EUGENE, OR – Celebrities and media frenzy took Autzen Stadium by storm Saturday as Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes came to town, but all the hype surrounding the game quickly came crashing down as the No. 10 ranked Ducks routed the No. 19 ranked Buffaloes 42-6.
In what head coach Deion Sanders described as “a good old fashioned butt-kicking”, Heisman hopeful Bo Nix posted another stellar performance, completing 28/33 attempts for 276 yards, 3 passing touchdowns, and adding another on the ground.
The Ducks scored on their opening drive, marching 72 yards in 10 plays before Noah Wittington scored on a 3-yard touchdown.
Lanning had an aggressive game plan, clearly looking to make a statement on national TV. Following their first drive, the Ducks converted on 4th down and unsuccessfully attempted a 2-point conversion after a 1-yard touchdown rush by Casey Kelly.
On their third possession, the Ducks caught everyone in the stadium off guard as they converted a fake punt from their own 17-yard line on a direct snap to defensive lineman Casey Rogers who took off for an 18-yard gain. Nix finished the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Troy Franklin and then connected with him again on another 2-point attempt.
Franklin would go on to catch another touchdown from Nix on a 36-yard post route that was left uncovered, finishing with 8 receptions for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Nix made his only major mistake of the day on his 4th drive when his pass, which was intended for Troy Franklin, was intercepted by Jahquez Robinson. The interception was Bo’s first of the season.
Colorado tried to build on the momentum following their interception when Shedeur Sanders found wide receiver Michael Harrison for an 11-yard gain, but the Oregon defensive front quickly responded sacking Sanders on back-to-back plays for a combined loss of 23 yards and the Ducks forced a punt after a 12-yard rush by Anthony Hankerson the next play.
Heading into the half the Ducks led 35-0, and while Colorado had 21 total yards of offense, the Ducks had more first downs with 22.
The Buffaloes struggled to get anything going offensively due to the constant pressure by Oregon’s defensive front who sacked Sanders a total of 7 times. Oregon’s defense held Colorado to 199 total yards, 127 of which came in the fourth quarter. When asked about the play from the defense, Nix stated “They were outstanding today. Applied a bunch of pressure, made great open field tackles, they just played really solid football”.
Colorado’s only scoring drive came late in the 4th quarter where Sanders was able to move the ball 93 yards on 14 plays. Sanders finished the series with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Michael Harrison, bringing the game to its final score of 42-6 when the extra point attempt was blocked by Alejandro Mata.
Oregon will head to Stanford next week to face the Cardinal on September 30th, at 3:30 PM PST
