Number 12 Oregon picked up its second win of 2015 Saturday afternoon at Autzen Stadium as they defeated the Georgia State Panthers by a final score of 61 to 28 on a day that the Ducks choose to start backup quarterback Jeff Lockie, who passed for 228 yards and two touchdowns for the win.
Lockie, who was the backup to Marcus Mariota last season, replaced Vernon Adams Jr. who was given the week off to rest his broken finger that he told reporters this week was bothering him near the end of last weekend’s loss to the Michigan State Spartans. Lockie passed for 228 yards having completed 23 of 31 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
On the rushing side, Royce Freeman ran for one touchdown and 101 yards on the day. Quarterback Taylor Alie had one carry for 87 yards that he took to the house in the fourth quarter for the final touchdown of the game after he replaced Lockie in the fourth quarter.
Lockie found 11 different receivers on the day with Dwayne Stanford and Charles Nelson both getting 48 yards on the day for the high.
Just a minute into the game Oregon took the lead as safety Tyree Robinson intercepted Nick Arbuckle’s pass and took it 41 yards to the house on the sophomore’s first career interception and touchdown and later added his second career interception.
The Ducks went into halftime boasting a 33 to 7 lead following four first half field goals by Aidan Schneider.
In the third quarter the Ducks defense struggled to stop Georgia State who were trading touchdowns with the Ducks and actually outscored them 21 to 14. However, their momentum would not continue in the fourth while Oregon would go on to put another 14 on the board to bring the game to a close with a final score of 61 to 28.
For Georgia State, Arbuckle went 25 for 35 passing for 318 yards and three touchdowns but also threw two interceptions including the early one that turned into a pick-six.
The Panthers struggled to find room on the ground as they had 36 carries for only 113 yards with the majority of those going to Kyler Neal who only managed 30 yards on 13 carries while Demarcus Kirk got the most yards in 42 with just 6 carries.
The bright spot for Georgia State was in its receiving corps, with Oregon struggling to stop Penny Hart who had nine receptions for 128 yards and Robert Davis who had three receptions for 89 yards and one touchdown.
Oregon will move on from this match and next week look to their first conference match against number 21 Utah who at press time sit 2-0 taking on Fresno State later on. The Utes will travel to Autzen and take on the 2-1 Ducks in a critical conference match.
Georgia State, which is 2-1 after this game, will head home to the Georgia Dome and will take on the Liberty Flames on October 2nd following an early season bye week.