Avoidance, then dominance: How the Ducks managed to break down Utah’s lauded third-down defense

Facing Utah football’s defense on a third-down attempt in 2023 has typically been the stuff of nightmares for offenses.

The Utes entered Saturday afternoon’s game against No. 8 Oregon allowing a third-down conversion percentage of just 24.7%, a hair shy of being the best in the nation behind No. 1 Georgia. Only a single conversion separated them, with Georgia allowing 21 of 89 attempts, while Utah was 22 of 89.

Then came the Ducks.

No team in college football has figured out the Utes on third down quite like Oregon did. The Ducks went 5 of 10 on third down attempts, and the amount of preparation the Oregon coaching staff put into solving the third-down puzzle against Utah could not be understated by either head coach Dann Lanning or his players after the game.

“We had an elite plan on third down today,” fifth-year senior quarterback Bo Nix said. “We had several third downs past the sticks. We knew they were going to play right at the sticks and we had to get the ball past it.

“They came out a little early and played some coverage and blitz from a softer box, and after that, they kind of went a little more man-to-man, ‘get in your face’ (way) and played third downs pretty tight.”

Nix, one of the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy this season (perhaps the frontrunner after today), beefed up his resume with a brilliant performance.

The player Lanning called “the best quarterback in the country” put on a clinic, going 24 of 31 for 248 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers and a blistering 77% completion percentage.

Oregon’s solution to beating the Utes on third-down was two-fold, a tale of two halves with ultimately the same result.

In the first half, the Ducks, led by Nix’s masterclass, gave the Utes minimal chances to even try to stop drives, only attempting to convert on third down three times in the first 30 minutes of action.

The Ducks went 1 for 3 in those attempts — not great, but still slightly above Utah’s defensive average.

From the first drive — a 6-play, 75-yarder by Oregon for a touchdown in less than three minutes — Oregon made it clear it had little interest in testing the Utes’ strengths, instead making them a virtual non-factor until the Ducks were completely in control.

In the second half, with the Ducks already up, 21-6, the Oregon offense’s yards per play whittled down from 7.55 to 6.0 as the Ducks found themselves finally up against that defensive unit more often.

And they pushed it over.

Oregon went 4 of 7 on third-down attempts in the second half. The Ducks average third-down distance was 5.6 yards, but with a quarterback averaging 10.3 yards per completion, it wasn’t much of a struggle.

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“I think third downs are the most important part of college football games,” Nix said. “When you can stay on the field and make explosive plays on third down, it’s just really good.

“It speaks to our coaches. … They prepared us really well to make great plays and get us in the right situation, and we just went out there and executed.”

Added Lanning: “Our coaches’ prep this week, I think, is the best that they’ve been as far as thinking outside the box,” Lanning said. “We knew we were playing a really good team…I thought in general that in all phases, our coaches did an excellent job preparing for what they might see.”

Junior Ducks center Jackson Powers-Johnson, a former Corner Canyon Charger, said the team focused heavily on third-down preparation, even simulating “crowd noise” during practice.

Powers-Johnson’s childhood familiarity with the Rice-Eccles Stadium atmosphere spoke to him and his team about the importance of getting the crowd out of the game early on.

He is one of five players from the state of Utah on the Oregon roster.

“I grew up in this stadium,” Powers-Johnson said, “so I kind of know how things work around here.”