For the first time all season, Oregon looked like the team so many expected to see in the preseason.

The ninth-ranked Ducks (3-0) went on the road for the first time in the new year and handled Oregon State (2-1) for a 49-14 victory. The win gave coach Dan Lanning his second consecutive victory in the in-state rivalry. And the 35-point margin of victory was the largest for either team in the series since 2018.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

Reconfigured o-line finally clicks

Oregon finally had Matthew Bedford available for selection along the offensive line. A transfer guard from Indiana, Bedford was widely expected to be a starter on the right side of the offensive line. But an injury kept him off the field through the Ducks’ first 2 games and that meant sliding Iapani Laloulu to guard and inserting walk-on junior Charlie Pickard at center.

The Ducks gave up 7 sacks and persistent pressure through their first 2 games. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel often looked uncomfortable and the Oregon offense, as a result, looked frequently out of sync.

Bedford was available, but Oregon slow-played his return. Instead, Nishad Strother started at left guard, Marcus Harper started at right guard, and Laloulu moved over to center.

The Ducks responded with their best blocking day of the young season. Oregon ran for 240 yards. Gabriel completed 20 of his 24 passes for 291 yards. Oregon State didn’t sniff Gabriel (0 recorded quarterback hurries) and did not record a sack.

The right side of the line had a much better day, at least at first glance. On a 27-yard touchdown run from Noah Whittington to start the fourth quarter, Harper and Ajani Cornelius pulled and had key blocks to spring the tailback. Oregon also sprung a 65-yard touchdown for Jayden Limar on a catch-and-run with picturesque blocking.

Jordan James ran hard, finishing with 86 yards and 2 scores on 12 carries. Whittington had 64 yards on 7 carries. Gabriel scored in the first quarter on a 54-yard keeper on a speed option off the left side.

Defense starts slow, but takes control in second half

Oregon State had 116 rushing yards and 15 first downs in the game’s opening 30 minutes. The Beavers dominated time of possession and wore down the Duck defense with grinding drives. Part of that was an Oregon inability to get off the field on third down. The Beavs were 6-for-9 on third down and 1-for-1 on fourth in the first half. Oregon State tailback Anthony Hankerson ran hard and provided some juice for the home crowd.

The Beavs had 14 at halftime to make it an 8-point game. Oregon pitched a shutout over the final 30 minutes.

In the second half, the Beavs had just 15 rushing yards. They went 1-for-6 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth. Coverage was suffocating downfield and quarterback Gevani McCoy rarely had clean windows. As an offense, Oregon State averaged 3.6 yards per play.

Oregon State opened the half with consecutive 3-and-outs. It ended the game with consecutive turnovers on downs. It ran just 2 plays on Oregon’s side of the 50.

I thought linebacker Bryce Boettcher played a strong game. He finished with 10 tackles and 2 pass breakups. He was all over the field, flying sideline to sideline to make plays.

A sign of progress

Oregon did not commit a turnover. It was flagged for just 3 penalties. Per game on paper, it stayed ahead of the chains with a 53% success rate and gained 95% of available yards in the game. First-down snaps averaged 6.3 yards per play. Gabriel and Dante Moore combined to go 10-for-11 on first-down pass attempts and the run game averaged 5 a carry on first downs.

Through 2 weeks, the Ducks had plenty of good but enough mental mistakes that they were never able to completely separate from inferior opponents.

The Ducks took a step in the right direction on Saturday in Corvallis. Oregon State registered only 2 tackles in the Oregon backfield all game. The Ducks faced only 6 total third downs.

This was a much cleaner game.