It was just a point too short but the University of Oregon can still walk away with some positive feelings.

The Ducks beat Western Washington 26-24 over the weekend. That was the good news. The bad news was that because they had lost 20-17 back in November. And so the aggregate score of 44-43 in WWU's favor meant the Vikings, not the Ducks, would advance to the national spring DIAA playoffs.

For Oregon, center West Welters was immense, unstoppable working off first phase and scoring or setting up Oregon's tries. Welters and Jeremy Gunderson both broke off try-scoring runs of more than 50 meters, and fullback Logan Deitner stepped in at flyhalf and did superbly well. Freshman wing Tate Nelson was a find, also.

"The biggest difference was our defense," said Gunderson. "We had trouble earlier in the season, so it was really good to have a team effort on defense."

For Western, though, they did just enough, Tries from Noah Weiss, Kyle Peters, and two by Aiden Kerr in the final 20 minutes getting those all-important points.

So Western Washington moves on to the spring playoffs in April, with Fresno State and Long Beach State likely to be there, too, along with one more team to be confirmed.

Oregon? They now look ahead to 7s, but will have to be pleased with how they clawed their way back into contention.