Oregon Football: 3 takeaways from Ducks huge win at Ohio State

CJ Verdell is a superstar

It wasn’t a big secret that coming into Saturday’s showdown in Columbus that CJ Verdell was one of the best running backs in the country. After all, he went over 1,000 yards rushing in 2018 and 2019.

But on Saturday, he had a breakout game on a national scale and he’s the biggest reason why the Ducks are walking away with a top-5 win over Ohio State.

Twice in the first half, Verdell scored on a separate 14-yard plays, the first coming on a run and the second on a pass play that looked like a run.

Verdell was able to rack up yards throughout the game against Ohio State, carrying the ball 20 times for 160 yards. He also caught three passes for 34 yards and totaled three touchdowns, none bigger than this 77-yard run in the third quarter.

Oregon football went into the break leading 14-7 but it wasn’t until Verdell’s 77-yard touchdown run to open the third, that it felt like the Ducks were in control.

That spread allowed Oregon to have a comfort zone and be a little more aggressive on defense, which then wrapped up the win with some key fourth-down stops, as well as a fourth-quarter interception of Stroud.