A season that started with the expectation of playing for the College Football Playoff championship has instead turned into one of the most disappointing stretches of Oregon football in a decade.
And the season hasn’t even reached November.
The No. 25 Ducks suffered a deflating loss against Illinois on Oct. 24 at Geis Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. They were shut out in the second half, scored only three points after the opening drive of the game and lost 21-10 to a Fighting Illini team playing without its starting quarterback.
Oregon dropped to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in Big Ten Conference play. It’s the first time since 2016 that the Ducks have three losses before November.
The loss also ended Oregon’s 12-game road winning streak – victories that came by an average margin of 20.4 points – in conference play and its 46-game stretch of wins when scoring first.
How did things go so bad for the Ducks on Saturday?
Here are three takeaways.
The Ducks were dominated in the second half
Oregon led 10-7 at halftime, with Illinois scoring its touchdown on a 75-yard run by running back Aidan Laughery late in the second quarter. Other than that, the Ducks’ defense held the Illini to just 52 yards on their other 24 plays.
But Illinois took the opening kickoff in the second half 70 yards on nine plays, with the only pass play on the drive a 9-yard touchdown throw to put Oregon in a 14-10 deficit it could never overcome.
Illinois used up 5 minutes, 38 seconds of clock on the drive and rushed for 61 yards, setting the tone for how it would play the rest of the half, during which it was on offense for 18:36 to 11:24 for the Ducks, and rushed for 132 yards. The Illini finished the game with a sack-adjusted rushing total of 247 yards and 6.9 yards per carry.
"Credit to Illinois," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. "I thought they were the tougher team today and that definitely showed up in the second half. ... We weren't efficient enough on either side of the ball and didn't stop the run defensively the way we needed to."
Oregon had the ball just three times in the second half during the first 27:31 and ran 22 plays for 93 yards. The Ducks then had two more possessions in the final 2:29 after falling behind by 11.
Those final two drives added 98 yards to their second-half total, but by then it was too little, too late.
Oregon’s offense was a mess without key playmakers
The final stats won’t do justice to how the Ducks looked on offense minus several starters.
Yes, they recorded 426 total yards and rushed for a season-high (against FBS competition) 180 yards – 199 when adjusted for sacks. Quarterback Dylan Raiola completed 27 of 41 passes for 246 yards, and though he didn’t have a touchdown pass, he also didn’t have an interception.
But after effortlessly going 75 yards on 11 plays to score a touchdown on its opening drive, Oregon had just one drive of more than 37 yards through the third quarter. Five of their eight drives after the TD ended after three plays.
"It just felt like things stalled out," Raiola said.
The Ducks were playing their third straight game without starting quarterback Dante Moore. They've scored just 42 points in those games and have gone 1-2.
"We certainly didn't create the explosive plays we needed to be successful," Lanning said.
Oregon was also without two starting receivers – Evan Stewart and Jeremiah McClellan – and two top backups in Messiah Hampton and Jalen Lott. Would their availability have mattered Saturday? Hard to say, but there weren’t many vertical pass plays against the Illini until late in the fourth quarter when the Ducks absolutely had to push the ball down the field.
"That would certainly be an excuse," Lanning said about his lack of weapons, "but not an excuse for us."
Dakorien Moore led the receivers with nine catches for 70 yards, and tight end Jamari Johnson had seven catches for 69.
Bad timing for Gage Hurych’s worst game of the season
A week ago, the Ducks’ junior kicker was being celebrated by the Big Ten as the special teams player of the week following a career-best three-field goal performance against Nebraska that kept Oregon in the game.
There will be no such honors this week.
Hurych was 1 for 4 Saturday and all three misses would have surpassed his career-long of 44 yards.
His 52-yard attempt in the second quarter to put the Ducks up 10-0 was wide, though he nailed a 20-yarder with 2:29 to play before halftime.
Trailing 14-10 in the third quarter, Hurych came up short on a 53-yard kick. His third miss came with 52 seconds left in the game as he was off on a 47-yard attempt that would’ve cut Illinois’ lead to 21-13.
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: Deflated Oregon Ducks fall to Illinois. How it happened