In what could be the final home game in his University of Oregon career, Marcus Mariota did not disappoint. The signal-caller out of Honolulu accumulated nearly 400 yards of total offense in the 44-10 rout of the University of Colorado Buffaloes.Simply put, Mariota was fantastic. With today's totals, Mariota has thrown for over 9,000 yards and has rushed for over 2,000 yards in his career. Only four other players have ever accomplished the feat. Against the Buffaloes, he threw for 323 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 73 yards and a score.Colorado provided a valiant effort. In the second half, the team did play Oregon relatively even. However, there was just too great of a talent disparity between the two teams.A full box score can be found here, courtesy of NCAA.com. Additional analysis on position units will be provided below, as will game grades for both the first half and the game in its totality.Oregon Ducks Game AnalysisPassing OffenseWith the ground game firing on all cylinders, it made life very easy for Mariota. Colorado began stacking the box in order to slow down both Mariota and Royce Freeman when running the football.As a result, Oregon attacked the perimeter with quick throws and crossing routes over the middle of the field. It also exploited Colorado's defense with play-action passes. Both of Charles Nelson's touchdowns came off play action. Mariota finished the day 24-of-32 for 323 yards and three touchdowns.Pass DefenseThe secondary did a fantastic job of shutting down one of the better receivers in the conference in Nelson Spruce. Oregon held Spruce to only two grabs for 16 yards.Due to the fact that Oregon didn't respect Colorado's ability to stretch the field vertically, its corners pressed at the line of scrimmage. The combination of quickness and physicality made life tough for the Colorado pass-catchers.The Colorado quarterbacking duo of Sefo Liufau and Jordan Gehrke combined for only 105 yards passing on the afternoon.Rushing OffenseOregon's offensive line did a tremendous job of getting to the second level and blocking in space. Reserve center Doug Brenner also did a very admirable job filling in for Hroniss Grasu. He was particularly adept at pinning down against Colorado's defensive linemen.Freeman was spectacular. The freshman back ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns on only 17 carries. He became the first Oregon freshman to run for 1,000 yards in a season. As a whole, Oregon rushed for 265 yards and three touchdowns on 41 carries.Run DefenseEarly in the game, Colorado was getting some success on throws underneath to its running backs. Phillip Lindsay, in particular, was able to accrue some good yardage.However, as a whole, the linebacker corps did a fantastic job of supporting in the run game. Joe Walker was particularly adept at crashing down in order to close up any lanes for the Colorado running backs.Outside of a 36-yard rumble by Christian Powell, the unit was very sound. The Buffaloes finished the day rushing for 121 yards on 30 carries.Special TeamsColorado surprised Oregon on the first play of the game with an onside kick. The coverage unit failed to scoop up the ball, and it was eventually knocked around on the ground until Spruce picked it up for the Buffaloes.After the first touchdown, Oregon failed on a two-point conversion attempt when a receiver slipped and fell in hopes of catching the Taylor Alie pass.However, Matt Wogan connected on his only field-goal opportunity. The coverage on punts and kickoffs was also strong. Had it not been for a questionable Dior Mathis holding penalty, former basketball star Johnathan Loyd would've returned a punt for a touchdown.CoachingIt was not a difficult game to call for Mark Helfrich and his staff. Truthfully, his talent took over in all phases of the game. There's only so much criticism to offer up when a team wins by 34 points.If I had to nitpick, the defense didn't blitz nearly as much as it could have. Perhaps against better competition, this will be the case. There were times in which both Colorado quarterbacks had considerable time to sit in the pocket and throw the ball.Penalties were also an issue. Oregon committed multiple 15-yard, self-inflicted wounds on the afternoon. Both Colorado scoring drives were aided by these errors. The area of discipline is something that should be enforced in practice. Although Oregon got away with it today, it likely will be punished for something similar against a better team in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
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