EUGENE — Oregon pulled away from Stony Brook for what anyone who didn’t watch Saturday’s game will believe was a lopsided showcase.
Except, of course, it wasn’t in the first half. The Ducks scored on their first three possessions. They also had two interceptions and forced two punts on Stony Brook’s five drives before halftime.
But with only a 17-7 halftime lead it was the fact that the lowly Seawolves were able to gain 4.3 yards per carry while running behind their two biggest offensive linemen, that the FCS team sustained a 75-yard touchdown drive thanks to a fourth down conversion, a 64-yard drive before Verone McKinley III’s second interception and then dropped Anthony Brown Jr. on back-to-back sacks to end the half that left the announced crowd of 42,782 anxious. At least two bus loads of fans headed for the exits of Autzen Stadium after the lackluster display of the first 30 minutes.
“Below average,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said of the play on the line of scrimmage. “I thought there were moments we were playing well and then in the second half I thought we really picked it up. But not up to the standard, I think we know that. Opponents change but the standards don’t, that’s the bottom line.
“I thought the effort was good. I didn’t see a lapse in effort. I didn’t see anything but guys being dialed in and being intense in terms of their approach, in the huddle during timeouts. They were locked in. We all got a little bit frustrated but just kept going. We didn’t talk about we should’ve done this, or we should’ve scored there or should’ve had a better play. Just kept talking about this play right now, the next play, do it as best we can. And we’re learning. It was good us being able to turn that mentality into one that goes forward when things weren’t going so well.”
RELATED: No. 4 Oregon Ducks pull away from Stony Brook after uninspired first half: Game at a glance
As Oregon moves up in the polls and becomes the Pac-12′s only hope for a College Football Playoff bid, who are the Ducks?
“I feel like we’re a team that’s not complacent and knows that we can be better and we’re chasing perfection,” McKinley said. “That’s probably where this team is at right now.”
Is the Oregon offense that out-schemed, out-coached and out-played Ohio State the true version of UO, when the playbook is wide open and key personnel isn’t being reined in. Or are the struggles to protect Brown against Fresno State, which no longer looks anywhere near as worrying as two weeks ago, or lowly Stony Brook a cause for concern entering Pac-12 play?
“We weren’t satisfied with today’s win, but the mentality is up there,” running back Travis Dye said. “At the beginning, the first half it was a lot choppy. We played down to their level and we need to figure out how to not do that in the beginning of the game. Second half we came back, we brought it back up to our level a little bit.
“But there’s nothing satisfying about this win right now. We know what we can do. We know what we should have done when we came in here and we didn’t get it done in the first half.”
Oregon’s defense mustered just one sack and four tackles for loss on Saturday, albeit with most of the two-deep of the front seven on the sideline. That will surely change once Kayvon Thibodeaux, Bradyn Swinson, Mase Funa, Adrian Jackson Jr. and Keith Brown are all back at full strength. But should depth of talent be an issue in preventing pass rush and penetration in the backfield against an FCS team that had eight players who played in the FBS previously?
“There was way too many yards,” nickel safety Bennett Williams said. “I don’t think we were initially winning the line of scrimmage like we wanted to and sometimes with a lot of young guys in there it takes a little bit to get the wheels going. But we hit our groove and we came out in the second half and really in the locker room it was telling them, ‘Let’s put it to them. Let’s put this thing out of doubt, out of question and let’s go show them that we ware the most physical team out here and they don’t want to come back to Autzen and ever play here again.’”
Last week, Cristobal said how the Ducks approached all they do would “determine if our trajectory points to us being a great football team or just being a good football team.”
After Saturday’s game Cristobal said he liked the approach throughout week, while also noting both inconsistent play and “bright spots” from what was still a 48-7 win.
“What’s not good enough in defeat,” Cristobal said last Monday, “certainly cannot be good enough in victory as well.”
The Ducks can’t compromise their standards if they intend to remain on the national stage for the next several months.
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As No. 3 Oregon Ducks enter Pac-12 play, are they a great team or a good team? - OregonLive
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