After surrendering 24 points to the Bowling Green offense last Saturday, Oregon’s defense sought better execution heading into their matchup against Portland State. The Ducks got just that. Oregon continued their dominant third-down defense.

Last week, Oregon allowed just five third-down conversions — that number improved to allowing just four third-down conversions against the Vikings. The middle of the Ducks’ defense was the repetitive thorn in the side of Portland State’s offense.

“We feel like our guys played with a lot better pad level,” head coach Mario Cristobal said after the game. “A lot better job with their hands and certainly affected the line of scrimmage a lot more — controlled the line of scrimmage a lot better than we did a week ago. Certainly progress in that area.”

Late in the second half with Oregon leading 28-7, Portland State faced a third down and nine at midfield. Defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt dialed up the pressure send safety Ugo Amadi on a blitz. The pressure was enough to cause Portland State quarterback Jalani Eason to scramble and throw the pass away.

Rather than punting and pinning the Ducks deep in their own territory, the Vikings elected to try for a first down. The rush immediately got to the quarterback with Jalen Jelks on the sack. Both Jelks and Hollins received praise from Cristobal.

“Jalen and Justin — when they go they’re hard to stop.”

Oregon’s offense made the most of the field position scoring a touchdown before the end of the first half to go up 35-14.

Later in the game on a third down and 15, Gus Cumberlander quickly got to the Viking’s quarterback for a sack. Cumberlander has been limited throughout fall camp and saw his first game action against PSU.

“It’s great to see Gus out there,” Cristobal said. “He’s as tall as a palm tree. He’s got his hands on blockers and he’s able to get full extension on guys to get hands on them. He’s really worked at this. I think you guys would really get a kick out of watching the way that Joe Salave’a works that defensive line.

“Playing with power, coming out of their hips, playing with their feet in the ground and with a base and locking guys out.”

Cumberlander adds some much-needed depth to the defensive line. He played with the second-team defensive line along with a rotation of Gary Baker, Drayton Carlberg and Popo Aumavae.

“I feel like we got some nice depth,” Hollins said to the media after Oregon’s 62-14 win. “We love to have a one-two where the twos don’t look like twos, they look like ones. There’s no drop-off and they play just as hard, just as fast. I feel like we accomplished that this fall camp. We’ve got guys who can come in and really cause havoc.”

That havoc was causing major trouble for the Portland State offense. After allowing just 2.7 yards per carry last week, the Oregon defense improved that number to 1.6 yard per carry against the Vikings. The defense also improved from three sacks last week to four sacks today.

Leavitt and the defense will have a chance to improve upon those numbers again next Saturday against San Jose State. That will be their final non-conference game before a big-time matchup with Stanford on Sep. 22.