Oregon obviously needed this.
It was certainly what the doctor ordered. A dose of winning football from every position on the field.
The Ducks ( 1-1 ) went out and appropriately dismantled Eastern Washington of the FCS to the tune of 70-14 inside Autzen Stadium Saturday night in front of 47,289 fans.
It was not a sellout, but the air pollution from the wildfires surely had something to do with it.
Quarterback Bo Nix was on fire, however, as he bounced back nicely from his disappointing debut in Atlanta last week.
The senior transfer went 28-of-33 passing for 277 yards and five touchdown passes. But more importantly, Nix played error-free football taking care of the ball on every possession.
Tight end Terrance Ferguson’s touchdown on the Ducks’ opening possession got Oregon on the board first with 9:27 on the clock in the first quarter.
Surprisingly, it was the first touchdown of the year, something one doesn’t expect to say during Week 2 of a Duck football season.
Ferguson’s second touchdown reception came at the beginning of the second quarter where he saved Nix’s only bad throw of the game. The tight end was covered, but the pass was tipped into his hands where he was then able to run over a defender, spin around another Eagle before going into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown and the 21-0 lead.
Troy Franklin led an array of receivers that were too much for Eastern Washington to handle. He caught 10 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.
The most emotional moment came early in the third quarter when Cam McCormick scored his first touchdown since 2017 after battling injury after injury.
Not only that, but the Bend, Ore. native was wearing No. 18, the uniform number that was once worn by the late Spencer Webb.
Oregon is still using a rush-by-committee system with five main tailbacks running the ball. Mar’Keise Irving led the way with 74 yards and a touchdown.
The Ducks had rushing touchdowns overall and gained 263 yards on the ground and 604 total yards.
Now the Ducks will look towards next week as BYU travels to Autzen Stadium for the first time since Ty Detmer was the Cougars’ quarterback in 1990.
His Heisman campaign was derailed that year when the Ducks took away a 32-16 upset.