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Oregon Ducks vs Arizona Wildcats Football Recap

Oregon 48, Arizona 29

The Oregon Ducks trailed the Arizona Wildcats at halftime of Friday evening’s game at a wet Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.

They didn’t need to worry a lick.

An Oregon team that has made a living on outpacing teams after halftime was true to its reputation on Thanksgiving weekend. In the course of a typically dominant second half, the Ducks turned a five-point deficit into a 19-point win that felt a lot more like 31 or 38. In the process, UO moved one step closer to an assured spot in the BCS National Championship Game against Auburn or TCU.

The first half was a genuine fistfight in the Willamette Valley. Arizona played physical football and mixed it up in the trenches with the same vigor the California Golden Bears displayed two weeks before. Coach Mike Stoops’s Wildcats contained Oregon’s ground game and dared UO quarterback Darron Thomas to throw. The strategy worked, and the U of A was able to get off the field on third downs. With Oregon’s offense stuttering and stumbling, Arizona managed to gain a 19-14 lead at the break.

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However, the halftime lead – as nice as it might have been – was still far too small for the visitors from the desert. Arizona had multiple red-zone chances against Oregon’s inconsistent defense but failed to stick the ball in the end zone. Wildcat quarterback Nick Foles was very solid for much of this game, but for all the good things he did – especially in the first one and a half quarters of this contest – he wasn’t able to find the additional daggers his team so desperately needed.

Cal lost to Oregon by only two points (15-13) because it stood on its head defensively. However, that game is most certainly an aberration when one looks at the whole of Oregon’s portfolio this season. The Ducks, under the guidance of coach Chip Kelly, have been a second-half closer par excellence in 2010. They roughed up Tennessee 35-0 in the second half of a Sept. 11 game in Knoxville. They trailed Stanford 21-3 early in the second quarter in the Pac-10 game of the year but then outraced the Cardinal by a 49-10 margin over the final two-plus quarters. Oregon outscored Washington 35-3 over the final 28 minutes of the rivalry game against the hated Huskies, so what was a five-point deficit going to do to the Ducks? It certainly wasn’t going to make them quake (or quack) in their boots.

Oregon simply put its foot on the afterburners and sped away from Zona with its spread option, worked to perfection at a high tempo by Thomas. Oregon relies on fitness, depth and stamina to outwork opponents in the second half, and the Wildcats were just the latest victim of this approach. Oregon piled up 34 points after the break by relentlessly marching downfield. Most of Oregon’s five second-half touchdowns were the products of drives that ate up lots of yards but took relatively little time, given the breakneck pace Kelly insists on from his offense.  Josh Huff (103 yards) and LaMichael James (126 yards) just kept getting the ball, and when the evening was over, the Ducks had 389 rushing yards without breaking too much of a sweat.

That’s how Oregon rolls, and that’s why the Ducks are rolling toward the BCS title game. You need to score big if you want to big this team. A mere 29 points doesn’t cut it against Chip Kelly’s kids. Not even close.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer