Halftime Thoughts: No. 12 Oregon vs. No. 3 Ohio State
Wow. What a first half of football in Columbus.
I think a lot of Oregon fans didn't think it would be this close after we learned that Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe would not be playing in this one.
Oregon's offense looks like a completely different machine compared to what we saw against Fresno State. Anthony Brown has played a strong first half of football, leading the offense with confidence, pushing the ball down the field, and even lowering his shoulder to get the first down.
The offensive line has done a great job limiting Ohio State's pass rush to give Brown time to operate, and has helped the offense rack up 102 yards on the ground. We saw a lot of true freshmen spring into action including Troy Franklin who came up with a couple of nice catches, even through contact.
CJ Verdell has looked great and I love the play calling that I've seen from Moorhead, as both of the touchdown runs were pretty open and fairly easy to walk in. We've seen some more of the creativity that we were missing in the Fresno State game.
Keith Brown has looked good so far as he's filling in for the injured Justin Flowe. There haven't been a ton of explosive or broken plays allowed on defense, aside from the touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson, which was a complete mess. The Ducks have also gotten creative with personnel, bringing in DJ Johnson for some reps on defensive end on top of his regular tight end duties. Jeffrey Bassa switched his number to 33 and has gotten some run at linebacker.
The Ducks are bringing the physicality and hanging with Ohio State in almost every facet of the game. Tom Snee has had some great punts for the Ducks and helped ease the burden on the defense. Verone McKinley has been playing a phenomenal game, coming up with two big pass breakups on third down on two separate drives. He also striped the ball out on a return, but Ohio State was able to ultimately get ahold of it.
Defensively, the Ducks were having a tough time getting set and adjusting to Ohio State's tempo but locked back in the latter half of the second quarter. Noah Sewell has been playing like a man possessed and came up with a huge fourth down stop against a short run play.
The Ducks will get the ball back to start the second half and will look to get some points on the board to hang on to their momentum.
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