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GAME RECAP - Defense Lifts Ducks to 26-14 Rivalry Win

by: Ted Leroux3 hours ago

The adage goes, “Defense wins championships.” That story is still yet to be written, but for now, Oregon’s defense proved to be a key catalyst in a 26–14 rivalry win over Washington, securing an 11–1 regular season finish.

If you were hoping for explosive offense to open this rivalry game between two Pacific Northwest foes, you likely came away disappointed.

After the Ducks’ defense forced a three-and-out—highlighted by a sack from Teitum Tuioti—Oregon followed its strong start with a promising opening drive on offense. Dante Moore connected with Jeremiah McClellan for a 35-yard gain, but Washington’s defense held firm, limiting the Ducks to a 46-yard field goal from Atticus Sappington. Oregon took a 3–0 lead. The Ducks closed out the first quarter with Jadon Canady’s second interception in as many weeks, giving Oregon a surge of momentum heading into the second.

The Huskies didn’t make anything easy all day, and Oregon’s long scoring drive to open the second quarter was no exception. The Ducks converted three third downs and a fourth-and-one before Dante Moore kept the ball for a one-yard touchdown run to cap off a commanding 14-play, 80-yard drive with a 10-0 advantage.

Oregon’s defense forced 3 punts and created a turnover in the first quarter, and the second quarter was more of the same to begin the second quarter, forcing another 3rd and out and following it up with another long scoring drive. Moore completed 2 plays of 18 yards plus, but overshot Kenyon Sadiq in the end zone on 3rd down, resulting in another field goal to extend the lead to 13-0.

Before Washington’s final drive of the half, the Huskies had averaged just 3.8 plays and 16.8 yards per possession, producing zero points. But UW quickly flipped the script. An early pass interference call on Ify Obidegwu jump-started the drive, and two late escapes from Demond Williams kept it alive. Williams then found Denzel Boston for a three-yard touchdown pass—Boston’s first catch of the game—cutting Oregon’s lead to 13–7 at halftime.

After the Huskies seized the momentum late in the first half, Oregon needed to reclaim it coming out of the locker room. The Ducks began to piece together a solid drive, highlighted by four consecutive completions from Dante Moore. But a holding penalty on Iapani Laloulu stalled their progress, forcing Oregon to settle for another Atticus Sappington field goal, extending the lead to 16–7.

If you’re looking for a theme in this game, it’s the combination of Oregon’s stout defense and Atticus Sappington delivering in key moments—and the middle of the third quarter was no exception. After another Washington punt, the Ducks again appeared to be building a promising drive, but another penalty brought it to a halt. That set the stage for the Sappington Show once more, as he drilled a career-long 51-yard field goal to extend Oregon’s lead to 12 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The fourth quarter opened with a reversal of trends. The Ducks punted for the first time since the opening period, and the Huskies responded in a big way. Washington marched 69 yards on a 13-play drive, capped by Denzel Boston’s second touchdown of the game, trimming Oregon’s lead to 19–14 and setting the stage for an epic finish to this Cascade Clash.

When plays need to be made this season, Dante Moore makes the play. Following a pass that was thrown behind Kenyon Sadiq on the drive following the Washington score, Moore delivered an absolute laser to Malik Benson and the speedster did the rest taking in 64 yards to the house to once again give the Ducks a two possession lead, and seal the win 26-14.

Coming into this game, one of the biggest was was limiting Demond Williams, and the Ducks did about as good as one can do against the magician at the controls of Washington’s offense. Williams completed 15 of his 30 pass attempts for 129 yards and turned the ball over twice. The Ducks also did a great job containing explosive runs from Demond with #2 accounting for 10 carries for 27 yards.

On the flip side, Oregon’s run game was bottled up by an active Husky defense. Oregon couldn’t get a lot going on the ground averaging just 2.5 yards per carry, but it didn’t matter because Malik Benson was there to make big plays. In the absence of Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr. once again, Benson tallied 5 catches for 102 yards to pace the Ducks offense.

Oregon awaits their College Football Playoff seeding after conference championship weekend, but for now, it feels good to walk out of Seattle with the victory.

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