Five takeaways from No. 9 Oregon’s blowout win over Stanford

The No. 9 Oregon Ducks struggled to get going early at Stanford on Saturday. But once the offensive found its footing, Bo Nix and Co. put their foot on the gas and never looked back.

The Ducks trounced the Cardinal, 42-6, and will now head into the bye week 5-0 and set their sights on Week 7’s season-defining trip to Seattle.

Here are five takeaways from Oregon’s dominant win at The Farm.

Troy Franklin is having a special season

Before the season kicked off, there was a lot of speculation as to whether Troy Franklin would be Oregon’s first 1,000-yard receiver since Dillon Mitchell in 2018.

He’s on pace to not only do that but also obliterate Mitchell’s single-season school record of 1,184 yards.

Franklin hauled in seven catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns against the Cardinal. Through five games, he has caught 32 passes for 535 yards and seven touchdowns and is averaging 107 yards per game.

Assuming Franklin plays in 13 games this season, he is on pace to accumulate 1,391 yards on 83 receptions. Both would be school records.

Franklin’s seven touchdowns are tied for the second-most in the nation this season. He’s one of the best receivers in college football, full-stop, and we should start to see his name rise up NFL Draft boards here soon.

Oregon’s running back rotation

With Noah Whittington sidelined, the Ducks didn’t try to reinvent the wheel at running back.

When the game was still in the balance, Oregon leaned heavily on Bucky Irving and Jordan James and did not turn to Dante Dowdell or Jayden Limar until garbage time.

Irving ran for 88 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries and caught three passes for 23 yards on four targets. James ran for 88 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

The star running back duo produced plenty of explosive plays; James and Irving had three runs apiece of 10 or more yards. They didn’t have a ton of work to do because Bo Nix spent the majority of the afternoon torching Stanford’s secondary and keeping the Ducks ahead of the chains.

Dowdell and Limar have each played in four games apiece. In all likelihood, one of them is going to be leaned on at some point this season. It will be interesting to see if the coaching staff attempts to preserve either of their redshirts.

Penalty situation improves

Saturday was far and away Oregon’s cleanest performance of the season from a penalty standpoint.

The Ducks had just two accepted penalties for 20 yards — one for a defensive delay of game, and one for defensive pass interference.

Oregon was much-improved in that department after committing nine penalties for 80 yards in Week 4, nine for 76 yards in Week 3, and 14 for 124 yards in Week 2.

“I think our guys are tired of doing up-downs. That’s probably what I’d attribute that to,” Dan Lanning said after the game. “I think we’ll be doing less.”

Nikko Reed and Dontae Manning stepped up

Oregon will hope for some positive injury news regarding Khyree Jackson after the star cornerback left Saturday’s game with an apparent left hip injury in the first half.

After Jackson did exit the game, though, Nikko Reed and Dontae Manning both played really well in his absence.

Reed was targeted three times and did not give up a reception. Manning was targeted twice and did not give up a reception. Both players had a pass breakup, and both produced some nice moments in the run game.

It was interesting to see Reed get a large share of playing time at outside cornerback. The majority of his snaps this season have come at nickel. On Saturday, though, he played 36 snaps on the outside.

It’s somewhat telling that the Ducks’ coaching staff turned to Reed, instead of Trikweze Bridges, against the Cardinal.

The bye comes at a perfect time

Jackson isn’t the only key Oregon player who is dinged up at the moment.

Starting safety Bryan Addison missed Saturday’s game after suffering an apparent injury against Colorado in Week 4. Nishad Strother made his season debut on Saturday, but it came in garbage time as he is still working his way back from an arm injury.

Jestin Jacobs has been ramping up his activity during practice but he remained unavailable against Stanford and has yet to play this season.

Oregon will need to be at full strength for its marquee showdown at Washington. The bye week will go a long way toward helping with that.

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