With 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Marcus Mariota walked to the Oregon sideline in Autzen stadium just like he’d done many times before. He had just led the Ducks to a touchdown, a 14-yard pass to Charles Nelson, and was coming off the field in what was expected to be his last play on the Autzen turf.
Just like his surprise to return to Oregon this year, Mariota and head coach Mark Helfrich had one more trick up their sleeve.
The Ducks began their first drive of the fourth quarter at its own five yard line when Mariota walked out with his teammates for one final play. The call was a simple handoff and after it went for a short gain, Mariota jogged towards the sidelines one final time.
In what’s expected to be his last game at Autzen Stadium, Mariota gave another vintage-Mariota performance by going 24-for-32 for 323 yards and three touchdowns while adding 73 yards on the ground and another touchdown.
As a team, the Ducks led from start-to-finish and never allowed the Buffaloes to ever come within true striking distance as they won 44-10 to improve to 10-1 on the season.
It wasn’t the most glorious of starts for Oregon as Colorado surprised the Ducks with an onside kick to start the game.
After that, it was all Oregon.
After a three-and-out on defensive, the Ducks took the ball and marched right down the field that resulted in a 20-yard touchdown run by freshman Royce Freeman and the rout was on.
Led by a vaunted offense and ever-stiffening defense, No. 2 Oregon leads Colorado 30-3 at the half.
Marcus Mariota added to his Heisman trophy resume with a 46-yard touchdown run on the Ducks’ third drive of the game to make the score 13-0 and put the Ducks firmly in control.
The story of the first half has been Oregon’s defense.
The Ducks held the Buffaloes to 93 total yards while Troy Hill and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu have done a good job of bottling up wide receiver Nelson Spruce. Spruce came into the game with 99 catches for 1,091 yards and 11 touchdowns but was held without a catch the entire half.
Twice Colorado had the ball within the Ducks’ 30-yard line and both times Oregon held the Buffaloes without a touchdown. The first possession came in the first quarter and resulted in a missed 46-yard field goal while the second possession ended with a made 23-yard field goal.
The second half played out much how Oregon would’ve liked as the Ducks continued to pile on the yardage and the points.
After stopping Colorado on fourth down to begin the half, the Ducks drove down the field only to see their drive stall at the five-yard line when Mariota overthrew Darren Carrington in the end zone.
Oregon responded on its next drive when Mariota found Baylis for a 15-yard touchdown, the first of Baylis’ career. The Ducks’ final points came on the touchdown from Mariota to Nelson but six more points were almost added at the end of the fourth quarter.
Jonathon Lloyd entered the game as a punt returner and after taking a few Buffaloes miss when he received a punt, ran down the right sideline for an apparent touchdown but saw the play nullified due to a holding penalty by Dior Mathis. Loyd looked as if he was going to score on a punt return two weeks ago against Utah only to be chopped down on a shoe-string tackle by the Utes punter.
Mariota set the Pac-12 single season touchdown record in the game with 42 total touchdowns on the season, breaking Matt Barkley’s record of 41.
Stats: 
Oregon
Mariota: 24-for-32, 323 yards, 3 touchdowns / 8 carries, 73 yards, 1 touchdown
Freeman: 17 carries, 105 yards, 2 touchdowns
Nelson: 3 catches, 62 yards, 2 touchdowns
Marshall: 4 catches, 65 yards
Colorado:
Jordan Gehrke: 9-for-18, 64 yards
Sefo Lifau: 7-for-14, 41 yards, 1 touchdown
Christian Powell: 5 carries, 51 yards
Lindsay: 4 catches, 26 yards
Nelson: 2 catches, 16 yards
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