In Saturday’s 24-17 win against USC, Oregon was held to a season low in total offensive yards. The Trojans out-gained the Ducks 378 to 339, and held the Oregon offense more than 200 yards below its season average.
It didn’t matter. Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart, who ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns, became the 13th Oregon player to surpass the 1,000-yard mark in a single season, and quarterback Dennis Dixon, who ran for 76 yards, continued to move the first-down chains when it counted.
After putting up 55 points and more than 600 yards of offense the previous week against Washington, the Ducks’ offensive performance might be seen as a letdown for some who expected to see a high-scoring affair from two of the Pacific-10 Conference’s best teams.
Still, USC came into the game allowing only 16.6 points per game and 252.1 yards of offense and the Oregon offense exceeded those marks. It wasn’t a display of the Ducks’ offensive fireworks, but it might have been their proudest moment.
“We haven’t played any teams with the defense USC has,” right tackle Geoff Schwartz said. “It showed us we can do what we can do against anybody.”
But it wasn’t the lightning-quick scoring offense Oregon fans are used to.

It was a knock-em-down, drag-em-out game, and the Ducks kept the Trojans on the field gasping for breath as the no-huddle offense kept USC’s defense on its heels only to make a short, positive gain to move the chains yet again. The Oregon offense was gassed, only not as much as the USC defense, Schwartz said.
“When we’re tired the (opposing) defense is twice as tired,” he said. “They were exhausted. I don’t think they were ready for it. They made a comment early on about us running a no-huddle offense, which everyone should know by now.”
The Trojans were, however, ready for some of Oregon’s running plays that worked so well against Washington. The Ducks set a single-game record with 465 yards on the ground last week and ran for 182 yards on 47 attempts against USC, who coming into Saturday only allowed an average of 64.1 rushing yards per game.
“We had to be patient,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. “There weren’t gaping holes.”
Instead of averaging 7.5 yards per carry like they did against the Huskies, the Ducks continued to pound the ball for consistent positive yardage.
“Early on, Dennis did a great job running the football and making some gains to keep them off balance,” Bellotti said. “I think SC’s idea initially was to make him carry the ball and try to hit him and he did a great job of avoiding them.”
They also had to invent plays on the fly as well. While the Trojans were able to contain the Dixon-Stewart option plays, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said the Trojans were keying on that play specifically, a pitch to Schwartz took everybody by surprise.
“I had no idea what was going on,” Schwartz said. “I was just hoping not to fumble.
“I’m not even sure (Dixon) knew it was me. He just saw a black jersey and pitched it out there. I didn’t know what to do at first and I was like, ‘OK, I guess I’ll run.’”
Schwartz’s three-yard rumble resulted in him being Oregon’s third-leading rusher and was the first time he’s carried a football since his sophomore year in high school when he was a tight end.
When asked if that’s a play that’ll be put in the playbook, Schwartz responded: “Maybe, but I doubt it.”
Bellotti, however, joked that it was part of the game plan.
“That was a designed play, as you probably could tell,” he said. “We like Schwartz’s ability in the open field.”
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