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With consecutive 300-yard rushing performances, the Ducks are trying to become the seventh team to make the playoff while averaging more yards on the ground than through the air.
(Eric Evans photo/GoDucks.com
EUGENE — Oregon has 233 passing yards in its last two games and it hasn’t mattered simply because the Ducks haven’t needed them.
Mario Cristobal was pretty matter of fact about it after UO’s 38-24 win Saturday. The Ducks rushed for 306 yards and four touchdowns against Washington State with quarterback Anthony Brown accounting for 123 of those yards on 17 carries.
“With what (Washington State) was doing, it called for him to use his legs tonight, Cristobal said. “And he did it.”
It was Oregon’s fifth consecutive win and third consecutive game in which the team rushed for 250 or more yards. Despite No. 1 running back C.J. Verdell’s season-ending injury in Week 5, the Ducks have only improved on the ground as the season’s worn on.
Travis Dye is averaging 6.0 yards per carry and is 92 yards shy of reaching 1,000 for the first time in his career. True freshman Byron Cardwell has cemented himself as the team’s No. 2 with 320 yards on 41 carries. Brown has posted the best rushing season by an Oregon quarterback since Marcus Mariota, with 551 yards and eight touchdowns.
As a team, the Ducks are rushing for more yards per game (226.5) than they are passing (214.8). Right now, that’s good for the No. 1 spot in the Pac-12 North and the No. 3 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings.
But it’s a stat discrepancy that also puts Oregon in rare air as it makes its push for a second playoff appearance in program history. In the seven years of the College Football Playoff, just six of the 28 teams have averaged more rushing yards per game than passing.
Those teams were:
2019 Ohio State
263.1 pass, 267.3 rush
2017 Alabama
193.4 pass, 250.6 rush
2017 Georgia
176.9 pass, 258.4 rush
2016 Alabama
210.3 pass, 245 rush
2016 Ohio State
213.9 pass, 245.2 rush
2014 Ohio State
247.1 pass, 264.5 rush
*2021 Oregon
214.8 pass, 226.5 rush
Last year’s national champion, Alabama, averaged 358.2 passing yards per game against 183.6 rushing. The year prior, LSU had a 401.6/167.3 split. What Oregon’s doing isn’t unheard of, it just goes against a trend that even has traditional ground-and-pound teams airing it out.
Running teams have had success. The 2014 Ohio State team thumped the 312.5/234.5-split Ducks in the national title game. The 2017 Alabama team also won the title. But even among those six teams that leaned on the running game, Oregon is rushing for the fewest yards per game and doesn’t have the support of an elite defense.
Total offense (yards per game):
1. 530.4, 2019 Ohio State
2. 511.6, 2014 Ohio State
3. 459.2, 2016 Ohio State
4. 455.3, 2016 Alabama
5. 444.1, 2017 Alabama
6. 441.3, 2021 Oregon
7. 435.3, 2017 Georgia
Total defense:
1. 260, 2019 Ohio State
2. 261.4, 2017 Alabama
3. 261.8, 2016 Alabama
5. 294.9, 2017 Georgia
5. 300.2, 2016 Ohio State
6. 342.2, 2014 Ohio State
7. 367.2, 2021 Oregon
Differential:
1. 270.4, 2019 Ohio State
2. 193.5, 2016 Alabama
3. 182.7, 2017 Alabama
4. 169.4, 2014 Ohio State
5. 159.0, 2016 Ohio State
6. 140.4, 2017 Georgia
7. 73.6, 2021 Oregon
A few things:
1. UO’s defense is forcing two turnovers a game, ranking third behind 2014 Ohio State (2.2) and 2016 Ohio State (2.1).
2. Three of Oregon’s four lowest rushing outputs of the season came in the year’s first four games. Since Week 5, Oregon’s rushing for 241.17 yards per game.
3. In that six-game stretch, Oregon’s opponents have ranked 122nd (Stanford), 49th (Cal), 28th (UCLA), 108th (Colorado), 114th (Washington) and 96th (Washington State) in the country against the run. Oregon’s numbers have been good. Their opponents have helped.
4. Oregon starting center Alex Forsyth missed the majority of that stretch with a back injury.
Saturday was Forysth’s second game back, and his 69 snaps marked his highest total since Week 2 at Ohio State. Pro Football Focus grades Oregon’s offensive line — playing in its first full season since its entire 2019 line departed — 22nd in the country. It’s a group that’s grown noticeably stronger as the year has gone on.
Things get tougher this week against a Utah team that has allowed less than 103 rushing yards in four of its last seven games.
“We’re really proud of the way we’ve ran the ball the last couple of weeks and we just have to keep going,” Forsyth said. “…You can’t apologize for running for 307 yards.”
— Tyson Alger
