EUGENE, OR – After narrowly avoiding an upset last week against Texas Tech, the Oregon Ducks returned to Autzen Stadium Saturday where they handedly defeated the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 55-10 in their final non-conference game of the season.
The Ducks wasted no time tuning up both sides of the ball Saturday, forcing a quick three-and-out on Hawaii’s opening drive that consisted of three incomplete passes and needing only two plays on offense for Bo Nix to connect with his adopted brother Tez Johnson on a 49-yard touchdown less than one minute into play.
Oregon scored 34 straight points in the first half before Hawaii finally put together a scoring drive. Capitalizing on two personal foul penalties by Ducks, Hawaii quarterback Brayden Schagner was able to move the Rainbow Warriors into field goal range where Matthew Shipley would cap the drive with a 29-yard field goal.
Bo Nix posted another impressive outing, finishing 21 of 27 with 247 yards and 3 TDs. Troy Franklin, Tez Johnson, and Traeshon Holden all had 4 receptions. Franklin led the group in receiving yards with 83, while Johnson and Holden both had 2 touchdown receptions. The Ducks also continued to showcase their running back depth. Bucky Irving, Noah Whittington, and Jordan James rushed for a combined 200 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Late in the fourth quarter backup quarterback Ty Thompson found Traeshon Holden on a slant route that he was able to break for a 60-yard score. Thompson, who finished 4 of 6 with 85 yards and a touchdown, has looked poised this season. Clearly benefiting from the additional game reps Thompson explained that “Being comfortable on the field comes with reps, and I’m getting more reps… I feel like I’m the same player, just kind of maturing in my game”.
On their final possession, Hawaii was able to score their only touchdown of the game. Brayden Schagner led the Rainbow Warriors 75 yards on a ten-play drive, where he ultimately found wide receiver Alex Perry for a 1-yard touchdown pass which brought the game to its final score of 55-10.
Both of Hawaii’s scoring drives came on series that were heavily impacted by penalties against Oregon, something head coach Dan Lanning will need to clean up. After the game, Lanning expressed his frustration stating that he was “extremely disappointed with the penalties and how they hurt us… going into half with a ton of momentum and three penalties end up leading to a score there at the end of the first half… [and] penalties again in the last series that led to another score”.
The Ducks will host head coach Deion Sanders and his currently 18th-ranked Colorado Buffaloes next Saturday, September 23rd, at 12:30 PM PST in their first conference game of the year.
