Oregon misses multiple opportunities to put away Auburn in latest choke job
Oregon Ducks fans are getting used to the same old story with their football team.
The Ducks blew a game-long lead and lost 27-21 to Auburn at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday night. The Ducks scored on their opening drive and led every second of the game thereafter until Auburn’s Bo Nix threw a winning touchdown pass to Seth Williams with nine seconds left. Seeing their team lose a game they led the entire way has to be frustrating, and Ducks fans are likely walking away feeling like there were so many missed opportunities to put the game away.
Oregon was leading 7-0 in the first quarter and drove to the Auburn 2. They were looking to take a 14-0 lead but Bryan Addison dropped an easy touchdown on third down.
UGLY drop by Bryan Addison….Then Oregon misses the FG! Brutal. pic.twitter.com/kQIomaKTrL
— #FlashSZN (@ftbeard_17) September 1, 2019
As if that weren’t bad enough, kicker Camden Lewis missed a 20-yard field goal on the following down.
Oregon still carried a 14-6 lead into halftime and increased the margin to 21-6 in the third quarter. They punted on their next two possessions, and that’s where things got really bad. The Ducks allowed a touchdown to make it 21-13. Oregon got the ball back and drove to the Auburn 41 with 5:30 left. They had a 4th-and-1 and decided to go for it, but it didn’t go well. Quarterback Justin Herbert was hit in the knee on the previous play and exited with an injury.
Herbert injury. Knee to knee. pic.twitter.com/ir6Fi60aBV
— #FlashSZN (@ftbeard_17) September 1, 2019
Oregon called a timeout thinking he would be eligible to reenter the game the following play. The officials said that wasn’t the case because he had to sit out the next play once he left the game due to an injury. Oregon had to take another timeout and prepare a backup plan. They ended up getting stuffed for a 1-yard loss and turned the ball over on downs.
Though their defense forced a stop, the offense did very little and a bad punt gave Auburn good field position with 2:05 left. Oregon had yet another opportunity to essentially end the game with a stop on a fourth down play, but they allowed Auburn to convert. They allowed two more third-down conversions on the drive when they had a chance to potentially force field goal attempts. Later in the drive, Auburn took the lead with under 10 seconds and won the game.
The way Oregon blew this game was reminiscent of their choke job against Stanford last year.
