Three Up/Three Down: Oregon Defeats Colorado 49-10

In a convincing 49-10 win over Colorado the Ducks came up with big plays on both sides of the ball.

The Oregon Ducks earned another win on Saturday, extending their streak to eight with a dominant showing over Colorado. Continuing to solidify their position at the top of the Pac-12, the Ducks will now prepare to welcome the Washington Huskies for a rivalry showdown next week.

Here are three up and three down from this weekend's game.

Three up

1. The O- line

Oregon’s O-line doesn’t always get the respect that it deserves. They’ve been able to protect Bo Nix this year, allowing just one sack so far this season. 

Not only have their consistency and effectiveness helped Nix become a more confident passer and air it out, and their ability to open holes at the line of scrimmage and beyond have helped the run game take off.

The big boys up front have been the backbone of this offense and helped Oregon compile 479 yards of total offense in Boulder.

2. Scoring early

Oregon hasn’t scored much in the first quarter of games. But they did today, scoring two touchdowns in the first 15 minutes. On top of that, both were nonconventional, with a Bucky Irving throwing it to Nix out of the backfield, and true freshman offensive lineman Josh Conley Jr. even hauling in a touchdown pass on his birthday.  Oregon also had a rushing touchdown from linebacker Noah Sewell early in the second quarter. They scored in bunches and were up by three scores at halftime.

3. Finding rhythm fast

Oregon hasn't always gotten off to fast starts on the road this year. At times it's taken them until late in the first or early in the second to really get into that rhythm. 

Oregon didn’t have that problem against the Buffs. The Ducks hit the field running, with a 58-yard explosive play from Nix to Kris Hutson. This helped Oregon score 28 points in the first half.

Three down

1. Secondary still an issue

Oregon’s pass defense has still given up some big plays. On Saturday it was most notably the 81-yard bomb to Jordyn Tyson early in the second quarter. Alex Fontenot was also able to find some space on the Buffs' first drive of the second half for 27 yards.

While the defense has made a lot of strides, they're still the one thing that is a concern for this team. They also had a couple of near interceptions that they could have gotten and returned either for touchdowns or have good field position for the Oregon offense. Christian Gonzalez did have a near pick six and another interception in the third quarter, with that being of the biggest takeaways from this game.

2. Third downs

The Ducks so far this season haven’t been able to convert on third downs. Granted they haven’t always needed it, but when they do, they aren't consistently able to move the sticks.

Early in Saturday's game they had a couple of instances when they got held up on third down and couldn’t convert. A couple times they had fourth downs that they were able to convert, before punting later in the drive.

On defense they couldn’t get off the field consistently, as Colorado put together several long drives, including three of over ten plays. Boulder ended up going 8-for-15 on third down.

3: Playing in less-than-ideal weather

This is one that is a bit of a carryover from the UCLA game when it was rainy and windy at Autzen. For this week in Boulder, there were some serious winds that both teams had to deal with.

Lanning mentioned it to the ESPN sideline reporter before the game. This game featured a lot of rushing at first, until everyone settled into playing with the wind. The reason this is a down is Oregon didn’t put the game away even when playing well in less severe weather-- same as the UCLA game with the rain. 

They were able to put up enough to keep it out of reach against the Buffs. The Buffs were able to stay in it for part of game before Oregon put it away for sure at the end of the third.

The Ducks will need to put games away against some of these teams later down the line, especially if they make a new year’s six bowl or potentially the playoff.

READ MORE: Oregon stomps Colorado 49-10 behind another offensive explosion

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