EUGENE -- Grading game video is usually a late-night, bleary-eyed routine for coaches, pushed into the wee hours thanks to college football's late kickoffs and TV windows.



You would think Oregon's 11 a.m. kickoff Saturday would make things different for Ducks coach Mario Cristobal. But any reprieve was only theoretical. It would still be dark by the time he left his video bunker in the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex, rewatching the 23rd-ranked Ducks' 62-14 rout of Portland State.



"I know you get to enjoy football and your barbecue but we've got to go do our grading for the next, about, eight hours," Cristobal said. "Let me know how it goes. Send me some snapshots."



The question hanging over the Ducks (2-0) is what snapshot, if any, their first two games offer into their potential under Cristobal. The coach now has 120 minutes of football to grade. But it's unclear what a pair of one-sided blowouts say about the Ducks so far.



This much is known: The Ducks did what was expected Saturday in crushing the in-state Vikings of the FCS, gaining 562 yards while allowing just 224. Oregon's offensive starters played nine series and scored seven touchdowns, including on a 99-yard drive that was UO's longest in two years, almost to the day. Despite an early kickoff and spring-game atmosphere in a less than sold-out stadium, UO started quickly and ended any suspense of Portland State keeping the game close.



UO produced a pair of 100-yard rushers in Tony Brooks-James (107 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, 16 more than he received in Week 1) and CJ Verdell (11 carries, one touchdown, 106 yards).



"We made a big step forward from last week," quarterback Justin Herbert said.



The defense, after allowing 10 points on its first two drives of the season last week, didn't allow the Vikings (0-2) to score until midway through the second quarter. Of Portland State's 13 possessions, only two crossed midfield. Linebacker Kaulana Apelu and defensive end Austin Faoliu both had a team-high seven tackles, with outside linebacker Justin Hollins adding two tackles for loss.



"I feel like we played really well coming out," Hollins said.



The matchup offered confirmation of some facts already established about UO.



For the first time in four seasons, the defense is no longer a liability, with the Vikings converting just four of their 14 third-down chances despite throwing the Ducks a curveball by playing a pair of backups while saving starter Davis Alexander for conference games. The quarterbacks, Jalani Eason and Beau Kelly, completed eight of their 15 passes combined for 158 yards as the Vikings tried to run the ball and the clock to limit UO's opportunities to score.



"We didn't know he was going to start, but we knew both quarterbacks liked to scramble," end Jalen Jelks said. "We pretty much were prepared for them."



And Herbert, who completed 20 of his 26 passes for 250 yards and four touchdowns, is deserving of his preseason awards hype. He now has nine touchdowns in two games and 43 for his career, enough to jump Chris Miller for eighth all time at UO.



But the blowout also offered only a passing glimpse into other areas -- perhaps to be expected only two weeks in.



Can this receiving corps take advantage of Herbert's NFL-ready right arm? The Ducks dropped two more passes on potential big plays, but ultimately produced six completions of 20-plus yards. Special teams remains a question with starting kicker Adam Stack yet to play due to a "sore" kicking leg. Backup quarterbacks Braxton Burmeister and Tyler Shough, the latter making his college debut, played but neither showed their readiness should a worst-case scenario, an injury to Herbert, hit UO for a second consecutive season.



The defense stuffed Portland State for long stretches, but when it was burned, it was burned badly -- a touchdown reception of 71 yards by Vikings tight end Charlie Taumoepeau, who later caught a 47-yard pass on a trick pass.



"I feel like we know who we are, we just haven't been tested," Cristobal said. "I fully respect both teams we just played. It does not matter that we have a personnel advantage, and we acknowledge that, but our tests have to become every day in practice.



"... We need to test ourselves every day. We do. We go good-on-good every single day. Every single day and we have to keep doing that because it's the only way, it's the only way to find out. We've got to keep working. Let's go find out."



The Ducks did learn that at tight end, their rotation appears to be just fine despite last week's season-ending leg injury to Cam McCormick. Jacob Breeland, Ryan Bay and Hunter Kampmoyer all played but graduate transfer Kano Dillon had the most noticeable impact by catching three passes for 41 yards including a 20-yard touchdown in which he dragged three Vikings defenders the final five yards into the end zone.



"I can't really explain how it feels," Dillon said of the catch. "I just did it. I didn't think about it but it feels good, though."

Said Herbert: "We've got multiple guys that can step up. I'm just as confident in them as I was with Cam. Just a bunch of weapons."

Dillon was one of 11 receivers to catch a pass and UO also used five running backs. A sixth, Darrian Felix, will play a larger role next week, Cristobal said. There will be a time when UO needs to trim that rotation but it's not here yet, the coach said.



And there will be a time when the Ducks know much more about their capabilities in 2018. They're not there yet. But Cristobal likes the snapshot of what he's seen, and believes it could be indicative of the bigger picture.



"It doesn't matter who they're playing, it doesn't matter when they're playing, where they're playing, it doesn't matter anything from the outside," he said. "What does matter is the standard which they play to and which they hold themselves to. I think we're adopting that kind of mentality."



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com