
Eugene, OR – The Portland State Vikings made the short trip down Interstate 5 to the University of Oregon Saturday morning where they were simply outmatched by the Ducks, falling victim to an ugly 62-14 blowout.
After a dreadful 0-11 season last year, the Portland State coaching staff had hopes of turning things around in 2018 with the return of All-American tight end Charlie Taumoepeau and their newly added transfers including Senior RB Darian Green from Ball State and Isaiah Woods from Washington leading the offense.
Coming off a 19-71 loss against Nevada in week 1, Portland State continued to underwhelm against Oregon, despite the Viking coaching staff’s optimism.

Portland State would finish the day earning only 224 total yards to Oregon’s 562, and converting only 10 first downs while Oregon was able to convert 32.
One bright spot for the Vikings came from the play of team captain Charlie Taumoepeau, who was single handedly responsible for 125 of their 158 receiving yards and hauled in their only two touchdowns of the day. The longest of which was the result of a tough 3rd and long situation, where QB Jalani Eason scrambled right extending a broken play eventually linking up with Taumoepeau for a 71-yard touchdown.
Oregon’s Justin Herbert also delivered another strong performance, throwing for 250 yards and 4 touchdowns. More importantly, from a team that has relied heavily on Herbert for success in the past, Oregon was able to establish a run game.

Head Coach Mario Cristobal stated after the game, “We wanted to be really sharp in what we did in the passing game… and as the second quarter went on we wanted to establish ourselves as a team that could play with some power, get behind our offensive lineman and run the football.”
Oregon running backs Tony Brooks-James and CJ Verdell certainly proved that to Cristobal, both of which rushed for over 100 yards. The performance by the running backs was also noticed by Herbert, who expressed that he was “really pleased with their effort today”.
The Oregon Ducks will host the San Jose State Spartans next Saturday, September 15, 2018 in their last non-conference game of the season.