When No. 2 Oregon (6-0, 3-0 Pac-12) heads to the desert in Tempe, Ariz., to take on unranked Arizona State (5-1, 3-0) Thursday in a primetime matchup on ESPN, the Sun Devils will look to avoid the drubbing that happened exactly one year ago today, a barnburner in which then-No. 9 Oregon and then-No. 18 Arizona State combined for just under 1,000 total yards.
The Ducks dropped the Sun Devils 41-27 in Eugene that night behind running back Kenjon Barner’s 171 yards on 31 carries. Barner’s huge performance came, if you remember, just a week after starter LaMichael James suffered a gruesome elbow injury against California and missed time that eventually weakened his Heisman campaign.
This win also came at a price — starting quarterback Darron Thomas injured his left leg in the second half, paving the way for Bryan Bennett to take the reins of the offense. He went 2-for-5 for 22 yards and picked up 65 more on the ground, impressing the record-60,055 crowd at Autzen Stadium.
The other star of that night? Freshman De’Anthony Thomas, who ran for 73 yards and two scores.
Here are some notes ahead of this year’s showdown:
By the numbers. Per this week’s Oregon football release:

• 5 – Points needed by RB Kenjon Barner (222 points) to pass Ahmad Rashad (226, 1969-71) and Gregg McCallum (226, 1988-91) for fourth on UO’s career scoring list.

• 249 – Yards needed by Barner to tie RB Terrence Whitehead (2,832 yards, 2002-05) for fourth on Oregon’s all-time rushing list.

• 28 – Rushing yards RB De’Anthony Thomas needs for 1,000 career. Thomas’ career average is 10.1 yards per carry.

• Of Oregon’s 39 drives resulting in touchdowns this season, 24 have lasted less than two minutes and 14 have taken 60 seconds or less.

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Volleyball hits the road. After dispatching undefeated No. 2 Washington at home, the Ducks will spend the rest of this month on the road as they embark on their longest road trip of the regular season.
The team travels to Tucson and Tempe, Ariz., to battle Arizona and Arizona State before heading east to take on Colorado and Utah. It’s a brief respite from the tooth-and-nail fights at the top of the Pac-12 Conference, as none of the four opponents are currently ranked. Although, when fresh rankings come out later this afternoon, that may change.
Oregon’s homecoming comes in the form of Cal on Nov. 2.