There was a moment early in the second quarter Saturday afternoon when I found myself wondering just how far Oregon football had fallen. Northwestern was moving the ball almost at will, the Ducks’ offense looked remarkably similar to the one that had struggled for most of the previous month, and a noticeably subdued Autzen Stadium seemed resigned to watching another disappointing afternoon unfold.
It wasn’t simply that Oregon trailed 13-3. It was the manner in which the Ducks were being outplayed. Northwestern appeared more organized, more confident in what it wanted to accomplish and considerably more capable of executing its offensive plan. Chip Kelly, making his return to Autzen as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator, was exploiting many of the same defensive vulnerabilities that had bothered Oregon throughout the season.
