Oregon moved to 9-0 on Saturday with a 38-17 win over Michigan at the Big House.

The top-ranked Ducks lost wideout Tez Johnson and guard Marcus Harper in the game — 2 players to keep an eye on moving forward — but they never trailed in the game and never really felt threatened. Michigan tied the game at 7-all with 1:31 remaining in the first quarter and Oregon answered that score with a 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.

Twenty-one second-quarter points broke the game open and Oregon never looked back.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

Traeshon Holden comes up big

On a third-and-5 play with a little over 6 and a half minutes remaining in the game, Gabriel stood in the pocket and fired a bullet over the middle to Traeshon Holden. Holden got popped, but he held onto the ball and moved the chains, picking up 10 yards.

By the time the ball was snapped on third-and-3 a few plays later, there was 3:47 left on the clock. Gabriel rolled out to his left and fired downfield to Holden again, who gained 47 down the left sideline.

Ballgame.

Holden was the man for Oregon on Saturday. Tez Johnson had a catch for 11 yards in the first quarter, but he was knocked out of the game with a shoulder issue after making the play. And Evan Stewart was held to just 16 yards on 3 catches (though he did have a score). Justius Lowe caught 6 balls as his emergence continued. Terrance Ferguson returned to the lineup and caught 2 of his 5 targets for 34 yards. Kenyon Sadiq caught 2 balls for 32 yards.

Dillon Gabriel, who threw for 294 while completing 22 of his 34 passes, spread the love around but when he needed big plays, it was Holden he leaned on. The senior receiver caught 6 of his 7 targets for 149 yards.

He had a 38-yard completion on third down in the second quarter. He had 44 yards on a second-and-8 catch later that quarter.

Holden was ejected from the Ohio State game after spitting on a Buckeye defender. He didn’t play a single snap the following week, when Oregon blanked Purdue on the road. And he played just 29 snaps off the bench in the Illinois game. He lost his spot in the rotation and had to work to get it back.

Good on Holden.

Third quarter malaise

The third-quarter bug continues to plague the Ducks. In the last 6 games for Oregon, here’s the scoring breakdown:

  • 1Q: 55
  • 2Q: 100
  • 3Q: 6
  • 4Q: 47

Oregon scored just 3 points in the third quarter on Saturday. It snapped a string of 3 straight games without a single third-quarter point. And Michigan got a touchdown on the board to claw within 11 points at one juncture.

The Ducks scored the last 10 points of the game. But Lanning — who called the third quarter an “opportunity” during the game broadcast — will want to work on the halftime locker room speech going forward. The Ducks averaged only 3.7 yards per play in the third quarter against the Wolverines, and they gave up 6.4 yards.

Duck defense flexes its muscle

Davis Warren completed 12 of his 21 passes for 164 yards and 2 scores for the Wolverines. More importantly, he did not turn the football over. Michigan went through a full 60 without turning the ball over for the second consecutive week. When the Wolverines did it a week ago against Michigan, it was the first turnover-free game of the season. Now, Warren might be finding a groove.

He was effective in spots, but Michigan’s offense was still outmatched by the Duck defense. Oregon finished with 7 tackles for loss. Michigan averaged 5.1 yards per play in the game and was outgained on the whole by 200 yards (470-270).

The ground game averaged only 3.8 yards per carry. Colston Loveland had a big game (7 catches, 112 yards), but no one else did much of anything. Oregon held Michigan to 4-for-12 on third downs and dominated first downs. The Wolverines gained only 2.9 yards per play on first downs, which set the tone for drives all throughout the game.

Michigan had 4 drives go 3-and-out, and it had an 11-play, 70-yard drive end on downs at the Oregon 10. One of Michigan’s 2 touchdowns came after Oregon’s lone turnover of the game started the offense just outside the red zone.

This was a step in the right direction for the Michigan offense, but there are many more steps left to take to get this side of the ball right.