Duck Universe - Ducks 55, Huskies 34: Game Analysis

Ducks 55, Huskies 34: Game Analysis

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 20 October 2007

By Dietrich Moore

For those of you who watched the game from start to finish you would think the game would have ended a little bit differently. You probably thought the game would be one that the team with the ball at the end would probably win the game. However, that was not the case as the Oregon Ducks had their way with the Washington Huskies in the 100^th meeting between these two teams.

The Huskies came into today’s game with the goal of stopping the run, slowing down the Oregon offense and utilizing Jake Locker’s special ability to run and create plays. Well, that was the case through three quarters as the score was tied at 31 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter told a different story as the Oregon offense exploded for 24 points while the Duck defense held the Huskies to just three points. The Oregon offense showed no ill effects as they played the first game without tailback Jeremiah Johnson and wide receiver Cameron Colvin. Wide receiver Aaron Pflugrad and tailback Andre Crenshaw stepped up to fill the void left by Johnson and Colvin.

The Duck offense literally ran their way to victory today rushing for a school record 465 yards. They passed for only 196 yards for a total of 661 yards. It is obvious Dennis Dixon didn’t need to pass all that much since the offensive line dominated the Husky front seven. The ability to run the ball the way Oregon did through zone plays and misdirection option plays with three running options presented an opportunity to dictate much of the ball game. The offense controlled the clock and ran 30 more offensive plays than their opponent. With that said…do the math…the more opportunities you have to score the more your chance of scoring increases.

Jonathan Stewart scores against the Huskies (Photo by Brian Schapper)

Conversely, the Duck defense struggled a little bit today allowing 421 total yards of which 164 came on the ground and the remaining 257 through the air. Locker did everything he could in today’s game to aid his team in a victory, but it was not enough. Locker had his best game of the year statistically throwing for 257 yards and rushing for 78 yards on 13 attempts. He also threw four touchdowns in today’s game which tied his season high and was over half of the amount he had prior to today.

The Oregon defense’s biggest issue today was the big play. The Ducks wanted to stop the run and pressure Locker to make his pass decision-making difficult as he had proven to be inconsistent in the passing game. Oregon pressured Locker a lot during the game and the Washington quarterback did a fair job. The Oregon defense had a hard time against the run early in the game giving up some long runs to Locker (47 yards) and Louis Rankin (23 yards). All of the Huskies’ scoring touchdowns came from pass plays of 83, 26, and 43 yards. The 43-yard touchdown to Rankin was off a screen play that caught Oregon in a blitz. If you recall last week’s analysis I mentioned that if a defensive team gets caught in a blitz when the opposing offense runs a screen pass the chance for a big play increases…which was the result of the aforementioned play. It’s always a gamble when you blitz a quarterback like Locker but Oregon believed Locker would not be able to beat them throwing the ball and they were right! Locker and the Husky offense appeared to have the Oregon defense on its heels much of the game but the old saying, “it matters how you start but more importantly it matters how you finish,” comes to mind as the Oregon defense finished the game in the fourth quarter which allowed the Ducks to pull away.

Even though the defense gave up points and yardage, they made plays when they absolutely needed to, holding the Husky offense to just three points in the fourth quarter while the Oregon offense rattled off 24 points. It was a game where momentum was shifting back and forth but the Ducks never relinquished their lead. This was a game where the Oregon Ducks have moved up in the BCS standings while the Washington Huskies will be working hard to get to six wins so they can be bowl eligible.

Next week look for the Oregon offense to pick up where they left off against a stingy USC defense. The Oregon defense will need correct the assignment errors from this game in preparation for the game next week against the Trojans. The Ducks are in control of their own destiny at this point.

Comments

Add New