CORVALLIS – Oregon likes to call its offensive system the spread option, but after an unprecedented 65-38 win against No. 17 Oregon State Saturday night in Corvallis, it might have earned itself a new name.
“Run-and-stun,” anybody?
More people came to Reser Stadium to watch the 112th Civil War than any time in its history Saturday, 46,319 specifically, expecting to see the Beavers clinch their first Rose Bowl bid since the 1964 season and keep the No. 19 Ducks (9-3, 7-2 Pacific-10 Conference) winless in Corvallis since 1996.
Instead, nearly half the stadium was empty by the time Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti was doused with ice water half a minute left in the game after his team amassed 694 yards of total offense, scoring on 11 of its 16 drives and blowing out a team that saw quarterback Lyle Moevao still pass for five touchdowns. Every time Oregon ran a play, it gained an average 10.1 yards.
Those who stuck around in orange and black still had blank faces after watching the home team get its six-game winning streak snapped and allow the most points in school history and the most rushing yards, 385 for Oregon, since 1991.
“It’s the culmination of a couple years of frustration and one great football game that they played,” Bellotti said. “That wasn’t in my wildest dreams.”
That Rose Bowl bid for Oregon State? It will only happen now if UCLA can beat USC next Saturday, a game the Trojans have won eight of the last nine years. Oregon, its season over, looks to be a likely candidate for the Holiday Bowl.
“We didn’t start out well on offense and we didn’t start well on defense,” Moevao said. “Usually when you have that you don’t come out on top.”
It’s no surprise the 103 total points between the teams is a new record after the show both offense’s put on, although Oregon’s set the pace and never let Oregon State catch up again.
Senior Jeremiah Johnson, never a factor in his three previous games due to playing or injury, ran for 219 yards on 17 carries for Oregon. That included a 79-yard run to Oregon State’s nine-yard line on Oregon’s fourth possession that set up a LeGarrette Blount touchdown. Blount finished with 112 yards on 17 carries.
The big plays came so often that a 35-yard reverse pass from Darron Thomas to Jeff Maehl was soon forgotten because of a play such as Johnson’s 83 yard run on third and 19 from their own 17 yard line with 58 seconds left in the first half. He ran through at least four tackles on the momentum-shifting play.
Johnson didn’t see why the Ducks couldn’t put together a repeat performance in their bowl.
“Why not? We got the line, we got the right plays to call, we got a good OC (offensive coordinator), we got a good quarterback, I mean why not?” said Johnson, who broke the 1,000-yard barrier for the season on his 83-yard touchdown run.
The Ducks scored at least 17 points in three of the four quarters, including 14 points in fifteen seconds with less than a minute remaining in the first half – only to be scored upon by the Beavers’ with nine seconds remaining on a drive that lasted all of 26 seconds as Oregon led 37-17 at halftime.
Without star freshman running back Jacquizz Rodgers in the game with a shoulder strain suffered against Arizona, the Oregon State rushing offense never got the ball moving, finishing with 89 yards on a 2.9 yards per carry average. Its passing offense, behind a resurgent Moevao, who threw for 374 yards and a career-high five touchdowns, allowed the Beavers to stay in the game, cutting the lead to 37-24 on a pass touchdown to Joe Halahuni in the third quarter and 44-31 as the fourth quarter began.
Masoli countered with 274 yards for three touchdowns, and ran for 53 yards and a score.
Before they got any closer in the final quarter, Masoli found Terence Scott on a tough third-and-six situation for 76 yards, a play Kelly called “the play of the game.”
An interception return for a touchdown by Spencer Paysinger late in the fourth quarter, the second time a Duck defender scored off an interception, sealed the blowout.