Dante Moore passed for four touchdowns and ran for one to help fifth-seeded Oregon torch 12th-seeded James Madison 51-34 in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday night at Eugene, Ore.
Malik Benson caught five passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns and Jeremiah McClellan and Jamari Johnson also had scoring catches for the Ducks (12-1). Dierre Hill Jr. scored on a long run and Jayden Limar scored on a blocked punt return for Oregon.
The Ducks will face No. 4 seed Texas Tech in the quarterfinals on Jan. 1 at the Orange Bowl.
Alonza Barnett III completed 23 of 48 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns and added a rushing score for James Madison (12-2). Nick DeGennaro and George Pettaway had scoring catches and Lacota Dippre scored one on the ground for the Dukes, who had an 11-game winning streak halted.
Moore completed 19 of 27 passes for 313 yards and two interceptions as the Ducks won their seventh straight contest.
James Madison earned the final spot in the field when a five-loss Duke squad won the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.
There were many critics who ridiculed their inclusion and the Dukes turned out to have few answers at the outset when trying to stop the Ducks’ offense.
Oregon scored touchdowns on its first five possessions, totaling just 21 plays on those drives, while taking a 34-6 halftime lead.
The Ducks needed just four plays on their first drive as Moore tossed a 41-yard touchdown pass to Johnson. A trick-play two-point conversion attempt failed.
James Madison held the ball for 15 plays on its first drive but settled for Morgan Suarez’s 30-yard field goal.
Oregon then needed just five plays to take a 13-3 lead on Moore’s 5-yard keeper with 2:38 left in the opening quarter.
The Ducks went 78 yards on three plays on their next possession with Hill exploding for a 56-yard touchdown run. Next was a four-play drive in which Moore tossed a 20-yard scoring pass to McClellan to make it 27-3 with 9:18 left in the half.
The fifth straight touchdown drive lasted five plays as Moore hit Benson in stride on a 46-yard pass with 4:22 remaining.
Suarez booted a 48-yard field goal with six seconds left to leave James Madison down by 28.
The Dukes struck for their first touchdown early in the third quarter when DeGennaro caught a short pass, eluded a defender, and raced 47 yards to bring James Madison within 34-13.
But Oregon needed just four plays for its next touchdown. Moore spotted a wide-open Benson behind the Dukes’ defense and the 45-yard touchdown pass boosted the lead back to 28.
Later, Blake Purchase blocked the punt of James Madison’s Patrick Rea and Limar picked it up and ran 15 yards to make it 48-13 with 7:05 left in the third.
Barnett tossed a 24-yard scoring pass to Pettaway with 1:15 left in the third and Dippre scored on a 2-yard reverse as the Dukes pulled within 48-26 with 10:26 left.
After a 48-yard field goal by Oregon’s Atticus Sappington, Barnett capped a 99-yard drive by scoring from the 1 and hitting DeGennaro on a two-point conversion throw to cut the James Madison deficit to 17 with 65 seconds left.
The two sides combined for over 1,000 yards of offense, with Oregon edging JMU, 514-509.
–Field Level Media
