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QuickTake:
Oregon wasn’t perfect in its 34-14 win at Northwestern — the run defense leaked yards and the offense sputtered early — but the Ducks avoided mistakes, forced key turnovers and stayed clean with zero penalties to move to 3-0.
The No. 6 Ducks played well.
Truly. Even after they punted on their first drive for the first time this season – and after Northwestern strung together some plays, and after Dante Moore threw his first interception of the season, and even after the Ducks closed without a “killer instinct,” letting a 34-0 game become 34-14 – I thought the Ducks played well.
Maybe it wasn’t 69-3 well. That’s OK. Most games aren’t.
Still, I liked the teeth I saw from Oregon. On a day when the run defense wasn’t all that good, when the offense didn’t pop right away, and when Northwestern actually looked like it wanted to ball out instead of make excuses, the Ducks (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) still won comfortably.
That’s what good teams do. It’s not always what young teams do — especially on the road, in a glorified practice stadium.
“We usually have 60,000 cheering for us — that’s how it usually goes,” quarterback Dante Moore said. “But we’re on the road. It’s just us versus us, like always. But playing in a different environment, the thunder and lightning, windy, a lot of things going on – overall, we came out with the win.”
There will be games when Oregon doesn’t quite have it, and better teams than Northwestern will make them pay. The Wildcats were certainly frustrated after a competitive game slipped out of reach.
“Can’t beat teams like Oregon when you don’t win the turnover battle,” Northwestern coach David Braun said. “We can’t turn the ball over. The ball can’t be on the ground.
“I don’t wanna sit here and pat ourselves on the back, but that’s a really good defense and a really good defensive line. Not taking shots at Oregon, but I felt we did a really good job of putting our backs in position to carry the ball.”
The Ducks were still the better team. And the better team didn’t beat themselves.
No penalties. No sacks allowed. A 7-of-11 showing on third down. A win and a flight back home with feet fully intact.
Here are a few more thoughts to wrap up the weekend:
Malik Benson’s becoming reliable
Dan Lanning’s feelings about his wide receivers were clear when, after a question about depth following the Ducks’ throttling of Oklahoma State in Week 2, the coach fired off a playful jab to the room.
“Didn’t you guys write that was a big concern for you all?” Lanning said. “There were a lot of people saying, ‘What are we going to do at wideout?’ We have some good ones.”
Through three games, the balance of Oregon’s passing attack has been notable — 12 different players have caught passes, four have caught touchdowns and we’ve already written about the explosiveness of true freshman Dakorien Moore.
Moore had four more catches Saturday for 49 yards, but for the third straight week it was senior Malik Benson setting the tone. Benson caught four passes for 62 yards — pushing his team lead in both categories to 11 and 161 — and has vacuumed up all but two of his team-high 13 targets on the year.
“We got a lot of guys that can make plays on offense and Malik has certainly done that,” Lanning said. “I could start naming a bunch of names of guys that have made big-time plays… Good quarterback play helps all those things but Malik’s been great for us.”
Benson had 25 receptions for 311 yards and a touchdown in 2024 at Florida State and 13 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown in 2023 at Alabama. His two touchdowns in three games with the Ducks have already doubled his career total.
No laundry on the field
One thing Lanning didn’t like about Oregon’s Week 2 win over Oklahoma State?
“We had six offensive penalties,” he said. “So that’s something we certainly can do better.”
Seven days later, on the road, by the lake, the Ducks did better: Oregon wasn’t called for a single penalty — something that hadn’t happened since 2000.
“More than anything, you get what you emphasize,” Lanning said. “We emphasize that a lot: No DBOs (Don’t Beat Ourselves). We don’t beat ourselves; you’ve got a chance to have success. That was a big emphasis this week; it showed up, we operated clean.”
Here’s a trend: After ranking 94th in the country in 2022, 98th in 2023, and 32nd in 2024 in penalties per game, Oregon’s three per contest currently ranks third nationally.
Mixon plays cat and mouse
Jerry Mixon has played in 22 games over the last two-plus seasons for Oregon, mostly on special teams. He was not the player anyone expected to lead the Ducks in interceptions through three games.
But the linebacker snagged his first career pick in Week 2 against Oklahoma State and returned it for a touchdown. A week later, Mixon again flipped the field, picking off Northwestern inside Oregon territory and returning it to the Wildcats’ 45.
I didn’t see Mixon coming. Apparently, quarterbacks are having the same problem with Oregon’s linebackers — Bryce Boettcher also had an interception Saturday.
“They understand where the quarterback’s going to go with the ball and they take advantage of it and they bait it,” Lanning said. “Jerry gets a ton of those in practice, and it’s because he makes you think that he can’t make the play, then he does an unbelievable job of breaking on the ball.”
Added Boettcher: “It starts in practice, but he’s ball-savvy. Seems like he’s always in the right place at the right time in the pass game, which is incredible. I’ve never seen anyone with more interceptions in practice (than Mixon) and it shows up on game day.”
A stat I like: 3-for-3 in the red zone
The Ducks knew possessions would be limited — and that became clear right away when Northwestern opened with a 12-play, 6:27 drive that gained just 38 yards. The difference-maker in a game like this is capitalizing on opportunities.
While Northwestern didn’t, Oregon did: three trips to the red zone led to 17 points.
A stat I don’t like: 178 rushing yards allowed
Yes, 79 of those came on Dashun Reeder’s late touchdown run with the game already in hand. But Northwestern was able to consistently move the ball between the tackles against Oregon’s front seven.
The Ducks were never truly threatened — Mixon’s and Boettcher’s interceptions, timely sacks by Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti, penalties and even a slip-and-fumble by Northwestern QB Preston Stone all helped — but eight missed tackles after just two a week earlier is a number that will jump off the film.
Your words
Next Up: Oregon faces old foe Oregon State on Saturday in Eugene for the 129th meeting between the two schools — and maybe the last for a while.
How will you be spending your gameday? Have thoughts on the rivalry? Share them with me at tyson@LookoutLocal.com
