It was a hum-drum night Saturday inside Autzen Stadium. Until suddenly it wasn’t.
Quarterback Dylan Raiola, banished to the bench after a dismal performance in No. 25 Oregon’s loss to UCLA a week earlier, reemerged in the fourth quarter Oct. 17 against Nebraska and sparked a 17-14, come-from behind victory against the Cornhuskers.
With Oregon trailing 14-6, Raiola led the Ducks (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) to 11 fourth-quarter points with the go-ahead score coming with 28 seconds to play when he lasered a throw to tight end Jamari Johnson, who was tip-toeing his way along the out-of-bounds line in the back of the end zone. A two-point conversion was tacked on to give Oregon a three-point advantage.
The late touchdown prevented the Ducks from recording their first game without a TD since losing 49-3 to Georgia in the 2022 season opener – Dan Lanning’s first game as head coach.
The win also prevented the Ducks from losing back-to-back regular-season games for the first time since the 2020 COVID season.
It was a thrilling finish on a night when the offense had no spark, little success and few points.
“College football is crazy, man, winning is hard,” Lanning said. “I’m certain that there isn’t a staff that worked harder this week to have a really good plan for what we wanted to be able to accomplish and sometimes it still doesn’t look the right way.”
Here are some takeaways from Oregon’s win.
Ducks save game with final-drive touchdown
The offense, after being held to 160 yards of offense all night, got the ball at the Ducks’ 18 with 5:31 to play and trailing 14-9, and put together a 20-play, 82-yard march to victory.
Along the way, Oregon converted twice on fourth down and had just one play longer than 9 yards.
On the drive, Raiola was 7-for-10 passing for 57 yards and the 4-yard TD pass to Johnson. That was more yards and nearly as many completions as starting quarterback Brock Thomas had in the game. He was benched after three quarters while going 9 for 20 for 54 yards.
“It was a gritty, ugly win in a lot of ways, against a really tough opponent that’s had a lot of success this season,” Lanning said. “But there was just a little bit more time left.”
The Oregon defense keeps team in the game
For the second-straight week, the Ducks’ defense kept the game close despite the struggles on offense.
Last week it wasn’t enough as Oregon lost 17-15 to UCLA. This week, though, the offense did its job on the final drive.
The Ducks held the Cornhuskers to 242 yards, forced nine punts and had one interception. Nebraska’s longest drive – in both yards and plays – came at the end of the first half when it went 65 yards on 10 plays to score the first points of the game and take a 7-0 lead into halftime.
Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea was 18-for-33 passing for 164 yards. He was also the Cornhuskers' leading rusher with 13 rushes for a net of 38 yards.
“Our defense played outstanding throughout the day,” Lanning said. “Even the plays that weren’t made, they were contested. It wasn’t easy.”
Teitum Tuioti had two sacks and 2.5 total tackles for loss, Bear Alexander had a team-high seven tackles and Ify Obidegwu had an interception. Nasir Wyatt also had a sack and two TFLs.
“That group’s gotten better and better,” Lanning said. “I still don’t think we’ve seen the best version of them. … College football is hard and it’s hard to play defense. For them to perform like that, it was pretty impressive.”
Even with the win, the Ducks don’t look right
The victory isn’t enough to overlook what nearly was an embarrassing night for Oregon.
The Ducks haven’t looked like a College Football Playoff team for much of the season, and certainly not in the two games they’ve played without starting quarterback Dante Moore, who is recovering from a concussion.
On Saturday, Oregon’s offense was also without starting wide receivers Evan Stewart and Jeremiah McClellan, and Thomas began the season as the third-string quarterback.
By halftime, boos were raining down on the Ducks as they headed to the locker room with no points and 50 yards of offense. In the third quarter, the crowd was chanting for Thomas to be replaced.
“I’m so grateful for our fans, and they can boo,” Lanning said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m OK with that. But I’m a big kid, it’s not gonna hurt my feelings.”
It’s also not gonna impact the way he coaches or the decisions he makes, Lanning said.
“We try to make decisions based on the information we have in front of us, and from the guys that stayed up here and didn’t leave the building for several days,” Lanning said. “It’s still not right … but we’re pursuing every angle.”
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com.
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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Late-game offense, steady defense keys to Oregon Ducks' comeback win