Despite Win over Washington State, Oregon Not Playoff-Ready

Oregon may have escaped with a road win over Washington State; however, the Ducks are nowhere near ready to compete for a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff.

If it hadn’t been for the performance of Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota, who finished the night with more touchdown passes than incompletions, Oregon would have lost to the Cougars.

Mariota didn’t just lead the Ducks to victory; he tied the team to his back and dragged it to a win. 

Let’s start with the obvious reason as to why Oregon struggled so mightily against a Washington State team that had previously lost to Rutgers and Nevada—the offensive line. The Ducks offensive line played their worst 60 minutes of football in the Mariota era, which dates back to 2012.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the new Ducks tackles—true freshman left tackle Tyrell Crosby and right tackle Matt Pierson—that struggled against Washington State. Center Hroniss Grasu and guard Hamani Stevens had troubles of their own against a team that came in with four sacks on the season, according to Chantel Jennings of ESPN.com.

The Ducks offensive line allowed seven sacks of Mariota, by the far the most he has even been sacked in his career. Coming into Saturday, the highest number of sacks he had faced in one game was three. The Cougars sacked him five times in the first half alone. 

The number of sacks only illuminates how well Mariota played. On the night he was 21-of-25 for 329 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 13 carries for 58 yards. However, when you account for the sacks, he ran for almost 100 yards overall.

When asked about Mariota's performance tonight, head coach Mark Helfrich could only say he was ''ridiculous", according to Nicholas Geranios of The Associated Press (h/t Yahoo).

While Oregon’s pass blocking was suspect at best, the run blocking from the offensive line wasn’t much better. The Ducks, one of the best running teams in the nation, carried the ball 42 times for a grand total of 172 yards—an average of 4.1 yards per carry. Coming into the game, the Cougars ranked No. 94 in the nation against the rush.

Oregon’s offensive line has been decimated by injuries, and creating a makeshift line on the fly isn’t the easiest task in the world. Losing left tackle Tyler Johnstone before the season got started was a big blow to the line, as were the subsequent losses of right tackle Andre Yruretagoyena and left tackle Jake Fisher. However, Mark Helfrich has preached that the next man up, regardless of your class, is expected to play at a high level.

“We're at the point now where there's not freshmen and sophomores and juniors and seniors.” Helfrich told Andrew Greif of The Oregonian. “If you're in there you're our No. 1 guy period. We expect those guys to play like it and play great if they've been here for three games or three years.”

The Ducks offensive line didn't play anywhere near the vicinity of a high level. It’s one of the reasons why, despite Oregon’s victory over Washington State, that the Ducks are nowhere near ready to compete in the College Football Playoff.

However, it is certainly not the only reason.

Yes, the Ducks offense struggled at times on Saturday, mostly due to the spotty play from the offensive line. But they did score 38 points, largely thanks to the heroics of Mariota and the solid play of the wide receivers—specifically Keanon Lowe and Devon Allen who both scored two touchdowns. In all reality, it was the Ducks defense that failed to shine on the national stage, leading many to question if this was the defense of a second-ranked team in the nation. 

The Ducks defense conceded 499 yards and 31 points to quarterback Connor Halliday and company. While Halliday “only” threw the ball 63 times, 26 less attempts than last year, he completed 43 of those passes for 436 yards and four touchdowns. More importantly, Halliday committed no turnovers—something he did four times in last year’s matchup.

Washington State only committed one turnover on the night—a fumble recovered by the Ducks in the third quarter. That turnover directly led to an Oregon touchdown, but only after Mariota scrambled 28 yards along the sideline on 4th-and-10.

Oregon’s defense failed to put pressure on Halliday all night, and the secondary—specifically All-American cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu—was consistently beaten by Cougar wide receivers—notably River Cracraft and Dom Williams.

Ekpre-Olomu—Oregon’s most high-profile defender—likely had his worst performance as a Duck on Saturday night. In the first quarter alone he was beaten twice by Williams for a touchdown. 

While the statistics may compare favorably to last season's matchup against the Cougars where the Ducks defense allowed 38 points and 557 yards through the air, the reality is that Oregon struggled once again against a high-profile passing attack. If there’s one thing that Pac-12 offenses do very well, it's throw the ball.

It’s disconcerting for Oregon that Halliday is the second quarterback to throw for over 300 yards against them this season, the other being Michigan State’s Connor Cook. Worse yet, the Ducks have only played four games so far. 

There were other mistakes made by players and coaches alike that led to Oregon’s narrow victory over the Cougars. Oregon kicker Matt Wogan missed a short 32-yard field goal on the first drive after halftime that would have given the Ducks a bit of a cushion.

Defensive coordinator Don Pellum failed to make adjustments to Halliday and the “Air-Raid” offense. The Ducks played in zone coverage for most of the night while rushing only three players at Halliday. It’s tough to stop the Washington State passing attack when he has all the time in the world to gun down his receivers.

When the Ducks brought the pressure, they were successful, including on their last two defensive plays of the night, the last of which resulted in Oregon’s only sack by linebacker Tony Washington.

The Ducks also committed an egregious number of penalties. Oregon had 10 penalties called against it for a total of 86 yards.

When asked about the victory, Helfrich would only say that road wins are tough in the Pac-12 conference and there was a ton of adversity facing the Ducks.

''A road win in this conference is hard,'' Helfrich said, according to Geranios. ''We are 4-0 and we got a big win on the road. There was a ton of adversity.”

The Ducks have a long way to go if they want to be considered as one of the four teams worthy of selection into the inaugural College Football Playoff.

If Saturday is any indication of the Ducks' future, it doesn’t look bright. However, if this was just a bump in the road and the Ducks are conscientious of the fact that they cannot continue to let Marcus Mariota bail them out of difficult situations, then maybe this was a necessary bruise.

They survived. They advanced. Now where do the Ducks go from here?

That is the question everyone will be asking come Monday morning.

Jason Gold is Bleacher Report’s lead Oregon writer. Follow Jason on Twitter@TheSportsGuy33.