MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — After coach Dan Lanning said his defense did not play up to its standard in its first playoff game, the Oregon Ducks unleashed a postseason performance that had not been seen in more than a century.
Oregon swarmed Texas Tech from start to finish in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday, forcing four turnovers while racking up four sacks and seven tackles for loss in a 23-0 win — the first bowl game shutout in school history since the 1917 Rose Bowl against Penn.
The Ducks held the Red Raiders to season lows in passing yards (215), rushing yards (78) and first downs (nine) in the first shutout of an AP top-5 team since 2018. Texas Tech was also one of the top teams in the nation in turnover margin coming into the game at plus-17 but finished the game minus-3.
“They’ve earned this opportunity,” Lanning said of his defense. “I told them go get their pound of flesh today. They did that today.”
Matayo Uiagalelei stripped Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton of the ball and rumbled to the 6-yard line to set up Oregon’s first TD. It was one of four turnovers forced by the Ducks’ defense en route to a 23-0 victory. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The Ducks advance to the CFP semifinals at the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, where they will face the winner between Indiana and Alabama on Jan. 9. According to ESPN Research, the two other teams that also shut out their opponents in the CFP both went on to win the national championship (Alabama in 2015 and Clemson in 2016).
It was indeed a stark contrast to the Ducks’ first-round win over James Madison on Dec. 20, when Oregon’s defense allowed 509 yards of total offense and 31 second-half points in a 51-34 victory.
“Our defense had a lot to prove,” said linebacker Teitum Tuioti, who had two sacks. “We all knew that that wasn’t the standard. We’re just glad that we could get a shutout. That means a lot, especially after that JMU game. People were looking down on us.”
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Tuioti said the emphasis in practice between the games was on forcing turnovers, to not only get the ball back for the offense but to keep Texas Tech off the field. The Red Raiders came into the game with one of the most explosive offenses in the country, ranking No. 5 in the nation in scoring offense and total offense behind quarterback Behren Morton.
But from the very start, Oregon made its presence felt as Texas Tech ran just six plays in the first quarter. On the Red Raiders’ third drive, Oregon freshman Brandon Finney Jr. intercepted Morton for the first of his three takeaways (two interceptions and a fumble recovery). Texas Tech did not notch a first down until nearly 18 minutes into the game and had season lows with three first downs and 88 yards in the first half.
Still, Texas Tech only trailed 6-0 at halftime. The turning point came early in the third quarter, when after an Oregon turnover, Texas Tech had the ball at its own 31. That quickly changed, however, as Matayo Uiagalelei had a strip sack fumble of Morton that he returned to the 6-yard line.
The Ducks converted the turnover into a touchdown and Texas Tech never really had much of a chance after that.
“We’re always saying, ‘Get the ball back.’ That’s really going to change the game for our offense, for the whole team,” Uiagalelei said. “I had an opportunity, and I took my shot, and I got the ball out, and it happened to bounce right back to me.”
“The best defense that we had faced this year,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “They did a great job defending us. I thought they did a good job of keeping the ball in front of them, not giving up a lot of big plays. We’ve been a big play offense, explosive offense. They kept the ball in front of them. But you can’t turn the ball over four times.”
Texas Tech also came into the game as the more heralded defense, but it was Oregon that left the game with a defensive performance to remember — a change of pace for a team used to its offense grabbing the headlines. While the Oregon offense had its own issues, the defensive players felt good about carrying the load.
Especially after their last game.
“Not necessarily something to prove to anybody else, but more to ourselves,” Uiagalelei said. “We know that wasn’t the standard in that second half of last week. We didn’t finish how we wanted to. We knew coming into this game finishing was going to be very vital to the success of this game. So just having that in mind, there’s was definitely fuel.”
