The Oregon offense put on a show for the crowd of 66,481 at Husky Stadium Saturday, posting 661 yards of total offense on the way to a 55-34 victory.
The 465 combined rushing yards by the Ducks set a new school record, and six of the Ducks’ seven touchdowns came on the ground.
Jonathan Stewart ran the ball 32 times in his return to Northwest Washington, almost twice his season average, and finished with 251 yards and two touchdowns. The number of carries and rushing yards were both new career highs for Stewart, and the total yardage is the second highest single-game performance in school history.
Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said that while the Ducks were expecting to lean on Stewart in the game, they did so more than they wanted to.
“That was a little bit more than we wanted but overall he did a great job and he’s capable of doing that,” Bellotti said. “Obviously I’d like to limit that a little bit but we needed him tonight and he came through. He’s a stud, that’s all I can say.”
Stewart also became the first Duck to rush for more than 200 yards since Onterrio Smith ran for 285 yards against Washington State in 2001. This was Stewart’s tenth career 100-yard performance, which is one shy of the school record of 11.
Washington linebacker Dan Howell was impressed with Stewart’s performance.
“Stewart’s a great back. You see him, he runs with great pad level and then he’s hard to bring down. You need to rally tackle him,” he said. “He’s probably one of the strongest backs, if not the strongest, that we’ve played.”
Asked what he thought of the Oregon offense in the post-game interview, Washington coach Ty Willingham looked thoughtfully through the game stats and said “It’s about 661 yards good. That’s a pretty good night.”
Sophomore running back Andre Crenshaw ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns in his debut as the replacement for Jeremiah Johnson. It was the first time two Oregon backs had rushed for over 100 yards since Onterrio Smith (285) and Maurice Morris (138) did it against Washington State in 2001.
“He’s nimble, he’s got great balance and he sees the field very well,” Bellotti said of Crenshaw. “He understands this offense and uses it to his best advantage.”
The Huskies kept the game close past halftime, but with the game tied at 24-24 and the Huskies driving, Jairus Byrd picked off a Jake Locker pass at the Oregon six yard line.
Oregon drove the ball 94 yards over the next five minutes to go up 31-24 and never look back.
“It was just a toss up, the throw; it was just whoever got the ball,” said Byrd. “He just kind of turned and threw it up and I saw the ball, I just focused on it.”
That focus was key for Byrd, who made the play with a Husky receiver fighting him for the ball.
“It actually should have been offensive pass interference, that was the most blatant thing I’ve ever seen, but Jairus fought the guy off and caught the ball,” said Bellotti. “(It was a) great takeaway to change the momentum at that time.”
Bellotti said that the challenge the Huskies gave the team will help them going forward in the schedule.
“That was a vote of confidence for our team because we were challenged, and we responded,” he said.
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