Oregon football holds Damien Martinez to season-low, Oregon State has fewest rushing yards since 2019

All week Oregon was reminded about how last year’s loss at Oregon State ended: 16 straight runs for 143 of OSU’s 268 rushing yards and three of its five touchdowns.

The No. 6 Ducks flipped the result on its head Friday night, holding the No. 16 Beavers to just 53 rushing yards on 24 carries in a 31-7 win in front of 59,987 at Autzen Stadium. It was the fewest rushing yards by Oregon State and its lowest yards per carry (2.21) since it had 34 yards on 22 carries (1.41 ypc.) against Washington on Nov. 8, 2019.

“It means that I think a lot of people got to start putting respect on the Oregon defense and the front seven,” linebacker Jeff Bassa said. “I’m so proud and so grateful for the defensive line that we have. That group is special and they pride themselves on being one of the most physical groups in the nation. They deserve a lot of respect.”

Damien Martinez entered with 1,147 rushing yards and nine touchdowns thanks to six 100-yard games this season and leading Power Five running backs with 39 carries of 10-plus yards. He left with a season-low 38 yards on 13 carries, with none longer than six yards and did not gain a first down.

“It’s special,” said defensive end Jordan Burch, who tackled Martinez twice. “It was talked about all week. We knew what we had to do to stop the run and I feel like as a whole we were able to do that.”

It was the eighth time Oregon (11-1, 8-1 Pac-12) held an opponent under 100 yards rushing this season. Opponents are averaging 92.6 rushing yards per game, a UO program record since at least 1952 and 10th nationally this season.

“We wanted to be the more physical team tonight; I think that showed up,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “We knew we had to strike blocks, separate from blocks and win those one-on-one battles and when we make contact they have to be knock-back tackles, which I think our guys did a good job of. … They certainly take a lot of pride about it and they’ve certainly been reminded this last week of what last year looked like and they didn’t want to replicate that.”

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