Utah Utes vs Oregon Ducks Match Player Stats On Oct 28, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Oct 28, 2017

During Oregon's three-game losing streak, the Ducks were suffering from a lack of big plays, leading to 31 combined points.

Against Utah on Saturday, Oregon appeared to find its explosiveness. Multiple 20-yard plays combined with a defensive touchdown and some trickery helped the Ducks pull out a 41-20 victory over the Utes.

After Utah's all-American kicker Matt Gay missed a 43-yard field goal wide right late in the third quarter, Oregon responded with a big drive en route to improving to 5-4, 2-4 Pac-12.

Tony Brooks-James got the drive started when he took the handoff around right edge and scampered for a 56-yard gain. Facing third down from the 22, Oregon dug into its bag of tricks and pulled out the play of its season thus far.

Charles Nelson took a reverse and was nearly tackled -- which would've knocked the Ducks out of field-goal range. Instead, he stayed on his feet and lofted a jump ball into the end zone that eventually found Jacob Breeland in triple coverage. The pass gave Oregon a 27-13 lead they would never relinquish.

True freshman quarterback Braxton Burmeister looked much improved this week compared to his play during the losing streak. He began the game with a nine-yard pass to Nelson before finishing off the opening drive with a five-yard scoring pass to Cam McCormick. It was Burmeister's first touchdown pass of his career.

He finished the game by going 9-of-12 for 47 yards and a score and added 14 rushing yards. Royce Freeman led the way for Oregon's rushing attack when he finished the game with 139 yards on 20 carries. As a team, the Ducks ran for 349 yards, with Brooks-James adding 105 yards.

A bizarre play happened on Utah's opening drive of the second half. On fourth-and-goal from the 2, quarterback Tyler Huntley threw a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Oregon. The ball came down into the arms of offensive lineman Darrin Paulo, who was lying on the ground, for the touchdown.

Ugochukwu Amadi gave the Ducks a 17-3 lead at the half when he made a spectacular play against his former teammate Darren Carrington. Carrington caught the ball and Amadi came up to make the tackle. When taking Carrington to the ground, Amadi stripped him of the ball and returned it 47 yards for the score.

Oregon racked up 424 yards of total offense while the defense held Utah (4-4, 1-4) to 91 yards rushing and 4-of-14 on third down conversions.