Anthony Brown gives Ducks lead, win with touchdown run

Anthony Brown had to beat out a handful of freshmen for the Oregon starting quarterback job. But on Saturday, he showed why he is expected to lead the Ducks back to the Pac-12 Championship Game.

The Boston College transfer had a 30-yard touchdown run with less than three minutes remaining. The score came on fourth down and capped off Oregon’s 31-24 comeback win against Fresno State.

Really nice run by Anthony Brown to put Oregon ahead.

Oregon has a 31-24 lead with 2:57 to go. pic.twitter.com/nfjRJxgRNJ

— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) September 4, 2021

Brown finished the day 15-of-24 passing for 172 yards and a touchdown pass to Johnny Johnson III. The quarterback carried the ball 16 times, too, for 62 yards and averaged 3.9 yards per carry.

Oregon’s offense has room to grow, though. Speaking in his postgame press conference, Brown was blunt and said the Ducks were not firing on all cylinders.

Oregon quarterback competition

Brown beat out freshmen Robby Ashford, Jay Butterfield and Ty Thompson for the starting job. He transferred to Oregon in spring of 2020 and served as backup to Tyler Shough last fall. 

In a limited role with the Ducks last year, Brown went 15-of-23 passing for 164 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 40 yards and a pair of scores on seven carries. He made his Oregon debut in the Pac-12 Championship Game and completed 3-of-4 passes for 17 yards and pair of touchdowns.

“The way he handles and has command of the offense, his presence amongst the players at the line of scrimmage, his ability to improvise — sometimes negotiate throws in tough situations, his ability to run the ball, he’s been really accurate and his explosive play ratio has been really high against a defense that we feel is really good,” Cristobal said. “Anthony has done a great job. Quite frankly, he’s the starter because he’s done a great job.”

Prior to arriving at Oregon, Brown started three seasons at Boston College, but spent significant time sidelined with knee injuries. During his time with the Eagles, he threw for 4,738 yards, 40 touchdowns and 20 interceptions and ran for 423 yards and four touchdowns.

Latest update on Kayvion Thibodeaux

Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux was seen on the sidelines with a walking boot late in the third quarter of Saturday’s game. Expected to be one of the top picks in next year’s NFL Draft, a teammate rolled on his ankle in the first half. 

Ducks coach Mario Cristobal confirmed that Thibodeaux sprained his ankle or foot. X-rays came back negative, and the coach does not think the injury is too serious. 

“Kayvon’s injury was certainly something you don’t want to see happen for anybody,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said. “It hurts us considerably on the edge.”

Oregon came from behind to defeat Fresno State, 31-24, on an Anthony Brown touchdown run. Thibodeaux is a crucial piece to Oregon’s defense, the Ducks are set to travel to Columbus for a huge non-conference showdown with Ohio State next week.