Heading into Saturday’s game, Oregon’s rushing attack didn’t look like it did in 2023. Through two games the Ducks had run for 216 total yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. For a run-first but not run-heavy team, those numbers don’t seem typical.

The Ducks were having success running the ball against Idaho and Boise State, but not on a down-to-down basis. The run game was efficient but not particularly effective, and certainly not explosive. And when the Ducks can’t move the chains on the ground, it’s historically spelled problems in the passing game.

That changed in a big way on Saturday, as Oregon’s offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage against the Beavers, paving the way and opening up holes for the dynamic duo of Jordan James and Noah Whittington out of the backfield.

Oregon finished the day with 240 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns on 32 carries—averaging 7. 5 yards per carry. James led all Ducks with 86 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries, as he continued his hyper efficient start to the year.

Whittington and Dillon Gabriel each had 64 rushing yards and found the end zone, with long runs of 27 and 54 yards respectively.

What was the key?

For starters, Oregon trotted out a starting five (from left to right) of Josh Conerly Jr., Nishad Strother, Iapani Laloulu, Marcus Harper II and Ajani Cornelius. Opting for consistency over the rotations that we’ve seen in the first two weeks.

That group stayed on the field for a majority of the game and found the rhythm that had been escaping them the last two games.

And Oregon’s passing offense benefitted in a major way, as a dominant rushing attack cleared Gabriel and the Ducks receivers for takeoff. Gabriel carved up the Beavers’ defense for nearly 300 yards through the air and connected with Traeshon Holden and Jayden Limar for passing touchdowns.

Oregon has established itself as a team that tends to favor the run over the pass, but the Ducks were beautifully balanced against the Beavers, as Will Stein called a great game that featured 32 run plays and 27 passing plays.

Now the Ducks enter a bye in Week 4 before they hit the road and travel to Pasadena for a road game against the UCLA Bruins.

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