a game of anomalies for the Ducks. That’s not to take anything away from the Huskies, I think they forced Oregon into a lot of those tough situations. One of those anomalies came on third-down conversions: The Ducks were 3-for-10.

Coming into this game, Oregon converted 52.2% of their third downs, which ranked third in the nation. The fact they were so much worse in this massive game is surprising and frustrating.

Stock Down: Untimely Injuries

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

Dan Lanning is not one to make excuses. He routinely refuted the notion that injuries in the game last night contributed to Oregon’s loss, saying that other players on the roster needed to step up, and that every team is injured at this point in the year.

That’s respectable to hear from a head coach. But if he will not say it, I will.

There were some incredibly untimely injuries in this game that I think affected the outcome.

Oregon came into this game without starting cornerback Jahlil Florence and had key players Troy Franklin, Jordan Burch, Khyree Jackson, Jeffrey Bassa, and Tysheem Johnson miss parts of the game due to various ailments. Whether or not the outcome would have been different had any of those players been able to stay on the field the entire game is impossible to know, but I tend to believe their availability would have had some effect.

Stock Up: Jordan James

Ian Maule/Getty Images

In what was a strangely quiet day for Bucky Irving, RB Jordan James proved a major factor for the Ducks, providing a huge spark to the offense in the second half and rushing for the touchdown that cut Washington’s lead to 3 in the third quarter. James finished with five rushes for 35 yards and a touchdown, getting seven yards per carry. It’s unclear what the Ducks’ RB room will look like going forward, but James proved again on Friday night that he should be a major part of it.

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire