5 Key Takeaways from Oregon’s Dominating Win over Colorado

Oregon’s offense puts together their best performance of the year vs Buffs

Oregon put together their most complete performance this year offensively, dropping a fifty burger (and then some) on the Colorado Buffaloes Saturday at Autzen Stadium. This is the type of performance the fans have wanted to see from Anthony Brown and Oregon’s offense, here are five takeaways I had from the game.

1. Oregon’s Offense has the Ability to be Elite

Oregon’s offense was simply incredible today, with Oregon’s offense scoring on every drive in the first half. If it wasn’t for the clock at the end of the first half they could have scored a touchdown on every offensive possession in the 1st half. Anthony Brown was exceptional today, completing over 80% of his passes and throwing for over 300 yards for the first time in his college career. If Oregon can keep this offensive efficiency going they should be able to win the rest of their regular-season games.

2. Young Running Backs Have Lots of Talent

Today was a breakout performance for freshman running back Byron Cardwell who rushed for 127 yards on just seven carries and a touchdown. He was physical and made some great moves in space as well. 

The true freshman looks to be grabbing a hold of the backup running back spot, though not without competition. Seven McGee also played well today, with 20 yards on 5 carries and another 21 yards on catches out of the backfield.

3. Oregon Finally Figured Out Its Penalty Woes

Oregon had zero penalties in the first half and only ended with 5 penalties for 40 total yards for the whole game. For a team that has been downright undisciplined at times and allowed over 70 penalty yards per game, this is a welcome site for Mario Cristobal’s team, which up until this year had not been a highly penalized team.

4. Defensive Depth is a Concern

There was a time in this game where Oregon was down to only one healthy safety on scholarship. That, along with the Ducks defense putting in the backups in the 2nd half and getting exposed on the defensive end shows just how much the injuries have hurt them this season. They might be holding up with the starters, but they don’t seem to have viable backups behind them at the moment. It’s definitely something to monitor going forward.

5. Ty Thompson Showed Why Brown is the Starter

We got to see some of Ty Thompson late in the game with the game well in hand, but he showed why he was the backup with a few of his throws. He underthrew a potential touchdown and later in the drive locked in on a receiver too long and threw an interception. Clearly, it was a very small sample size, but it was not a good showing for the true freshman. He is still uber-talented but it shows why Anthony Brown has kept the job all season long.

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