Washington Dominates Oregon 70-21, Ends 12-Year Losing Streak

In case you hadn’t had an annual reminder, there used to be some thing that fans of Oregon Ducks football used to call “The Streak.” As far back as I can remember, though, Washington has outscored Oregon 70-21.

THE STREAK IS OVER Y’ALL LET’S ALL HAVE A PARTY.

So, recap:

Former Duck head coach Chip Kelly once stated that he didn’t care about time of possession. While it likely is an overrated stat, a team still does need to have the football in order to have an effective offense. Oregon did its best to see how little time of possession it could accrue early on by fumbling the ball away on the opening kickoff. True freshman quarterback Justin Herbert opened his career as a starting quarterback with an interception. Then came a pair of three-and-outs.

While Oregon was busy giving the Huskies the football, Washington was busy giving it back to the Ducks after putting teeders up on the scoreboard. Jake Browning became the newest focal point of Oregon’s Husky Hate by taunting a defender while walking into the end zone untouched. He followed it up with a fade pass to John Ross to put the Dawgs up 14-0.

Oregon started to enjoy some success offensively but was unable to find the end zone, ultimately failing on fourth down to end its next two drives. Washington was stopped once but made it back to its scoring ways with a one-play, 65-yard drive. Myles Gaskin took the ball to the left and ended up in the end zone.

The Dawgs scored with balance. It is really easy to be balanced when both the run game and the passing game are humming. Browning opened the scoring with the aforementioned taunting but the early drives featured both air superiority and dominance on the ground. Browning finished the first half 14-17 for 169 yards and two six-pointers. Myles Gaskin rushed 11 times for 154 yards including the 65-yard score.

Browning’s “surprising athleticism” is always mentioned, but he needed it today. He was under a good amount of pressure throughout. At one point he broke a tackle from Oregon’s nickel who had a free rush and made a beeline toward him. Browning really is a complete quarterback.

Oregon scored some points, but by the time there were any points on the home team’s scoreboard, Washington already had four touchdowns. UW just continued scoring over and over. It didn’t stop until the Huskies stopped trying to score because the officials said the time limit was up.

There was a game that was played, but it was the equivalent of rolling to the local elementary school in full pads.

DOTS OF ELATION:

• The Huskies are for real.
• The streak is over.
• The UW offensive line dominated in the run game. I am multiple knee and back injuries into my life and I could have put up 100 yards against Oregon today behind the offensive line if I was given enough carries. That is usually just a cliche but today it was true. Gaskin’s final line was 16 carries for 197 yards. Jomon Dotson had 12 for 61 and his first touchdown and Lavon Coleman pitched in with 6 for 60.
• Just looking at his box score, Justin Herbert wasn’t horrible. Washington did a great job not allowing any big plays, with no passing play going over 25 yards, and barely that, with a Herbert-to-Carrington connection going 27. There was one run of 35 yards. Royce Freeman was kept in check as well, with only 50 yards on 11 carries.
• THE STREAK IS OVER.
• Browning finished with eight total touchdowns. That means his receivers had to score six touchdowns. Dotson caught one, Dante Pettis caught two, including an incredible interfered-with one-handed fade route, and John Ross scored three, continually making his cornerbacks look like the aforementioned elementary school attendees.

Go Dawgs.