Oregon Ducks Football: Ducks Pour It On Late Against Nicholls

Oregon jumped out on Nicholls early taking a big lead in the first and then coasted through themiddle and poured it on late en route to a 66-3 win. Oregon made history having three running backs go over the 100 yard mark for the first time as well as their highest yard total in school history with 772 yards. The Ducks were led on the ground by De'Anthony Thomas totaling 128 yards and 2 touchdowns. Marcus Mariota did not look sharp early on but did manage to get 234 yards passing and 113 on the ground with two scores on the ground and one through the air. "I started the game off kind of juiced a little bit and I missed a couple throws high," Mariota said, "once the game started flowing, I started throwing the ball a little better." Marcus Washington gained 132 all purpose yards for the Colonels in a losing effort and Kalen Henderson played well in a reserve role, passing for 214 yards.

De'Anthony got the scoring started with his first of 2 touchdowns on the day, taking it in from four yards out following a 27 yard scramble my Marcus Mariota. Bralon Addison and Thomas would each add touch downs before Oregon's offense stalled for the first time and Alejandro Maldonado capped the first half scoring with a 29 yard field goal. The first half also saw Oregon's first ejection due to the targeting rule when Beaux Hebert headed for the sideline on a scramble and went to a slide. Terrance Mitchell came in late and got called for targeting. Mitchell was ejected and Hebert would not return to the game. Coach Aliotti was fiery in a post game interview, "The timing was a bang-bang thing. I'd like to see the film but that was my take on it. Maybe I'm biased because it's our team. 15 yard penalty I agree with. Ejection? No." The Colonels would conclude the drive with a field goal to put them on the board. Marcus Mariota would find his way into the end zone on the ground twice in the second quarter, once on a scramble and the other on a 46 yard zone read to stretch the Oregon lead to 38-3.

Nicholls would control the ball through much of the third quarter, only allowing two possessions to the Ducks, the first of which resulting in a turnover on downs. The second though resulted in a 5 play 97 yard drive which only took 1:20 off the clock. Oregon got out of the shadow of their goal posts and then Byron Marshall exploded over the right side for 49 yards for a score. When asked about leaving Marcus Mariota in the game through the third, coach Mark Helfrich said, "We wanted to leave with a better taste in our mouth on offense before we started substituting and I'm glad we finished the way we did." Oregon would add another 3 scores in the 4^th with rushing touchdowns from Colt Lyerla, Jeff Lockie and a passing score from Jake Rodrigues. By that point the final 5 minutes were a formality as Dustin Haines finished in the mop up duty.

Quietly, Josh Huff went over 100 yards receiving and had 5 receptions, while Addison was himself having a good game, adding yards after the catch and displaying agility getting away from defenders with relative ease. Oregon only scored offensively, but Keanon Lowe provided excitement on a punt return. The special teams has a way to go still, but a blocked field goal for the defense and quality returns show the cupboard is far from bare. Oregon has many kinks to work out but a game like this may be just what Oregon needs before they face FBS competition.