EUGENE, OR – The 3rd ranked Oregon Ducks were threatened by the Arizona Bearcats all night Saturday, but ultimately came away with a 41-19 victory after a strong 4th quarter performance.
Wasting no time, the Ducks scored on their first possession and found themselves up 10-0 after only 3 minutes and 24 seconds of play. Quarterback Anthony Brown connected with wide receiver Jaylon Redd on a 63-yard touchdown pass for the first score of the night, and a 21-yard field goal by Camden Lewis was set up when Bennett Williams intercepted Jordan McCloud on Arizona’s first offensive play.
Despite taking an early double-digit lead, Oregon’s defense struggled to slow down Arizona’s offense. The Bearcats led the game in passing yards, rushing yards, and total first downs but the Ducks made big plays when they needed to, intercepting McCloud a total of 5 times.
Two of Oregon’s interceptions came in the red zone, embracing Mario Cristobal’s “bend don’t break” mentality. “We bent today a lot as a defense,” safety Bennett Williams said after the game. “But those plays for us are huge and we have a lot of playmakers”.
Headed into the 4th quarter the Ducks led by only 5 points but were able to make it a two-score game after Brown found tight end Spencer Webb for an 18-yard touchdown. Following Webb’s touchdown, Arizona looked to answer but Bennett Williams recorded his second interception of the night. This time Bennett returned his interception 68-yards for a touchdown which would put the game out of reach for the Bearcats.
The Ducks will travel to Stanford next Saturday, October 2nd to face the Cardinal at 12:30 pm PST (ABC).
