The Ducks got the victory in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Their celebration will have to wait.
No. 5 Oregon defeated No. 12 James Madison 51-34 Dec. 20 with a crowd of 55,124 on hand for the first CFP game in Autzen Stadium history. The win sets up a New Year’s Day quarterfinal game against No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl in Miami.
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While the victory was never in doubt as the Ducks (12-1) scored touchdowns on their first five drives, the Dukes (12-2) totaled 509 yards of offense, including 312 in the second half when they outscored Oregon 28-17 to leave a sour feeling for coach Dan Lanning and his players.
“There’s a standard here,” Lanning said. “There’s certainly a standard for performance. Our players know that and they know what championship football looks like, and the second half didn’t look like that.”
And thus, it was a muted atmosphere in the Ducks’ locker room Saturday night.
“Normally we come to the locker room (after a win), we’re playing music, dancing, all that,” wide receiver Malik Benson said. “But when you come to the locker room and it’s almost like we lost, you know, that’s just very exciting to see because you know we’re not outcome driven.”
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But when the Ducks were clicking against the Dukes, they were clicking.
Quarterback Dante Moore threw for 313 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another score. He completed 19 of 27 passes and also had a pair interceptions.
Benson, who had five catches for 119 yards, caught two of Moore’s TD passes from 45 and 46 yards, and Jamari Johnson set an early tone with a 41-yard, one-handed scoring catch on the game’s opening drive.
Jordon Davison rushed for 90 yards on 10 carries and Dierre Hill Jr., had a 56-yard touchdown run.
Oregon finished with 514 yards of offense and never trailed or was tied after the opening score.
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“We won the game, we’re advancing,” Moore said. “Of course, the standard has to be the standard through all four quarters. That’s what film is there for. Film is there to make sure we get better with these upcoming days before the next game. But the whole team knows this wasn’t our best game.”
Oregon’s Jordon Davison, left, stiff-arms James Madison’s Jacob Thomas during the second quarter. Davison had 90 yards on 10 carries in the 51-34 win.
However, it was a pretty good first half.
The Ducks dominated the first two quarters on both sides of the ball
Oregon outgained James Madison 360-197 in the first half and was averaging 14.4 yards per play, 13.5 yards per rushing attempt and scored a touchdown every five plays – all against a defense that was ranked No. 2 in the FBS in both total defense (247.6 yards allowed per game) and rushing defense (76.2 yards per game).
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“The first couple drives were great,” Moore said. “We executed, we knew a lot of their defensive scheme coming into this game. … We had a great game. The offense did a great job.”
The defense also played well in the first half, holding JMU to six points and 197 yards despite the Dukes dominating the time of possession (20:23 to 9:37) and running nearly twice as many plays (47 to 25) as the Ducks.
“In that first half when we’re ones-on-ones, they couldn’t run the ball,” linebacker Bryce Boettcher said. “They had one explosive run in there but other than that we kind of eliminated most of their offense, especially in the red area. … So proud of guys for stepping up in those moments.”
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.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon football rolls past James Madison in CFP first round
