Silenced at Hard Rock, Tech falls to Oregon

The Capital One Orange Bowl kicked off a trio of College Football Playoff Quarterfinal games as the eyes and ears of fans converged on Miami, Florida, at Hard Rock Stadium for the Oregon Ducks versus the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Oregon was the first to score courtesy of a 50-yard field goal off the foot of Atticus Sappington.

The Red Raiders would punt the ball away in both of their first-quarter drives, and the Ducks would turn the ball over on downs in between those Red Raider punts when the Ducks decided to go for it on 4th-&-1 and lost two yards on a rush attempt by running back Jordon Davison.

At the end of a quarter of play, the score stood 3-0 Oregon.

Within the first minute of the second quarter, Ducks' cornerback Brandon Finney, Jr., jumped the route and intercepted Red Raiders' quarterback Behren Morton.

Oregon would not come away with any points to follow this Texas Tech turnover, going three-and-out on a drive where quarterback Dante Moore fumbled and recovered his own blunder.

After the punt by the Ducks, the Red Raiders would gain their biggest offensive play of the day to that point when running back J'Koby Williams ran to the right, saw that there was traffic on that side and decided to ad-lib, changing direction by going out left, gaining 50 yards.

But this drive concluded without any points when kicker Stone Harrington missed a 54-yard attempt wide left.

On Oregon's ensuing possession, they got into punt formation on 4th-&-3 and utilized some trickery from punter James Ferguson-Reynolds who threw a pass to tight end Zach Grace that went for 11 yards, gaining a new set of downs and switching fields for the Ducks, moving them from their own 43 to the Red Raiders' 46-yard line.

Oregon Head Coach Dan Lanning would elect to go for it on 4th-&-Goal from the Texas Tech two-yard line. Moore would roll out right and there was a ton of traffic on the right side. He decided to throw it into that traffic and the ball was knocked down by outside linebacker David Bailey, resulting in the second turnover on downs by the Ducks.

The Red Raiders would respond with their second turnover of the day when running back Cameron Dickey fumbled the ball, forced by inside linebacker Bryce Boettcher, and recovered by Finney who had the aforementioned interception as well.

With 1:33 left in the first half, Sappington connected once again, this time from 39 yards away, to move Oregon up to a 6-0 lead.

The Ducks would have one more possession before the break where Moore threw three-straight completions but the Ducks did not come away with anything after a botched snap lost 13 yards for Oregon.

At the half, the Red Raiders were still one score away from taking the lead, down 6-0.

Moore ended the first half 22-for-27 for 192 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Davison and Noah Whittington each carried the ball six times for Oregon, with Davison gaining 14 yards and Whittington 13.

Tight end Jamari Johnson led the Ducks in receiving at the break with 66 yards on four catches.

Linebacker Teitum Tuioti had the lone sack for Oregon.

Finney secured both aforementioned turnovers by Texas Tech.

For the Red Raiders, Morton went 6-for-12 for 37 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.

J'Koby Williams led the backfield for Texas Tech with 56 yards on four carries, 50 of those yards coming on one rush attempt.

Tight end Terrance Carter, Jr., had the most receiving yards for the Red Raiders after the first half, with 15 yards on two catches.

Bailey and fellow outside linebacker Romello Height each had a sack in the first half.

Texas Tech would begin the second half with a quick three-and-out.

Lanning would keep his offense on once again on fourth down on Oregon's first possession of the latter half and after looking to throw, Moore took off but was short of the first-down marker, turning the ball over on downs and bringing the Ducks to 3-for-6 on fourth down in the game.

On the third play of their second drive of the second half, Texas Tech would lose possession when outside linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei sacked Morton for a loss of nine yards, stripped the ball from Morton, recovered it, and returned the ball to the Red Raiders' six-yard line.

Davison would take just one play to get the six yards needed for the score, rushing into the end zone for the first touchdown by either team in the game, and bringing the lead for Oregon to 13-0 at the 11:20 mark of the third quarter.

Texas Tech would follow with a 12-play drive that did not amount any points. J'Koby Williams would lose a yard instead of gaining the lone yard needed on 4th-&-1, resulting in a turnover on downs that saw Oregon take over at their own 35.

Lanning would decide to go for it on fourth down for the seventh time in this game on the Ducks' next drive. That 4th-&-2 attempt would end in the hands of linebacker Ben Roberts... of the Red Raiders... who kept his eyes on Moore and jumped the route as Moore was staring down his receiver.

After back-to-back false starts on Texas Tech's next possession, a positive would come from J'Koby Williams who carried the ball for the three yards needed on 3rd-&-3. This play was reviewed and the call was upheld for the first down.

On their following third down, the Red Raiders would gain another new set of downs once again thanks to the legs of J'Koby Williams, who accumulated four yards on 3rd-&-2.

The very next play would send Texas Tech from the Oregon 33 to their nine-yard line courtesy of a pass play from Morton to Carter for 24 yards.

On 3rd-&-9, Morton would send the ball to the left side of the end zone and find Finney instead of anyone in a Red Raiders' uniform, with Finney downing the ball in his own end zone for a touchback for his second interception of the day.

However, the Ducks would gain nothing from this turnover, punting the ball back to the Red Raiders on the heels of a three-and-out.

But wait...

Defensive offsides was called on Texas Tech giving Oregon a fresh set of downs from their own 33.

They would move shortly after to the 33 of the Red Raiders with the biggest chunk of yardage coming from a pass from Moore to running back Jayden Limar for a 27-yard gain.

This drive would end with Sappington's third field goal of the day, a 43-yarder that would bring the shutout to 16-0 with 7:53 to go.

On fourth down, Tuioti would sack Morton, taking five more yards from the Red Raiders when the Red Raiders were looking for five yards for a first down.

Oregon's fourth play of their next drive would see Sappington attempt a 36-yarder. This field-goal attempt would be his first miss in four tries on the day, giving the ball back to Texas Tech at Texas Tech's own 18-yard line.

Another fourth down for the Red Raiders would end the same as their last drive, with Morton being sacked, this coming from outside linebacker Blake Purchase for a loss of seven yards, and providing the same result, a turnover on downs.

Davison would add a one-yard touchdown to the scoreboard with 16 seconds remaining, making the final score 23-0 Oregon.

65,021 was the announced attendance for this Orange Bowl.