Gabriel says there's room for improvement after Oregon debut

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The final outcome wasn't necessarily what he had hoped for, but quarterback Dillon Gabriel was solid in his debut for No. 3 Oregon.

Gabriel, a sixth-year senior who played for Oklahoma the past two seasons, threw for 380 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-14 victory over Idaho in the season opener on Saturday.

While Gabriel had the bulk of Oregon's 487 total yards on offense, he was clearly frustrated with what many expected to be an easier — and bigger — win in the team's first game as a member of the Big Ten.

“Stats are one thing, but we're focused on winning,” he said. “A win is a win, I will say that, but there's a lot we need to improve on.”

Asked what needed improvement, Gabriel offered: “Just finishing, not beating ourselves up, more explosive plays so there's not as many third downs and just being efficient, you know?”

A Heisman hopeful this season, last year Gabriel threw for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns, with just six interceptions. He also ran for 12 TDs.

His first touchdown for the Ducks was a 7-yard pass to Tez Johnson on Oregon’s first series of the game.

But the outing wasn’t totally smooth. Gabriel was sacked three times and had just the one touchdown pass in a 14-0 lead at halftime.

Idaho narrowed it in the third quarter on Jack Layne’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Jake Cox. After an Oregon field goal, Layne rushed for a 4-yard TD to make it 17-14 early in the fourth quarter.

Gabriel found Johnson again with a 12-yard scoring pass with 5:36 left that sealed the victory for the Ducks.

In the process, Gabriel became the eighth player in FBS history to reach 15,000 passing yards in a career.

“I think he's a really intelligent player, he brings a lot of great leadership, calm, poise in situations,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “I think you saw a lot of that today, so looking for some opportunities to build on that and grow.”

Gabriel replaces Bo Nix, who is now the starting quarterback for the NFL’s Denver Broncos. Nix led an explosive Oregon offense that averaged 531.4 yards and 44.2 points per game to rank second nationally in both categories.

“I wouldn't say disappointment,” Gabriel said about the game. “It's just more like, gosh, we're explosive, we've got a lot of weapons, and I think at times we bit ourselves in the foot. It was strenuous, when it didn't have to be.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football