The 2017 edition of the “Civil War” Oregon vs. Oregon State

Oregon vs. Oregon State Recap

The 2017 edition of the “Civil War” game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University represented the offensive outburst that the former had spent most of their season awaiting, and the lopsided loss that the latter had spent most of the season working to avoid.

In his second game back, after a prolonged absence caused by a fractured collarbone injury, Oregon sophomore quarterback Justin Herbert threw three touchdowns in the first half alone, and added a fourth one on the ground, helping the Ducks sprint out to a ridiculous 52-7 lead over the Beavers, en route to a 69-10 victory. The 52 first-half points scored by the Ducks represented the most points by an FBS level team in a given half of any game this season

While Herbert’s return once again gave the Ducks offense the juice it sorely lacked between the beginning of October and the beginning of November, he once again didn’t finish the game. That’s because the coaching staff decided to pull him with just under four minutes left in the third quarter, with the Ducks comfortably holding on to a 62-7 lead.

While Herbert played brilliantly when he was in the game, he wasn’t the “headline player” for Oregon after the game was over. Despite the fact that he “only” had 122 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, senior Royce Freeman was the center of attention on Saturday afternoon, after setting a new Pac-12 record for career rushing touchdowns; his 60 rushing touchdowns over the course of his four-year career in Eugene surpassed the 59 touchdowns scored — ironically — by Oregon State’s Ken Simonton, between 1998-01.

Freeman started out the 2017 season by scoring 10 touchdowns in Oregon’s first four games, and then capped off the season by scoring six touchdowns in the Ducks’ final two games. Like the rest of the Oregon offense, Freeman struggled during Herbert’s absence, going six games without a touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Beavers ended their 2017 season in perhaps the worst possible fashion, by not only losing to their biggest rival, but allowing their opponent to score 60 points for the first time in a five-year span. For all the losing that the Beavers have endured — the Beavers have a 12-36 record since winning the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl at the end of the 2013 season — this one hurts as much as any of those losses.

Oregon State’s offense looked punch-less all game long. Junior running back Ryan Nall ran for 41 yards — his fourth-lowest total of the season — on 14 carries, quarterback Darrell Garretson completed only 11 passes for 112 yards, and the Beavers offense managed 211 yards of total offense all day long. By comparison, Oregon had accumulated 273 total yards of offense less than halfway through the second quarter (they piled up 577 yards of offense by the end of the game).

Meanwhile, the Ducks will now look forward to seeing where they will play in their postseason bowl game. While there are several potential venues, the early favorite seems to be the Cactus Bowl — played at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona — against a team from the Big 12 conference.