Oregon Football: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Colorado

Oregon football dominated the Colorado Buffaloes at home on Friday evening. What’d we learn from the convincing victory by the Ducks?

This was the Oregon game everyone was looking for. Unfortunately it wasn’t in primetime so not a lot of people saw the dominance live. It was however, a near-perfect performance by the Ducks.

The Ducks shot out to a touchdown lead on their first drive and didn’t look back. Justin Herbert threw for two touchdowns and Cyrus Habibi-Likio ran for three more as the Ducks won this game convincingly, 45-3.

Oregon’s defense smothered an undermanned Colorado offensive line limiting the Buffaloes to only 4.2 yards per rush and forcing quarterback Steven Montez into four interceptions. The Buffaloes couldn’t get anything going. The Ducks suffocated the Buffaloes in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

What’d we learn from the dominant performance on Friday night?

3. The Ducks have speed to burn

If there’s one thing Mario Cristobal and the Oregon staff have done since he’s been a part of the program is recruit speed. They have explosive athletes all over the field.

During Friday’s game, there were holes for running backs to run through, but the linebackers pursued and closed them quickly. Colorado’s receivers couldn’t separate from Oregon’s defensive backs. They played so fast against Colorado, it was as if they shrunk the field.

On offense, Colorado couldn’t catch the Ducks’ skill position players. Running back CJ Verdell averaged over 10 yards per carry and Travis Dye only needed three carries to amass 54 rushing yards. They had four pass plays of over 20 yards, including a 39-yard pass play. When the Ducks were in the open field, it was hard for the Buffaloes to bring them to the turf.