It wasn’t easy, but for once, the Ducks beat the spread.
An unorthodox — albeit effective — offense kept the Utah State Aggies (0-4 overall) within reach of Oregon (4-0 overall, 1-0 Pacific-10 Conference) on Saturday in Logan, Utah, but only through three quarters as the Ducks won their first nonconference road game in three years, 38-21.
Senior tailback Maurice Morris rushed for a career-high 175 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and senior quarterback Joey Harrington kept his Heisman hopes alive with two touchdown passes and a one-yard touchdown run.
The Oregon defense racked up four interceptions — three in the fourth quarter — while holding Utah State’s Emmett White, the nation’s leader in all-purpose yards, to 83 yards rushing.
The win, however, was not impressive enough for the critics as the Ducks dropped Sunday from No. 6 to No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and to No. 7 in the Associate Press poll.
“I’m pleased that we won. Is there any other stat that counts?… No,” head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We went on the road for the first time, handled the environment and stayed poised throughout the game.”
With 3:47 to play in the third quarter, Utah State quarterback Jose Fuentes hit receiver Gary Coleman in the end zone to bring the Aggies within a field goal at 24-21.
From there, though, it was all Oregon.
Onterrio Smith had a big running play on the Ducks’ first play of the fourth quarter and redshirt freshman Keith Allen — in for injured starters Keenan Howry and Jason Willis — had two key catches to set up Smith’s four-yard touchdown with 12:30 to play.
On the Aggies’ next drive, junior linebacker Garret Graham picked off a Fuentes pass inside the red zone, which set up Morris’s 69-yard score at the 8:19 mark, putting the Ducks ahead by the eventual 38-21 final score.
Steve Smith’s interception late in the fourth quarter was his fourth of the season and 10th of his career. Safety Keith Lewis and linebacker Kevin Mitchell also had interceptions for the Ducks.
“The defense looked a little confused at times, but that’s expected against (Utah State’s) offense,” Bellotti said. “But they refused to give in and made some huge plays down the stretch.”
After a lackluster, scoreless first quarter, the Aggies opened the second session with the game’s first score on a screen pass from Fuentes to wide receiver Kevin Curtis, putting Utah State up 7-0.
“I’ve never been as confident for a game as I was tonight,” Curtis said. “I thought we were going to be tearing down the goal posts.”
Heading into the game, Curtis led the nation with 10.7 per game for an average of 130 yards. Lined up against Oregon defensive back Rashad Bauman, Curtis finished the game with 10 catches for 166 yards.
“They came out with a lot of funky stuff,” Bauman told the Associated Press. “That was a good offense.”
But it didn’t take long for the Ducks to respond, as Harrington found a wide-open Josh Line for a 34-yard score, tying the game at 7.
Freshman placekicker Jared Siegel, the hero of last week’s 24-22 victory against Southern California, put the Ducks ahead 17-7 at halftime with a 46-yard field goal, the longest of his four-game career. Siegel was also perfect on five point-after-attempts. “We hung with them and Oregon is a class outfit,” said Utah State coach Mick Dennehy. “They played relatively error-free and we did not. That was the difference.”
Injury update
Both starting receivers — Keenan Howry and Jason Willis — left the game with injuries. Willis suffered what appeared to be a concussion after a 28-yard reception in the second quarter. Bellotti said Willis still had a headache Sunday, but is likely to play for this weekend’s game at Arizona.
Howry has a “contusion” in his ribs after a 34-yard punt return late in the first half. He did not return to the game, but it is “day-to-day,” Bellotti said.
Perhaps most seriously injured after the game was back-up tailback Allan Amundson’s ankle. “The good news is there’s no break,” Bellotti said.
Amundson is likely out two to six weeks, though.