Fiesta Bowl: Liberty's Jamey Chadwell Assesses Oregon Defensive Performance

Liberty's offense ran through every defense they faced in 2023. Once the calendar flipped to 2024, however, they ran into a challenge they couldn't overcome: the #8 Oregon Ducks. Oregon beat Liberty 45-6 in Monday's VRBO Fiesta Bowl. A huge aspect of the Ducks' win was the performance of quarterback Bo Nix. However, the Oregon defense also did their part, holding the Flames' heralded rushing offense to 168 yards, a season low. Nearly half of that yardage came on two specific plays: a 33-yard run by Aaron Bedgood and a 41-yard run by Quinton Cooley. "The challenge was they're big in the box and sometimes we can hand it off and get some big yards. We weren't able to do that," Chadwell stated postgame. "Secondly, when you get behind, you get away from it, right? So you're not really able to grind on people and some of those things. So there's a combination of that." Starting with their third possession, the Ducks had six consecutive touchdown drives. As Chadwell noted, that limited their options in the running