Oregon Football: Ducks topple Oregon State in Civil War mismatch

Oregon State was unable to pull off an upset on a rainy day in Corvallis. Oregon football took down the rival Beavers on the road to win their eighth game of 2018.

Oregon navigated the loss of Justin Herbert to prevail 55-15 over rival Oregon State in the 122nd edition of the Civil War game in Corvallis on Black Friday. It was the second straight win in the Civil War for the Ducks, and the ninth time in the past decade that Oregon won the intrastate rivalry.

Once Herbert was felled with a shoulder injury in the second quarter, Oregon’s focus turned almost entirely toward their running game. Before the injury forced his early exit, Herbert had gone 9-of-12 for 102 yards and a touchdown through the air. Braxton Burmeister was asked to throw the ball only twice after he entered in the second half, completing one of the attempts for a 16-yard gain.

With the Ducks so far ahead, though, there was little need to do much through the air. Instead, the Ducks kept the clock running and dominated with their ground game. CJ Verdell ran for 187 yards and four touchdowns and added a 21-yard scoring reception on Herbert’s touchdown pass in the first quarter. Travis Dye added 197 yards and two rushing touchdowns against the Beavers, as the Ducks finished with 390 yards and six ground scores as a team on an average of 6.4 yards per carry.

The Ducks defense gave up 282 yards through the air to Oregon State quarterback Jake Luton on 21-of-37 passing, and the Beavers quarterback added one touchdown in the rain. Luton also threw a pick-six to Thomas Graham, though, and another interception to Graham in the fourth quarter. The Ducks finished with four takeaways total as their bend-but-don’t-break defense came through again.

More impressive than what they were able to do to the Beavers passing game, Oregon clamped down on the Oregon State rushing attack. The hosts only managed to put up 54 net yards as a team on their home turf at Reser Stadium, as the Ducks dominated at the point of attack.

With an 8-4 finish in the 2018 season, Oregon had a respectable year under first-year head coach Mario Cristobal. The Ducks will now wait to see where they head this postseason, as they will inevitably land in one of the second-tier group of Pac-12-affiliated bowl games.

Oregon State fell to 2-10 on the year in Jonathan Smith‘s first year at the helm in Corvallis. The Beavers have some promising pieces for the future, but they will continue to fight the current in a Pac-12 North that is becoming increasingly deep in quality programs.