Dylan Raiola Throws Four Touchdowns as No. 18 Oregon Beats Michigan 31-7

Michigan finally found a running game on Saturday. It just ran into a quarterback who needed only a handful of throws to make it irrelevant. Dylan Raiola threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns, three of them from 49 yards or longer, and No. 18 Oregon beat Michigan 31-7 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

The Ducks were not airtight. They were stopped at the Michigan 2, missed a field goal and went the entire third quarter without a point. It did not matter much. Oregon averaged 12.2 yards per pass attempt, Michigan's quarterbacks combined for 71 passing yards, and the Wolverines came away empty on three fourth-down tries and two fumbles in the second half. Oregon improved to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten, its third straight win. Michigan fell to 5-5 and 2-5 in league play and has now lost two in a row.

Two strikes before Michigan settled in

Raiola did not waste any time. On Oregon's opening possession, the Ducks went 75 yards in four plays, and the last one was a 60-yard catch-and-run by Jeremiah McClellan with 13:00 still on the first-quarter clock. Oregon was up 7-0 before Michigan had run a play.

Michigan started Tommy Carr at quarterback, and the Wolverines' first two drives went nowhere: a seven-play march that crossed midfield and ended in a punt, then a three-and-out. Oregon's second scoring drive took longer but felt just as inevitable. The Ducks went 64 yards in 10 plays, picking up 15 free yards on a Michigan unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and converting a fourth-and-2 inside the red zone before Raiola found Da'Jaun Riggs for a 2-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left in the quarter. Raiola was 8 of 8 for 133 yards at that point, according to Lookout Eugene-Springfield's live coverage.

Near the end of the first quarter, Michigan turned to freshman Bryce Underwood. The switch produced the Wolverines' only points almost immediately. Underwood kept for 5 yards, and on the next snap Savion Hiter broke free for a 70-yard touchdown 11 seconds into the second quarter. Just like that, it was 14-7.

The stand, and then the drive that undid it

For most of the second quarter, Michigan's defense looked like the unit that had kept the Wolverines in games all season. Oregon answered Hiter's touchdown with a 12-play, 60-yard drive that reached the Michigan 2, but on fourth down Raiola's throw fell incomplete, with cornerback Jyaire Hill breaking up the pass. The Ducks then went three-and-out twice in a row, and Bailey Ettridge, a Ray Guy Award semifinalist this week, had to punt on both.

The problem was that Michigan's offense could not take advantage. The Wolverines punted on each of their remaining first-half possessions, and the last of Cam Brown's punts pinned Oregon at its own 9 with less than a minute left before halftime.

That should have been the end of the half. Instead, it was the turning point of the game. Oregon needed four plays to cover 91 yards, and the finisher was a 59-yard touchdown pass to Dakorien Moore with six seconds remaining. Michigan went to the locker room down 21-7 after a sequence in which it had done almost everything right for a full quarter and still lost ground. Raiola had 261 passing yards and three touchdowns by halftime.

A scoreless third and a fourth quarter of missed chances

The second half started with a different version of the game. Carr returned at quarterback, and Michigan, in its first game under interim offensive coordinator Jim Harding, leaned harder on downhill runs. Harding took over the play calling after Michigan fired offensive coordinator Jason Beck following last week's 15-6 loss to Michigan State.

The new approach moved the ball. It did not finish anything. Michigan's opening drive of the half reached the Oregon 37 before Carr was stopped on fourth-and-3. Oregon's reply featured a 36-yard run by Dierre Hill Jr., but a sack stalled the drive and Gage Hurych missed a 46-yard field goal.

Then came the drive that summed up Michigan's afternoon. The Wolverines held the ball for 9 minutes, 47 seconds across the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, running 15 plays and covering 69 yards to reach the Oregon 3. On fourth-and-goal, Carr threw for Andrew Marsh, and the pass fell incomplete. Fifteen plays, nearly 10 minutes, zero points.

Two turnovers ended any hope after that. Bryson Kuzdzal fumbled in Oregon territory and Brandon Finney Jr. recovered for the Ducks. A few minutes later Carr lost the ball deep in Michigan territory and Na'eem Offord pounced on it. Three plays after Offord's recovery, Raiola threw a screen to Hill, who turned it into a 49-yard touchdown with 4:03 to play. Underwood came back in for Michigan's next series, which ended on a fourth-and-14 incompletion at the Oregon 21, and Hurych closed the scoring with a 21-yard field goal with 40 seconds left.

Raiola, McClellan and an Oregon pass rush that showed up late

Raiola finished 20 of 28 for 341 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions, and the efficiency was the story. Four of the 20 completions went for 38 yards or more. McClellan caught four passes for 105 yards, Moore had seven catches for 101 yards, and Hill added the long screen touchdown to go with 98 rushing yards on 21 carries. Evan Stewart chipped in a 38-yard grab and Jamari Johnson caught three passes for 35 yards.

The Oregon defense deserves more credit than a 215-yard rushing day allowed might suggest. Dylan Williams made 11 tackles, Devon Jackson had seven, and Matayo Uiagalelei, the Ducks' sack leader coming in, added two more sacks. Nasir Wyatt had the other. Oregon forced two fumbles, recovered both, and stopped Michigan on all three of its fourth-down attempts.

For Michigan, Hiter was the bright spot. The 70-yard score was the longest Wolverine run of the season, and Hiter finished with 107 yards on 13 carries, a career high and Michigan's first 100-yard rushing game of the year, according to Wolverines Wire. Kuzdzal added 46 yards on nine carries and Carr ran for 43. On defense, Chris Bracy made eight tackles and had a sack, Zeke Berry also had eight tackles, Troy Bowles had seven and Dom Nichols recorded a sack.

The numbers behind the score

The box score tells a strange story at first glance. Michigan outrushed Oregon 215 to 126 and nearly matched the Ducks in time of possession, 29:39 to 30:21. Oregon still outgained the Wolverines 467 to 286, because the passing gap was enormous: 341 yards to 71.

Michigan's quarterbacks went a combined 6 of 20. Underwood was 2 of 8 for 26 yards, and Carr was 4 of 12 for 45. Marsh caught four of the six completions for 46 yards. The Wolverines were also without top receiver JJ Buchanan for most of the game after Buchanan left early with an injury, according to Wolverines Wire.

Third downs were not the separator, with Michigan converting 4 of 13 and Oregon 6 of 15. Fourth downs were. Michigan went 0 for 3, all of them in Oregon territory, while Oregon converted one of its two attempts. The Wolverines lost two fumbles. Oregon did not turn it over.

What it means

Oregon entered the week No. 16 in the College Football Playoff rankings as the committee's top three-loss team, and this was the kind of home game the Ducks could not afford to let get close. It never really did. Back-to-back wins over Ohio State and Michigan keep Oregon alive in the playoff race with two regular-season games left, even after losing edge rusher Teitum Tuioti for the season. The win also gave Oregon its fourth straight victory in the series, which the Ducks now lead 4-3.

Oregon plays at Michigan State on Friday, Nov. 20, then hosts Washington on Nov. 28. Michigan, in Kyle Whittingham's first season, hosts UCLA on Saturday, Nov. 21.

The takeaway for Oregon is simple: when Raiola gets time, this offense can flip a game in less than a minute, and it did exactly that before halftime. The takeaway for Michigan is harder. A new play caller found a running game, the defense held for long stretches, and the Wolverines still lost by 24 because nobody could complete a pass when it counted. At 5-5, the quarterback question is no longer a side plot. It is the whole season.

The official box score is available from ESPN (opens in a new tab), and Michigan's game center (opens in a new tab) has the team's game details.

Sources: ESPN, Oregon Athletics, Michigan Athletics, ClickOnDetroit, Wolverines Wire, Sports Illustrated, Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Photo: Michigan Athletics.