The Oregon Ducks put together a convincing 51-34 win over James Madison to open their College Football Playoff run on Saturday, but you would not know it from the tone they struck after the game.
The Ducks jumped out to a 34-6 halftime lead over James Madison at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Or. and essentially had the game sewn up by halftime. Their standards dropped in the second half, as the Dukes outscored them 28-17 to make the final score look a little more respectable.
Because of that second half performance, Oregon’s mood after the game certainly wasn’t one of a winning team.
“Normally you hear music in the locker room after a win,” wide receiver Malik Benson said, via Brett McMurphy of On3. “It wasn’t like that (tonight). It’s almost like we lost.”
Coach Dan Lanning echoed those sentiments in his postgame press conference.
“There’s certainly a standard for performance. Our players know that,” Lanning said, via Erik Skopil of 247 Sports. “They know what championship football looks like and the second half didn’t look like that.”
It is not often you will hear coaches and players deliver such a scathing verdict after a three-score win. That signifies how serious Oregon is about contending for and winning a national title.
Lanning likes to draw attention to how Oregon plays a tougher schedule than teams in certain other leagues do. He would have hoped that would show here, but the standard definitely slipped against a James Madison team that played with nothing to lose.
