Oregon dominated Michigan State. There’s no other way to say it. The Ducks handled the Spartans by a final score of 31-10 to remain undefeated (5-0, 2-0 in Big Ten play). Michigan State drops to 3-3 on the season overall, and 1-2 in Big Ten play, heading into a bye week.
Michigan State was not able to contain Oregon running back Jordan James. He ran for 166 yards on 24 carries (6.9 yards per carry). Oregon’s wide receivers also gave the Michigan State defense trouble. Tez Johnson led the Ducks with 10 catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.
While Michigan State only turned the ball over once, it was a costly turnover by quarterback Aidan Chiles because it happened on the first offensive drive of the game at Oregon's 1-yard line.
From there, Oregon largely controlled this game. The Ducks out-gained Michigan State 477 total yards to 250.
Michigan State was never able to get its run game going. It had 59 rushing yards the entire game. The offensive line also struggled in pass protection as well, as it allowed five sacks. Oregon defensive end Jordan Burch led the Ducks with 2.5 sacks, while defensive tackle and former Spartan Derrick Harmon at one as well.
Chiles ended the game 10-for-17 passing for 154 yards. He added 29 rushing yards as well. Running back Kay'ron Lynch-Adams was the leading rusher for Michigan State with just 32 yards. Wide receivers Nick Marsh and Montorie Foster Jr. and tight end Jack Velling all had over 50 receiving yards.
First half
Michigan State won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Oregon started with the football and opened with a deep shot that fell incomplete. Following a short gain by James, MSU defensive back Malik Spencer got pressure on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel on third down, forcing an incompletion.
The Spartan offense took over at its own 35-yard line. Chiles completed his first pass of the game on third-and-12 to wide receiver Jaron Glover for a first down. A few plays later, Michigan State was faced with a fourth-and-2 from the Oregon 46-yard line and Marsh came up big for the Spartans. He won a jump ball over Oregon defensive back Jabbar Muhammad for a 44-yard gain down to the Ducks' 2-yard line.
On first-and-goal, Chiles scrambled looking for the goal line, but was stripped by defensive lineman Jamaree Caldwell and the fumble was recovered by Burch for the Ducks.
On Oregon’s opening play of its second possession, James had an explosive run for a 41-yard gain, thanks to solid blocking on the outside by Oregon. James also had an 18-yard run when he bulldozed Michigan State defenders. James got the Oregon offense all the way down to the MSU 1-yard line. On third-and-goal, Gabriel was pressured, he rolled out and forced a pass, which was spectacularly intercepted by Spencer in the end zone.
After the interception, Chiles was sacked on first down after Harmon went unblocked. Punter Ryan Eckley was called into action for the first time after a three-and-out.
Oregon had another explosive play on its next drive, this time in the pass game. Gabriel rolled out and launched a pass to a wide open receiver in Traeshon Holden, who lost his footing and made a juggling catch while on the ground for a 37-yard gain. On the pass, Gabriel took a big hit from MSU rush end Anthony Jones Jr. right in the midsection.
Gabriel missed one play, but re-entered the game and scored a few plays later on an option play from nine yards out.
Following a second consecutive three-and-out by the Spartans, Oregon had another explosive play to open its next drive. Gabriel dumped a pass off to tight end Terrance Ferguson, who had a convoy of offensive linemen to block for him on his way to a 62-yard gain.
The theme of red zone turnovers then continued as Gabriel forced a pass toward the pylon that was picked off by Michigan State cornerback Charles Brantley. That was Gabriel’s second red zone interception of the night.
A nice pass by Chiles to Foster got Michigan State some breathing room to open the ensuing drive. However, the Spartans weren’t able to do much after that, as Eckley punted it away for the third time in as many drives.
Oregon’s dominance in the run game continued. James had consecutive first down runs for 17 yards and 15 yards, respectively, to set the Ducks up in Michigan State territory. James was rewarded with a three-yard touchdown rush to give Oregon the 14-0 lead. The Ducks went 55 yards on seven plays (all runs) on the scoring drive.
Oregon’s pass rush was all over the Michigan State offensive line on the next Spartan possession. After back-to-back 10-yard gains on the ground by Chiles and running back Nate Carter, Chiles was sacked twice to stall out the drive.
The Ducks got the ball back with 1:53 remaining in the second quarter and marched right down the field in 12 plays. Gabriel completed seven passes on the drive, including a beautiful ball to wide receiver Evan Stewart for the nine-yard touchdown to extend Oregon’s lead to 21-0 heading into the locker room for halftime.
In the first half, Oregon out-gained Michigan State 363 total yards to 102. The Ducks ran 20 more plays as well in a dominant first 30 minutes of play.
James set his career-high for rushing yards in a single game in the first half alone – 151 yards on 16 carries.
Second half
Michigan State received the ball to open the second half and seemed to get a drive going. Chiles ran for two first downs to set up the Spartans in Oregon territory. However, a sack and two incompletions on passes intended for Glover forced the Spartans to punt for the fifth time on the night.
Oregon grabbed three points on its opening drive of the second half. Kicker Andrew Boyle nailed a 50-yard field goal attempt to give Oregon a 24-0 lead. The scoring drive was highlighted by another explosive play when Gabriel found Ferguson for a 20-yard gain.
The ensuing possession by Michigan State got off to a horrible start when Chiles and Marsh mishandled the exchange on a handoff. That resulted in a 6-yard loss and the Spartans weren’t able to recover from there.
Oregon then got its first touchdown of the second half on a commanding 15-play, 64-yard drive. It was capped off by a fourth-and-goal score on a Gabriel pass to Johnson. The drive chewed up over eight minutes of clock. Oregon’s lead grew to 31-0.
Michigan State was able to generate some offense on its next drive. Chiles found Foster for a 35-yard gain. Then, back-to-back receptions by Velling resulted in a red zone appearance for just the second time of the game. Lynch-Adams capped off the quick seven-play, 75-yard drive with a one-yard rushing touchdown.
Oregon’s lead was cut to 31-7 after kicker Jonathan Kim tacked on the extra point.
Dante Moore was subbed in at quarterback for Oregon on its next drive which ended in a three-and-out.
Quarterback Tommy Schuster entered the game for Chiles and he made a nice play with his legs to get a first down after the Oregon pass rush over-pursued him on fourth-and-1. Schuster completed all five of his passes on the drive.
Kim eventually hit a 42-yard field goal attempt to make the score 31-10 with just 25 seconds left to play in the game.
Oregon kneeled out the remainder of the clock to end the game and seal the victory.
After the bye week, Michigan State will host Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 19.
