The Oregon Ducks take out their frustration of the week prior against the University of Nevada

The University of Nevada didn’t exactly bring the same level of nation-wide notoriety that the opponents of the University of Oregon brought last week. Thankfully for the Ducks, the Wolf Pack didn’t bring anything close to the same level of late-game heroics, either.

In fact, it was the Ducks who found themselves facing a deficit to start the game, albeit only a three-point one, after senior cornerback Haki Woods Jr. fumbled a punt that gave Nevada prime position to convert at 24-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

But unlike last week, that would be the only time the outcome of the game would be in doubt for the University of Oregon faithful. Because the Ducks would go on to outscore Nevada by a 77-3 margin for the remainder of the game, and score 70-straight points to end the game, culminating in a 77-6 win.

A week after an up-and-down performance against a stout Auburn University defense, Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert encountered little such resistance from the Wolf Pack, throwing for 310 yards and five touchdowns, on only 26 attempts. With a near six-touchdown lead in the third quarter, and the win all but in hand, Herbert was able to take the entire fourth quarter off.

All five of Herbert’s touchdown passes, as well as the two thrown by Freshman quarterback Tyler Shough, were caught by different receivers. Senior tight end Jacob Breeland led the Ducks with 112 yards receiving on just four catches. The first of those four catches was a 66 yard completion for a touchdown that got Oregon on the board, and began their offensive onslaught.

Nevada actually cut the 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter down to 7-6, after a 17-play drive resulted in a 45-yard field goal. But after hitting that attempt just over four minutes into the second quarter, the Wolf Pack would not find scoring paydirt for the remainder of the afternoon.

On the contrary, the Ducks not only scored on each of their next seven possessions, but scored touchdowns to boot. A two-yard run by CJ Verdell put the Ducks up by a 14-6 margin, followed by Herbert throwing touchdowns to Ryan Bay, Brady Aiello, Bryan Addison, and Daewood Davis on the next four drives. Cyrus Habibi-Likio followed those up with an 11-yard touchdown run, and then Shough threw a touchdown pass to Jaylod Redd in relief of Herbert.

On the ground, the combination of Verdell, Darrian Felix, and Habibi-Likio combined for 170 yards rusing and three touchdowns of their own — on just 27 carries. As a whole, the Ducks ran for 221 yards, averaging a gaudy 5.7 yards per carry in the process. Both Felix and Verdell have scored rushing touchdowns in each of Oregon’s first two games of 2019.

The 77 points scored by the Ducks matches their total two years ago, when they scored the same amount against Southern Utah. The point total, and the win, certainly won’t remove the sting of their loss against the Tigers the weekend prior, but it’ll help. So will the upcoming game next Saturday against the University of Montana of the Big Sky Conference, before the Ducks play their always-anticipated game against the Stanford Cardinal.

Of course, the Ducks have to get through the Grizzlies first. Montana enters the game with a 2-0 record, which includes a 61-point outburst of their own, in the form of a 61-17 win over North Alabama.