The I-5 thoughts after Week 1
The I-5 thoughts after Week 1
On stellar debuts for the Ducks and Beavers, how the Vikings bounce back and hiding the receipts from Coach Prime.
Welcome back from the weekend. Here’s five thoughts on the Beavers, Ducks, Vikings and the Pac-12 after Week 1 of football.
The Beavers look legit
As D.J. Uiagalelei led Oregon State down the field in San Jose for Oregon State’s first touchdown drive of the season with a variety of dump offs, throws up the seam and bullying runs, I was reminded of a conversation I once had with Uiagalelei’s high school coach Jason Negro at St. John Bosco.
“He doesn’t just throw the freaking 100 mile-an-hour fastball or the deep ball,” Negro said during Uiagalelei’s senior year in 2019. “He’s able to put touch on balls, throw balls into the flat and check down, stuff that really elevates his game.”
This, of course, was back when Uiagalelei was being compared to one of college football’s all-time great dual-threats: Cam Newton. Versatility was the name of the game, especially for a quarterback who has now bloomed into a 6-foot-4, 252-pound ram with a rifle. The Clemson transfer passed for 239 yards, three touchdowns and registered only five incompletions. He stuffed in two more scores on the ground and enjoyed a largely stress-free day behind an Oregon State offensive line that should start garnering more national attention.
“I could have made a sandwich back there,” Uiagalelei told reporters. “The o-line played an unbelievable game today, the running backs ran really well. I thought it was a good team win.”
Uiagalelei’s five touchdowns matched a career high, and only served as a compliment to another stellar Oregon State ground attack. Reigning Pac-12 offensive freshman of the year Damien Martinez rushed for 145 yards on 18 carries.
As for the defense, OSU allowed 279 yards — a strong effort compared to the 396 yards USC allowed to the Spartans in Week 0.
“There’s a lot to like,” Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith said after the 42-17 win. “The efficiency offensively, defense did a great job of limiting the big plays. DJ looked comfortable out there in making some plays.”
Yes, San Jose State has looked awful in its two losses and is nowhere near the level of competition the Beavers will face in a Pac-12 that is 13-0 so far in 2023. Still, Sunday’s performance served as one of the more balanced — and lethal — offensive displays against an FBS opponent of the Smith era.
Look out if Oregon State gets a quarterback.
Week 1 is all about overreactions. But it seems like the Beavers have one.
Take the over against Texas Tech
Not sure what else Oregon fans could have wanted out of Saturday. The Ducks rolled. Nobody got hurt. The backups looked great. And the 74-point drubbing of an FCS opponent can all be justified because the Vikings got a nice check to be there.
Sports!
Even the usual, ‘Yeah, well the backup only got in for a drive and looked just OK,’ talk didn’t happen. Oregon’s Ty Thompson completed 7 of 8 attempts for 81 yards and a touchdown, doing exactly what you’d expect an athlete of his caliber and experience within the program to do.