Oregon defense records first shutout at Orange Bowl in 34 years
On New Year’s Day at Hard Rock Stadium, O stood for Oregon — and the zero that Texas Tech had on its side of the scoreboard in the Capital One Orange Bowl that served as a College Football Playoff quarterfinal.
The Ducks’ defense stifled the Red Raiders’ offense Thursday for a 23-0 victory at Hard Rock Stadium to advance to the CFP semifinal Jan. 9 in Atlanta’s Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. Oregon will meet the winner of Thursday’s later CFP quarterfinal between No. 9 Alabama and No. 1 Indiana.
It was the first shutout in an Orange Bowl game since Miami defeated Nebraska 22-0 on Jan. 1, 1992, to culminate its 1991 national championship season.
Freshman cornerback Brandon Finney Jr., named the Defensive Most Valuable Player, led No. 5 Oregon’s dominant defense with two interceptions, a fumble recovery and six tackles.
Texas Tech lost both its fumbles. Oregon fumbled three times, but recovered all three.
The 6-2, 203-pound Finney, from Owings Mills, Maryland, said his defense was the nation’s best at preparing. “That’s our job. Just relentless effort.’’
Oregon (13-1) held No. 4 Texas Tech (12-2) to 215 yards — only 78 of them rushing. The Ducks’ takeaways led to two field goals and a touchdown.
“I thought we saw a really good defense today, but offensively it’s just not the standard of football that Texas Tech plays,’’ said Red Raiders quarterback Behren Morton, who was 18 of 32 for 137 yards, with no touchdowns and the two picks. He was sacked four times.
“We just didn’t execute base plays. I didn’t do a good job of settling down and really focusing on the next play. There were a lot of things we could have done differently. Can’t give them the ball. We’ve got to keep the ball on our side when we’re on offense. Just a lot of bad football on offense.
“Today was tough.”
Oregon coach Dan Lanning said the Ducks knew the Red Raiders’ strengths, including being ranked fourth nationally in total offense (480.3 yards a game), ninth in passing offense (289.4) and second in scoring offense (42.5).
“We thought it would be about explosive plays,’’ Lanning said. “There weren’t a ton of explosive plays in this game really for either side. But the physicality showed up for our guys down the stretch.
“We knew their tempo would be an issue. So ultimately we wanted to be able to get the call in fast and let our guys line up. We did a really good job of that. And we knew their strengths. They’ve been really good at completing shots down the field. They’ve had a really good screen game. Guys like Brandon showed up.’’
Oregon led 6-0 at halftime, fueled by two field goals from Atticus Sappington, who had three for the day. The first one soared 50 yards to culminate a 10-play, 43-yard drive at 10:41 of the opening quarter. The second one was a 39-yarder at 1:33 of the second quarter, thanks to a Red Raiders fumble by Cameron Dicky that was forced by Bryce Boettcher and recovered at the Texas Tech 26-yard line by Finney Jr. with 2:29 left in the half.
Sappington’s third field goal, a 43-yarder, came at 7:53 of the final quarter to make it 16-0 before Oregon’s final touchdown with 16 seconds left.
“Our defense did an unbelievable job,’’ Lanning said. “If you limit the opportunities for their offense to be on the field, you are going to increase the opportunities for us to score.”
Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, at the same postgame conference as Lanning and Finney, was asked if he thought about “what could await’’ the Ducks should they win their semifinal next week. The CFP National Championship will be at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19.
The Miami Hurricanes, who won their quarterfinal Wednesday night against Ohio State, play in the other semifinal Jan. 8 in the Fiesta Bowl against the winner of the Ole Miss vs. Georgia quarterfinal.
“Being in Miami was great,’’ Moore said. “Great weather, of course. I’m just proud of the fans that traveled out here from Eugene. But yeah, of course that’s everybody’s end goal. But you can never look too far ahead.
“We’ve got to worry about the next day.’’