Ducks Win Redbox Bowl Brawl

Monday, December 31

Santa Clara, Calif.

12:00 PM

University of Oregon

9-4

Michigan State

7-6

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Michigan State

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

12/31/18 | Football

Box Score FINAL STATS - Oregon 7, Michigan State 6 Oregon Postgame Notes - Redbox Bowl

Oregon scored the game's only touchdown in the fourth quarter to beat Michigan State on Monday, 7-6.

By: Rob Moseley

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On the last day before a new year that stands to hold much promise for Oregon football, the Ducks sent out 2018 on a victorious note.

The UO defense was exceptional all day and the offense got hot at the right time to give the Ducks a 7-6 victory over Michigan State on Monday in the Redbox Bowl before 30,212 fans in Levi's Stadium.

Oregon won in the postseason for the first time since the 2014 College Football Playoff semifinal, and wrapped up Mario Cristobal's first season as head coach with a 9-4 record. The nine victories were the Ducks' most since 2015.

A scoreless first half Monday was followed by a third quarter that featured two Michigan State field goals. The Ducks had only driven as far as the Michigan State 42-yard line through three quarters, but they ramped up the tempo to open the fourth quarter and drove to the game's only touchdown.

The six-play, 77-yard drive took just 1:40, and was capped by Dillon Mitchell's 28 touchdown reception from Justin Herbert.

"You take a victory whether it be one point, two points or 50 points," Cristobal said. "These guys found a way to get it done."

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Oregon held Michigan State to 331 yards of offense, and just six total points in three red-zone trips. The Spartans missed a 50-yard attempt midway through the fourth quarter, and set up for another with 6:31 left but mishandled the snap.

"We take those points all day," junior linebacker Troy Dye said. "Especially when you have 10 and 13 (Herbert and Mitchell), that's a great combo. They always find a way to get it done."

They did again Monday, though it took awhile. Mitchell had only two receptions for 11 yards the first six times he was targeted in the first half. He matched that number of receptions on the touchdown drive, in the process breaking Josh Huff's five-year-old UO record for receiving yards.

The Ducks went up-tempo on their scoring drive, which opened at the 23-yard line and began with a screen pass on which Jaylon Redd split blocks by Mitchell and Brenden Schooler for a 15-yard gain. Redd got Oregon across midfield as well, with an 18-yard reception to the Michigan State 41-yard line, the Ducks' deepest penetration to that point in the game.

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Mitchell then caught a nine-yard pass, and two plays later streaked up the right sideline, turned back at the goal line and hauled in a pass from Herbert for the go-ahead touchdown.

"The sticks started moving, and these guys connected," Cristobal said in the postgame interview while seated at a table with Herbert and Mitchell, plus Dye. "And they connected again in the end zone. They'd been trying to find each other all day, and eventually hooked up."

Those seven points were enough to give Oregon a win. Earlier in the week, offensive line coach Alex Mirabal addressed the team after practice and said the goal was for, at the end of the game — no matter how it played out — to have one more point than Michigan State. His words proved prescient.

The single touchdown held up because the UO defense held strong all day. La'Mar Winston Jr. led the Ducks with 10 tackles, and Dye had eight. Justin Hollins, the only player on the roster who participated in the Ducks' last bowl victory back in 2014, had 2.5 tackles for loss, including one that forced the Spartans to settle for their final failed field-goal attempt.