Dan Lanning admits Oregon is still disappointed in fourth quarter effort vs. Northwestern

After blowing out its first two non-conference opponents by an average point differential of 56 points, Oregon‘s high-powered offense was seemingly brought back to Earth in its Big Ten opener Saturday. In that game, the sixth-ranked Ducks (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) built an insurmountable 31-point lead before but was outscored 14-3 in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 34-14 road victory at Northwestern.

Of course, a majority of that effort came with Oregon’s backups on the field, but that wasn’t an excuse for Oregon’s Dan Lanning. The fourth-year head coach initially expressed disappointment in his team’s fourth-quarter output immediately after the game Saturday, and then doubled-down after watching film Sunday.

“Still disappointed. Yeah, disappointed in the way we finished. We want to be a that wins in the fourth quarter,” Lanning said Sunday during his weekly press conference. “Regardless of who’s in, what the situation is, you want to be able to take advantage of those moments. You know, we had the ball down tight to the red (zone) area and had to settle (for a field goal). Not able to punch that in, and then we give up two scores late. That’s not something we want to do. It doesn’t matter the situation, we want to be able to get off the field. We were able to do that the first three quarters and didn’t do it in the fourth.”

Oregon backups outgained 174-47 in fourth quarter vs. Northwestern

As Lanning said, the Ducks controlled all aspects of the game through the first three quarters Saturday, building a commanding 31-point advantage entering the fourth quarter at Northwestern.

But after Oregon’s backups went three-and-out on their first offensive possession of the fourth quarter, ending with a 25-yard field goal from kicker Atticus Sappington, the host Wildcats put together back-to-back scoring drives. That included a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run from Caleb Komolafe to make it 34-7 with 6:20 left.

Following an Oregon punt after a seven-play series on its next possession, Northwestern found pay dirt again on a 79-yard touchdown run from Dashun Reeder for the game’s final score.

But while the touchdowns were certainly frustrating for fans and Lanning alike, it was the overall effort as the Wildcats outgained the Ducks 174-47 in total offense in the fourth quarter alone. That’s after Oregon outgained Northwestern by nearly 300 yards (326-139) through the first three quarters Saturday.

After racking up 506 and 631 yards of total offense against Montana State and the Big 12’s Oklahoma State through its first two games, the Ducks were held to 373 total yards of offense Saturday.