No. 3 Oregon Survives Season Opener Scare, Defeats Idaho 24-14

Oregon Football opened its first Big Ten Conference season with a sluggish 24-14 win over FCS Idaho.

First half:

Idaho received the ball first and was met with a quick three and out to open the afternoon.

I was surprised to see Tez Johnson returning punts and wasn’t necessarily crazy about the risk-reward proposition there.

After a few quick receiving first downs on screens to Jordan James, Terrance Ferguson, and Kenyon Sadiq, Oregon’s offense punched it in on a flat route to receiver Tez Johnson for the Ducks’ first score of the season.

Jordan Burch came up with a sack on the ensuing Idaho possession to force a long third down which the Vandals failed to convert.

A drive apiece failed to net anything for either team and Oregon regained possession with two minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The drive ended in a missed field goal for transfer kicker Atticus Sappington from about 53 yards out, keeping the score at 7-0.

Idaho regained possession and was intercepted by transfer Brandon Johnson in the endzone to give Oregon its first real shot of momentum.

The Ducks began to assert themselves in the run game and opened it up with intermediate passes to Sadiq and Johnson before running back Jordan James took an outside handoff to the endzone to make it 14-0 Ducks with 7:00 left in the first half.

Oregon then forced a punt after a couple of Idaho first downs to get the ball back with 4:41 left in the half.

The Ducks sputtered out of the two-minute warning with quarterback Dillon Gabriel being strip-sacked with 1:26 remaining for a turnover.

After Idaho’s ensuing drive stalled, Oregon got in a couple of plays before the half ran out.

Second half:

The Ducks received the second-half kickoff and promptly went three and out following a penalty and sack before Idaho did the same.

Jordan James was attended to by trainers following a sharp first-down carry but made his own way off the field.

A fake punt given to Kenyon Sadiq failed to pick up the first down and Idaho took over on downs.

Idaho pulled off the play of the game with a double flea flicker on a dual sweep action that ended in a wide open touchdown pass to tight end Jake Cox.

Terrance Ferguson was briefly down on the field following a reception for a medium gain but seemed to recover quickly.

Noah Whittington gashed Idaho’s defense off-tackle a couple of times as Oregon worked its way into the red zone before a holding penalty assessed on Iapani Laloulu forced a 3rd & 13 that ultimately stalled Oregon into kicking a reluctant field goal.

A phenomenal catch from Idaho receiver Mark Hamper gave the Vandals a sharp start to their first drive of the fourth quarter before a screen to running back Elijah Cummings took Idaho into the red zone.

Quarterback Jack Layne took a short scamper into the end zone to bring the game within three points at 17-14.

Jordan James broke free on a couple of nice runs to give Oregon a good start on its most important drive of the game before Tez Johnson scored his second touchdown of the game to put the Ducks up 24-14 with 5:36 remaining.

EDGE Matayo Uiagalelei sacked Jack Layne forcing a long third down that Idaho was unable to convert.

After stalling on a potential game-ending drive, Ducks cornerback Nikko Reed made a circus interception to ice the contest just inside the two-minute warning.

I suspect this is the worst performance Oregon will have this season, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Despite a tremendous amount of substitution throughout the game and various bumps and bruises, it’s hard to be impressed with what the Ducks put forth in week one.