Oregon Football: 3 takeaways from tight win over Washington State

2. Oregon’s running game continues to be devastating

No matter who the lead back is week-to-week, Oregon’s running game has been devastating the opposition, and Washington State was no different this week.

The Ducks have proven to have three capable running backs in CJ Verdell, Travis Dye, and Cyrus Habibi-Likio, all of whom have had their moments so far in the 2019 season. On Saturday night at Autzen, it was the CJ Verdell show.

After a bit of a sluggish start offensively, Verdell provided the spark the Ducks sorely needed with an 89-yard touchdown run for the game’s first touchdown. He added a second touchdown in the third quarter to give Oregon the lead for good, and then a third in the fourth quarter for good measure.. Verdell finished with 257 rushing yards on 23 attempts, consistently ripping off chunk plays for the Ducks offense to keep the Cougars offense on the sideline.

As great as Verdell was, it’s hard not to give a lot of credit to the offensive line, which opened up big holes for him to run through all evening long. The Ducks boast one of the nation’s top offensive lines led by four seniors and super sophomore Penei Sewell.

It’s no surprise to see those guys dominating up front, but they appear to be rounding into their best form at a good point in the season. With some tough regular season games remaining, and a potential showdown with Utah in the Pac-12 Championship on the horizon, Mario Cristobal will need his line to keep playing at a high level with all of their goals still in front of them.