It could have been better.
It could have been a lot better.
It certainly couldn’t have been worse as No. 3 Georgia pounded No. 11 Oregon into submission with a 49-3 victory.
Oregon was plagued all day long with missed tackles on defense and missed open receivers on offense. The only good news for the Ducks is that there’s only one way to go from here and that’s up.
The Ducks should have known early on that is was going to be a long day as Oregon was literally pushed around on Georgia’s opening drive.
The size differential was that noticeable and they made linebackers Noah Sewell and Justin Flowe look ordinary.
Georgia scored on its first seven possessions and they made it look almost too easy.
Quarterback Stetson Bennett burned Oregon for 361 yards, two touchdowns, and just six incompletions, going 25-of-31 passing. The Bulldogs also converted their first nine third downs and racked up 571 total yards.
For the Ducks, it was quite the opposite.
Bo Nix was less than stellar as the senior transfer from Auburn was just 21-of-37 for 173 yards and two first-half picks that cut a couple of potential scoring drives short.
“Tough game, obviously, credit to Georgia” said Oregon coach Dan Lanning after the game.
“They did a phenomenal job preparing their team for us. They out-coached us. They outplayed us today. They did a really good job. That being said, I think our players, that locker room, is hurting a little bit, but they’re ready for an opportunity to grow, anxious to get back on the practice field. Certainly a lot of things that we can clean up and fix.”
What hurt the Ducks most was the obvious mismatch in talent, and of course the turnovers.
It’s something you simply can’t do against marquee teams like the Bulldogs.
“The takeaways were bad, and they dominated us on third down” said Lanning.
“We just weren’t able to get up the field. Obviously, the take-aways, that was the second take-away is one that Bo would certainly want back. They were playing buzz coverage into a quads look and forced a throw we don’t
need to force. Bo knows that. He knows that the minute he walked off the field.
On third down, we have to do a better job preparing our guys. Again, they got the ball on the perimeter, and we didn’t have great answers for it.”
The lone bright spot for the Pac-12 representative in the Chick-Fil-A was a Camden Lewis 35-yard goal in the second quarter.
Oregon has a week to clean up a lot as the Ducks open their home schedule next Saturday and face Eastern Washington. The game is set for a 5:30 pm kickoff on the Pac-12 Network.