Bring on the Huskies.
That rematch the entire country wanted will actually occur as Oregon earned its way into the Pac-12 Championship Game next week with a 31-7 beating of the Beavers Friday night.
With the Civil War victory, the Ducks ended the regular season 11-1 with that only loss coming at the hands of the Huskies. The winner of next week’s game will most likely advance to the College Football Playoff.
But the rematch wouldn’t have been set up if the Ducks hadn’t taken care of business against the Beavers. Oregon’s first possession was a clear indication of how the game was going to go. The Ducks took nearly nine minutes off the clock in a 15-play, 88-yard drive to take the 7-0 lead.
It was 14-0 early in the second quarter as Bo Nix rushed for 14 yards on a designed quarterback run that caught the Beavers by surprised.
After the two teams traded possessions, including a missed field goal from Camden Lewis, the Beavers finally cracked the scoreboard late in the quarter on a nine-yard reception to Silas Bolden.
Even though the Ducks had dominated the entire first half, the Beavers were just down 14-7 with 54 seconds left before halftime. But as we all learned last week, that is plenty of time for Oregon to march down the field and score.
The Beavers saw it firsthand.
Oregon managed to go 78 yards in just 40 seconds, which ended with a possible Heisman moment for Nix. He ran to his left and throw across the field off his back foot to an open Troy Franklin for a 41-yard strike and the 21-7 lead.
That one play completely deflated Oregon State and they never threatened to score after that.
Oregon’s defense stifled the Beaver running game and held tailback Damien Martinez to just 38 yards rushing. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was hurried all night long. Jeffrey Bassa and Jestin Jacobs each had three quarterback hurries with cornerback Dontae Manning scoring an interception in the second half.
Franklin was open constantly and he wound up with nine catches for 128 yards and a score. Tex Johnson was actually Oregon’s leading receiver with 11 receptions and 138 yard.
Nix was 33-of-40 passing for 368 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a rushing touchdown. He just added to his Heisman resume and he might win it with a good game next week.
Oregon will now travel to Las Vegas to play Washington for the Pac-12 title next Friday night at 5 pm on Fox.