PULLMAN, Wash. — Just like that, the Oregon Ducks are back on top.
Sophomore tailback Onterrio Smith broke two school records, and — until the final drive — the Oregon defense played arguably its best game of the season Saturday as the Ducks defeated Washington State 24-17 in front of 34,150 fans at Martin Stadium.
With UCLA, previously ranked No. 4, falling to Stanford on Saturday, there are no undefeated Pacific-10 Conference teams.
“We control our own destiny,” head coach Mike Bellotti said. “This whole thing’s going to even out, we just need to make sure we’re in position to hang around in the end.”
After tallying 145 rush yards in a losing effort to Stanford last week, the now ninth-ranked Ducks established the run early against Washington State and stuck with it. Smith set a school record with 285 rushing yards, and Maurice Morris added 138 yards as the Ducks tallied 446 yards on the ground, also a school record.
“It was just one statement: ‘Don’t let Stanford beat you twice.’ And we took that to the head,” said Smith, who scored Oregon’s three touchdowns and totaled a school-record 343 all-purpose yards. “We came out here today and got the ‘W.’”
For most of the game, the Ducks held the top-rated passer in the Pac-10, Jason Gesser, and the Cougar offense in check, allowing just 142 total yards through two quarters and 156 through three. For an offense that was averaging 44 points per game, the 14-3 score in Oregon’s favor after three quarters had to be frustrating.
“We are better than Oregon,” said Gesser, who finished 17-of-37 for 249 yards. “But we didn’t play better on the field today. We should have.”
Despite being held down for most of the game, Gesser almost made it happen in Joey Harrington-like fashion on the last drive of the game. Down seven with 1:12 to play, Gesser drove the Cougs from their own 14 to the Oregon eight-yard-line with 11 seconds remaining. But three straight passes into the end zone fell incomplete, the final play broken up by Oregon linebacker Wesly Mallard, who led the team with 17 tackles Saturday.
“I was very pleased for 95 percent of the game,” defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said, referring to the last drive. “We were a little too cautious at the end, but I don’t want to start there. Our kids really did a nice job today. I’m very proud of them.”
Oregon defensive back Rashad Bauman said the key to the game was forcing Gesser out of his rhythm.
“We definitely needed to put pressure on Gesser,” Bauman said. “We knew he was going to have some problems going out of the pocket‚ so once we got him out of the pocket and got him uncomfortable, it was a lot easier to defend.”
Freshman placekicker Jared Siegel gave Oregon a 17-3 lead early in the fourth quarter. The real story of the second half, however, was Onterrio Smith.
The cold and rainy conditions called for a strong ground game, and Oregon came with just that against the Cougar defense. On 19 carries in the final two quarters, Smith tallied 229 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown run with 5:39 left on the clock.
“I don’t know, there were so many of them,” Harrington said when asked about his favorite Smith play. “That’s just an easy day for me.”
“It feels pretty good right now,” Oregon center Ryan Schmid said. “I think we came together today as an entire offense. That’s the good thing about our offense, we have so many weapons, that if the running game is struggling, we can go to the air and vice versa.”
In a game that pitted the conference’s top offense in the Cougars and the second-to-worst defense in the Ducks, it was a surprise to see a shutout on the board after 15 minutes. The first score of the game came after a trick play by the Cougs when receiver Collin Henderson took an end-around from backup quarterback Matt Kegel and threw back to Kegel for a 63-yard pass play, which set up a 34-yard field goal by Drew Dunning.
The Ducks’ offense received a boost from the defense on that drive, as the Oregon “D” did well to hold the Cougars to the field goal.
“Coach Aliotti, it goes all to him,” Bauman said. “He couldn’t have called a better game.”
And the Ducks couldn’t have asked for a better win at a better time.