Oregon defense dominates Orange Bowl, Ducks advance with 23-0 win

 

MIAMI GARDENS, (Fla.) I don’t know that I would ever consider a game “must win” for a coach who began his career 47–7, stacked three consecutive 12-win seasons, and never dipped below double-digit victories. The label itself tends to flatten context, ignoring the Ohio State win that defined Oregon’s regular season, or the Big Ten championship that validated its move into a new league.

What “must win” really asks is a different question: What happens if you don’t?

On Wednesday morning in the Orange Bowl, Oregon answered it with a performance that was equal parts control and cruelty — a game that felt lopsided long before the scoreboard reflected it. Behind a suffocating defense and four takeaways, the Ducks blanked Texas Tech 23–0 to advance to the national semifinals.

Oregon will face the winner of the Rose Bowl between Indiana and Alabama next Friday night at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, a national semifinal kickoff scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Pacific time.

A slow start that still belonged to Oregon

Texas Tech won the toss and deferred, putting Oregon’s offense on the field first against a Red Raider front that arrived in Miami with 39 sacks and a season-long reputation for manufacturing chaos. Oregon’s running game immediately felt that edge — Noah Whittington was dropped for a 2-yard loss on the first snap — but Dante Moore settled quickly, leaning on rhythm throws and spacing concepts to Jamari Johnson to move the chains and get the Ducks into scoring range.

Texas Tech’s pass rush eventually got home for an early sack that stalled the drive, but Atticus Sappington drilled a 50-yard field goal to cap a 10-play, 43-yard possession and give Oregon a 3–0 lead.

That would be the only scoring for most of the first half, but it didn’t match the shape of the game. Oregon’s defense set the tone immediately with back-to-back three-and-outs, squeezing Tech’s run game and suffocating Morton’s first reads in coverage. Teitum Tuioti’s sack helped force the second punt, and Oregon repeatedly got the ball back with favorable field position.

Oregon’s offense, however, couldn’t turn those edges into touchdowns. Dan Lanning went for it twice early on fourth down — converting a fourth-and-2 to tight end Kenyon Sadiq, then failing on a direct snap to Jordan Davison — a sequence that underlined both Oregon’s control and its frustration. The Ducks were living in Texas Tech territory, but the game remained a one-score grind.

Finney introduces himself, and Oregon keeps pressing

The first true momentum swing came from a freshman. Brandon Finney jumped a throw from Morton for an interception, giving Oregon the game’s first takeaway and further validating how tight Oregon’s coverage had been. It was the kind of play that changes the geometry of a game — not because of immediate points, but because it tells a quarterback the window he thinks exists simply doesn’t.

Even then, Oregon couldn’t capitalize the way it wanted. A disastrous exchange put the Ducks behind the chains, and they were forced to punt rather than attempt a long field goal. Texas Tech finally found a spark with a 50-yard burst from Williams after a missed tackle in the backfield and no backside help. But once again, the Ducks absorbed the hit without bleeding points. Jerry Mixon batted down a third-down pass, and Texas Tech missed a 54-yard field goal.

Late in the half, Oregon’s defense produced another turning moment. Bryce Boettcher forced a fumble, Finney recovered it inside the Tech 30, and Oregon had a golden chance to finally separate before halftime. Texas Tech’s defense answered with a tackle for loss and stiffened in the red zone, forcing Oregon to settle for a 39-yard Sappington field goal that made it 6–0 with 1:33 left.

At halftime, Oregon had run 49 plays to Tech’s 23, held a 21:26 to 7:57 advantage in time of possession, and limited the Red Raiders to 88 total yards. The only thing missing was the knock-out punch.

The play that broke the game

Oregon found it midway through the third quarter — and it came like a trap door opening under Texas Tech.

The Ducks forced yet another three-and-out to open the second half, then got an additional gift when Malik Benson returned a punt 28 yards to set Oregon up already inside Tech territory. Oregon still couldn’t cash in — Moore missed Sadiq while scrambling on a fourth-and-2 — and for a moment, it felt like the type of missed opportunity that keeps an underdog hanging around.

Then Matayo Uiagalelei detonated the game.

On third down, with Texas Tech trying to stabilize and flip field position, Uiagalelei timed the snap and won the edge so cleanly it looked like he’d been released early. He didn’t just hit Morton — he attacked the throwing arm and the football itself, wrapping and ripping in one violent motion. The ball popped loose as if it had been pried out with a crowbar, and Uiagalelei immediately transitioned from strike to score, scooping it and rumbling down the sideline to the Oregon 6-yard line.

It was more than a strip sack. It was the precise kind of “chaos” play Texas Tech has built its season on — except Oregon delivered it, and delivered it with a finish. In a game where points were hard to mine, Uiagalelei essentially created a touchdown with one snap.

Jordan Davison punched it in on the very next play, and Oregon finally had breathing room at 13–0 with 11:20 left in the third quarter.

Oregon’s defense refuses the comeback script

Texas Tech responded with its best drive of the game, using a 24-yard completion to RJ Virgil and improved protection to move the ball inside Oregon territory. For the first time all afternoon, the Red Raiders looked capable of sustaining rhythm.

Oregon didn’t flinch. Dillon Thieneman made a tackle for loss to force third-and-11, and when Tech tried to steal a fourth-and-1 with a direct snap to Williams, Jadon Canady blew it up for a turnover on downs.

Even Oregon’s one real offensive mistake — Moore’s interception on a fourth-and-2 late in the third — didn’t change the script. Tech drove again and reached first-and-goal as the fourth quarter began, but Finney ended it the same way he started Oregon’s avalanche: with the ball in his hands.

Finney’s second interception, this one in the end zone, erased Tech’s best scoring opportunity and effectively turned the final 15 minutes into a slow squeeze.

The finish: clock, kicks, and Davison

Oregon drained the game with field position and time. An offsides penalty on a punt sequence extended one crucial drive, and Jayden Limar’s 27-yard catch-and-run helped set up Sappington’s 33-yard field goal to make it 16–0 with 7:53 left.

On the next Tech possession, Tuioti’s second sack helped force a turnover on downs, and Oregon had a chance to end it outright. Sappington missed a later kick that would have made it a three-score game, but the Ducks never allowed the miss to matter.

They bled the clock down to the Tech 1-yard line, and Davison scored on fourth-and-goal with 16 seconds left to seal a 23–0 win that felt inevitable for most of the afternoon.

Keys and defining plays

Player of the game: Brandon Finney. The freshman defensive back finished with two interceptions, six tackles, and a fumble recovery — repeatedly erasing Tech’s limited momentum and turning drives into dead ends.

Defining play: Matayo Uiagalelei’s strip sack. In a game starving for points, Uiagalelei created them. His third-quarter rip of Morton’s ball — and return to the 6 — turned Oregon’s control into separation and forced Tech to chase a two-score deficit against a defense that never loosened its grip.

Other keys: Oregon won the turnover battle 4–1, held Tech scoreless in the red zone, and controlled possession for 37:23. Dante Moore completed 79% of his passes (26 of 33) for 234 yards, and Davison finished the job with two short rushing touchdowns.

This one won’t be remembered for fireworks. It will be remembered for Oregon doing something playoff teams do: taking a dangerous opponent’s best trait — pressure and chaos — and turning it into Oregon’s advantage, one violent Matayo moment at a time.