Anthony Brown shines in final game at Autzen Stadium

EUGENE — The relationship between Duck fans and Anthony Brown is a complicated one.

Brown led Oregon to one of the brightest moments in program history and has been the heart and soul of its injury-depleted squad this season. He has also been much-maligned at times for his failure to consistently move the ball through the air.

The story on Brown’s Oregon career is still being written. On Saturday, he ensured that the last chapter will be a consequential one.

In his final game at Autzen Stadium, Brown went 23-for-28 passing for 275 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 83 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, and led the Ducks to a 38-29 win over rival Oregon State.

Coming off a devastating loss last weekend that crushed their national title hopes, Oregon could have simply rolled over and died Saturday. Brown played his best game of the season and made certain that wouldn’t be the case.

Now, with a rematch against Utah set for next Friday in Las Vegas, Brown and the Ducks’ are one game away from a Rose Bowl berth. It’s quite the turnaround for a team that looked dead in the water a week ago.

“Just a great performance by a great team leader,” Mario Cristobal said of Brown.

That snippet from Oregon’s head coach makes it sounds simple. It was anything but that.

After the Utah loss, Brown was crestfallen. The Utes’ star-studded defensive front used him as a tackling dummy for four quarters in Salt Lake, and he looked like he could hardly walk when he came out to meet with reporters for his postgame press conference.

Brown — and the rest of Oregon’s players — looked broken last weekend. At that point, it was fair to wonder if the Ducks would meet a similar fate from a similarly-physical Oregon State team this weekend.

But in the span of seven days, they found a way to flush the loss and re-discover their offensive identity while playing some of their best football of the season.

“I would just say we earned this opportunity to get back in this game with (Utah),” Brown said. “We’ll do everything we can to flip that narrative of what happened previously.”

Contextualizing what makes Brown so valuable to Oregon isn’t always easy. Statistically, his 2021 resume won’t blow anybody away. His inconsistency throwing the football often makes for a frustrating experience for Oregon fans. Through the good and the bad, though, the coaching staff has never waivered in its confidence in him.

From the get-go Saturday, it was crystal clear why that is the case. Brown was equally effective throwing and running the ball and he kept a quality Oregon State defense on its heels all day. He made more downfield throws than he has in any other game this season, and he was near-perfect throwing on third down.

The easiest way to understand what makes Brown so integral to the Ducks isn’t to watch the film or read the box score, though. It’s to listen to how those who go to work with him each day talk about him.

“He’s just got that leadership, man,” Oregon receiver Kris Hutson said. “We all follow behind him.”

“AB, he’s always been a major factor and a leader in this program,” receiver Devon Williams said. “It was crucial this week. We all had that hurt in us from Utah week, and shoot, we all decided to bounce back.”

Six weeks ago in Oregon’s nail-biting win over Cal, a large portion of the Ducks’ home crowd booed Brown. There were frequent chants of “we want Thompson” — a clear call for true freshman quarterback Ty Thompson to take over the starting job.

On Saturday, a month and a half later, Brown stepped on the field pregame for Oregon’s senior day ceremony. When Don Essig announced his name over the PA system, it was met by a chorus of cheers from the Autzen faithful.

Brown has two games left in his college career. He was asked Saturday about his journey to Oregon, and what it meant to have been a part of this moment after such a winding path.

“I wouldn’t change it. It led me to this point, and it made me a better person,” Brown said. “It made me a better man. It made me a better friend to others.

“It was special going out (at home) the way I did and the way we did. It was a great experience.”