Oregon vs. Oregon State: Game Grades, Analysis for the Ducks

Able to avoid the upset, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Oregon State Beavers by a score of 47-19. However, the score isn't indicative of how the game truly went.

At one point, Mark Helfrich's team was up 30-0 early in the second quarter. From that point on, the Ducks may have taken their proverbial webbed feet off the gas pedal. 

Marcus Mariota had six touchdowns and over 400 yards of total offense. As usual, he was sensational in his distribution of the football on Saturday night. 

The Beavers didn't have the talent or depth to match up with their in-state rival. Sean Mannion threw for only 162 yards on the evening. A bright spot was running back Storm Woods. He led the team in rushing yards (128), receptions (six) and receiving yards (58). 

A full box score of the game can be found here, courtesy of NCAA.com. Analysis for the Oregon position units can be found below, in addition to game grades for both the first half and the game in its entirety. 

Position Unit	First-Half Grades	Final Grades
Passing Offense	A	A
Pass Defense	A	A
Rushing Offense	A	B+
Run Defense	B	B-
Special Teams	B+	A-
Coaching	A	A

Oregon Ducks Game Analysis

Passing Offense

Mariota finished the game 19-of-25 for 367 yards and four touchdowns. He threw some absolute lasers down the field to Dwayne Stanford and Darren Carrington, in particular. Mariota also demonstrated immense touch on both touchdown throws to Charles Nelson. 

He really did anything he wanted to with the ball. Mariota placed the ball to all parts of the field. If NFL scouts want to see a nearly flawless performance throwing the football, they should watch the tape of this game. 

Pass Defense

Oregon State's passing attack was relatively vanilla tonight. Credit Oregon's secondary for keeping everything underneath. Not once did the unit get beat with anything vertically down the field. 

Credit Oregon with holding the Pac-12's most prolific passer to only 162 yards. It also held Oregon State's best receiver, Victor Bolden, to four catches for a paltry 13 yards. 

Rushing Offense

Royce Freeman gashed the Beavers early, especially on runs outside the tackles. The offensive line did a very nice job of opening up holes and running lanes for the talented freshman back. As a whole, the unit rushed for 198 yards on 40 carries. Mariota had two rushing scores.

However, pass protection became an issue. Oregon State's front seven got after the Oregon signal-caller, and it wasn't even with blitzes. Many of the breakdowns were in one-on-one situations. Mariota, in particular, took some considerable shots in the second half. 

Run Defense

This was the most problematic unit on the evening. Woods did a very nice job of getting up the field, using his combination of vision and power to get good yardage. It's a bit concerning for Oregon to allow a backup running back to accrue over 120 yards on the ground. Tackling was also an issue at times.

In the first quarter, the unit did a great job of stuffing Oregon State on two back-to-back short rushing attempts. As has been the case the entire year, Joe Walker flashed with his ability to exploit the gaps and get into the backfield. 

As a whole, Oregon State rushed for 142 yards on 32 carries. That equates to 4.4 yards per carry.

Special Teams

Nelson had an adventure fielding punts in tonight's game. The freshman out of Florida nearly fumbled the first punt attempt he had, and he muffed the second chance. Although Oregon recovered the fumble, he was removed from that role in favor of former basketball player Johnathan Loyd. 

Matt Wogan connected on both of his field-goal attempts. On the first touchdown, Oregon failed to convert on a two-point conversion attempt.  

Against better competition, these mistakes could prove to be very costly. 

Coaching

The offense was ruthless during the first portion of the game. Oregon State really had no answer for the tempo and efficiency of the unit. As the game progressed, the team seemed to lower its collective intensity level. Up 30 points early in the second quarter, human nature surely dictated a bit of a letdown. 

Defensively, it wasn't an overly adventurous effort. The plan seemed to be about keeping everything underneath and not allowing the combination of Mannion and Bolden to link up with big plays down the field. 

For now, it's key that Oregon gets healthy and prepared for Arizona. The Ducks are one win away from playing in the inaugural playoff.