Players of the game: Oregon vs. Fresno State

It wasn’t pretty at times, but Oregon escaped with a win in its season-opener Saturday at Autzen Stadiums.

In their 31-24 victory over Fresno State, the Ducks flashed plenty to be excited about on the defensive side of things, but also several concerning aspects. With Ohio State on the horizon those concerns will dominate the headlines this week.

Every Sunday, a combination of ScoopDuck writers will provide selections for offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week.

With Week 1 in the books, Justin and I have settled on our picks.

Justin Hopkins

Offense: Johnny Johnson III

The offense struggled all day so this was a tough one to pick. But I thought when Oregon needed it most, Johnson was the guy the staff and Anthony Brown counted on to make a tough catch. 

Johnson ended up with 76 receiving yards and a touchdown. It was a good game and despite all the attention Troy Franklin or Devon Williams gets, Johnson remains Oregon’s most consistent receiver. 

Defense: Brandon Dorlus

Had he played more, this would have probably been Kayvon Thibodeaux. But Dorlus stepped in and was very disruptive in his own right on Saturday. He was relentless pressuring the quarterback who often had to roll away from his side to extend the play.

Dorlus will have a chance this week to make another impact on the game as he’ll be needed in Columbus on Saturday

Special Teams: Tom Snee

Oregon’s punter might have been its best player period. Snee was hanging some beauties all day and probably is a big reason Oregon was still in the game late. 

It’s not necessarily a good thing your punter has such a big day but it beats the alternative, which is him having a bad one. 

Jarrid Denney

Offense: CJ Verdell

For the sake of Justin and I not being aligned with all three of our picks, I’m selecting Verdell over Johnny Johnson III, who I thought was the obvious choice. It’s slim picking on the offensive side of things, but Verdell had some bright moments Saturday.

He was slow out of the gate; Oregon struggled to run the ball in general early on and had just 63 rushing yards at halftime. When the Ducks needed him to get going in the fourth quarter, though, Verdell started picking up chunk yardage. His day might have looked much better if his 17-yard run late in the game hadn’t been called back for holding.

Defense: Brandon Dorlus

Dorlus was so good Saturday that Pro Football Focus selected him for its team of the week and tabbed the sophomore as its “secret superstar of the week.” According to PFF, Dorlus won 32.5% of his 40 pass-rush reps.

He delivered a massive performance, especially with Kayvon Thibodeaux sidelined for much of the game. There was plenty of speculation during the summer that Dorlus could be the next Duck to take the leap and become a consistent force. If Saturday is any indicator, he’s well on his way.

Special teams: Tom Snee

I wrote about Snee a bit on Saturday, but it’s worth noting once again just how impressive he was against Fresno State. The sophomore punted five times for 234 total yards and an average of 46.8 yards. He landed four of those punts inside the Fresno State 20.

A few weeks ago, Mario Cristobal said this about the difficulties Snee had adjusting to a two-step approach when he first arrived at Oregon: “He can tell you, I was all over him like there’s no tomorrow. It was rough. But he’s resilient. …. He just grinds and he’s a perfectionist.”

It’s safe to say that hard work has payed off. Snee looked tremendous on Saturday and kept Oregon in the game when the offense was sputtering.