Oregon Football: 3 takeaways from season-opening Stanford win

1. Quick takeaways for Stanford

Head coach David Shaw and the Stanford coaching staff need some grace this week. The Cardinal got on campus pretty late and were limited in how they could practice with COVID-19 restrictions and air quality issues due to the wildfires.

Suffice it to say, the Cardinal could not prepare the way they wanted for this game. That said, Shaw is the last person who would use that as an excuse.

With Davis Mills and Connor Wedington out due to COVID-19 concerns, the Cardinal ran the ball and took the ball out of the hands of starting quarterback Jack West who played admirably. The Cardinal are talented and will make some noise in the Pac-12 north when they get back to full strength.

Quick takeaways for Oregon

Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal has to be ecstatic about his football team’s debut performance. Tyler Shough had an outstanding performance in his first game as the stater. His performance was due in large part to an outstanding performance by an offensive line with five new starters. One advantage Shough had is veteran skill players around him to distribute the ball.

The defense was solid as well allowing only 14 points. The Cardinal were 4-for-13 on third downs and only had 16 first downs. Considering the circumstances, the Ducks could not have hoped for a better debut.