If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around, does it make a noise? If Oregon football scores 50-plus and nobody notices, does it matter?
The Ducks quietly posted a convincing 58-24 victory over Bowling Green Saturday night as Heisman contender Justin Herbert shined bright.
But with the Pac-12 suffering a tough loss by Washington in a marquee game earlier in the day vs. Auburn, not many will put much stock into what the Ducks did right now. That’s too bad because Mario Cristobal had his squad ready to go and firing on all cylinders vs. the Falcons.
Cristobal, who replaced Willie Taggart after he departed for Florida State following just one season in Eugene, relied heavily on Herbert in this one to run the offense. And Herbert delivered.
Coming off a season that was shortened due to injury, the 6-foot-6 junior playing in his hometown completed 10 of 21 passes for 281 yards and five touchdowns, including an 83-yard completion for one of those scores. The five passing scores were more than he had in any single game in 2017 and just one of his career-high.
Herbert also led the Ducks in rushing, gaining 41 yards on six carries with a touchdown. Oregon didn’t feature just one back as they have in the past with the likes of Royce Freeman and LaMichael James, instead, four different guys had at least four carries and gained at least 27 yards.
Taj Griffin was on the receiving end of that 83-yard strike from Herbert, as eight different receivers caught passes.
On the defensive side of the ball, Oregon has some areas to shore up. Jarret Doege completed 22 of 38 for 253 with three touchdowns, Andrew Clair ran for over 100 yards and Scott Miller caught 13 passes for 166 with two touchdowns.
Doege, Clair and Miller are all top-of-the-line MAC players, but would be nowhere near the first team in the Pac-12. If the Ducks hope to be competing with USC, Stanford and even Washington in November, they’ll need to figure out their problems in containing the pass and stopping the run.