There is an interesting contradiction buried in the statistics from Oregon’s 41-28 victory over Ohio State, one that might tell us more about the Ducks than the final score or any of the spectacular plays that defined Saturday afternoon.
Ohio State finished with more total yards than Oregon, 413 to 400. The Buckeyes averaged more yards per play, gained considerably more yardage on first down and had a higher overall offensive success rate in the advanced statistical breakdown. Oregon, meanwhile, struggled to run the football, consistently put itself in difficult down-and-distance situations and needed an extraordinary special teams gamble to change the direction of the game.
Yet anyone who watched what happened inside Ohio Stadium knows those statistics don’t come close to describing the experience of watching Oregon dominate one of college football’s most talented teams. For nearly three quarters, the Ducks controlled virtually everything that mattered. They scored 38 unanswered points, forced Ohio State into increasingly desperate offensive decisions and turned a stadium filled with more than 100,000 people into a place where Oregon fans were suddenly the ones making all the noise.
