It should have never have come down to the leg of Camden Lewis and Oregon knows it.
The Ducks made, shall we say, some questionable coaching decisions during the game and Washington was able to defeat Oregon 36-33 in Seattle Saturday night.
Oregon falls to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference action. Washington is now 6-0 overall and is in the driver’s seat to advance to the Pac-12 title game and possibly the College Football Playoff.
Even with all of the action and so-so decisions, Lewis had a chance to tie the game with a 43-yard field goal as time ran out. But the usually reliable kicker pushed it to the right, sending the Husky crowd onto the field in jubilation.
When Oregon looks back on this game, the Ducks will think about three decisions they probably want back.
Right before halftime, Oregon had the chance to kick a field goal and cut the deficit to 22-21, but coach Dan Lanning went for it on fourth and goal from the three and the Washington defense came up with the stop.
Midway through the third quarter, the Ducks found themselves in a similar situation down 29-18 and instead of kicking a short field goal to make it a one-possession game, Lanning went for it and the Huskies defense rose to the occasion.
Despite those miscues, the Oregon offense got off the deck and found the end zone two times and eventually had a 33-29 lead with six minutes to go. Bo Nix was able to run four minutes off the clock and it was decision time again.
Oregon was at midfield with a fourth-and-three. Washington had no timeouts. If the Ducks make the first down, the game is over. Down make it, you give Michael Penix 50 yards to score a touchdown.
But the Ducks could have punted it and made Penix go 85-90 yards for a touchdown … with no timeouts.
Lanning elected to go for it and for the third time, the roll of the dice didn’t go his way. Oregon was stuffed and it took Penix just two plays to go 50 yards and score the game-winning touchdown.
If one looks at the stat sheet, it looks as if Oregon won easily. The Ducks had more passing yards, and more rushing yards, won the time of possession and even had fewer penalties. The only stat they didn’t win was the only one that mattered, the score.
Now the Ducks need to gather themselves up, forget about this game and prepare for another pass-happy team in Washington State next week at Autzen.