Breakdowns, Execution, and Discipline Hurt Ducks Defense in Loss
Oregon's defense held Arizona to three points in the first half but then suffered critical breakdowns after halftime in a 31-24 loss Thursday.
(EUGENE, Ore. ) — Oregon’s defense was flying around the ball in practice over the previous five days. On Sunday, the Ducks’ second practice for this week’s game against Arizona, the UO secondary was intercepting passes all over the place, including four by Reggie Daniels.
And so, on Thursday night, when the Ducks hosted the Wildcats, and Daniels’ interception highlighted a first half in which Oregon held Arizona’s 42-points-per-game offense to just three, things seemed to be going as expected. But then the Wildcats exploded for 21 points in the third quarter, and scored the game-winning touchdown with 2:54 left in a 31-24 upset of the Ducks in Autzen Stadium.
“It doesn’t feel real,” UO senior outside linebacker Tony Washington said. “I thought the defense had a great week of practice, and I don’t think it translated today.”
Washington was at the center of the game’s key sequence, after Oregon had scored with 8:21 to go, tying the game 24-24. Arizona drove down the field, converting three straight third downs to reach the red zone. But then DeForest Buckner and T.J. Daniel – playing in place of the injured Arik Armstead – stopped a running play, and Rodney Hardrick hurried Arizona QB Anu Solomon into an incompletion, and Washington sacked him on third down.
But then Washington jumped up from the sack, ran in a looping arc past the Arizona sideline and back toward Oregon’s and stopped to bow toward his teammates – a new celebration receivers Devon Allen and Keanon Lowe have begun using. The Ducks were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, Arizona scored three plays later, and Oregon couldn’t answer.
“We had four more opportunities to stop them, but we didn’t get it done,” Washington said after the penalty that gave Arizona a new set of downs inside the 10-yard line. “It’s on me.”
Had the Ducks forced the Wildcats to kick a field goal there, they might have been able to celebrate holding Arizona to 27 points, more than two touchdowns below its average – and perhaps a win, despite giving up several explosion plays over the course of the night, had the Ducks driven to a touchdown. Instead, Oregon’s defense was left to lament allowing Nick Wilson to average 7.1 yards per carry on 13 rushes, and Solomon’s 20-of-31 passing night for 287 yards and a touchdown, a sublime performance by a redshirt freshman in the hostile environment of Autzen Stadium.
"He did a great job," Washington said. "With the crowd noise, he controlled the game pretty well. My hat's off to him."
“You’ve just got to get off the field,” said UO senior cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, who was flagged for pass interference in the end zone in the third quarter. “We made penalties, made too many mistakes.”
Ekpre-Olomu said the Ducks had some success when they used more man coverage in the middle of the game. But no coverage could make up for the series of penalties in the second half, and by some of Oregon’s most veteran guys – the personal foul on Washington after a sack, another on Hardrick earlier in the half after stopping a run play for a short gain, pass interference calls on Ekpre-Olomu and Troy Hill.
Washington said the game got a bit chippy at times. But he said that’s something the Ducks need to expect from opponents who figure to feed off emotion with a chance to upset a top-ranked team.
“We know what to expect, we know it’s going to happen,” Washington said. “We’ve just got to play more disciplined.”
The Ducks learned that the hard way Thursday, lacking discipline both schematically on some of Arizona’s explosion plays, and on the penalties. Now they’ve got to prove it’s a lesson they only need to learn once the hard way.
“It’s football; you win some, so lose some,” Ekpre-Olomu said. “You’ve just got to fight another game. It’s early. We’ve got to keep playing.”
Source: goducks.com
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