In the calamitous race for the Pacific-10 Conference title and accompanying Rose Bowl berth, the No. 11 Oregon football team got a pre-game boost. Stanford — which had brought the Ducks down last week — obliterated then-No. 11 USC 55-21 in Los Angeles.
Then, just before kickoff at Autzen Stadium, Cal held on against then-No. 18 Arizona for a 24-16 victory at home. With the Wildcat loss, Oregon became the only Pac-10 team with one conference loss, and maintained a firm control of its own destiny.
The Ducks responded by manhandling Arizona State 44-21 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Facing in the nation’s No. 6 rush defense, Oregon piled up 268 yards (out of 388 total) on the ground (6.4 yards per carry) and held the Sun Devils to just 84 yards on the ground (2.2 yards per carry).
“It was a good, tough game tonight,” offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. “Against a team that talented, and especially a defense that talented…you know, you don’t want to say comfortably winning, but we kind of controlled some things.”
The Ducks set the tempo from the opening kickoff, forcing three incomplete passes by freshman quarterback Brock Osweiler, making his first collegiate start, for an opening-drive three-and-out. Five plays and three first downs later, running back LaMichael James found the end zone on a four-yard rush for an early 7-0 lead. Arizona State executed a clock-control drive on its next possession (eight consecutive rushing plays), but the Oregon defense forced a punt.
James took the first play of the Ducks’ possession 51 yards and scored again on a two-yard touchdown run. He added one more touchdown in the second quarter, piling up 150 yards on 22 carries and moving into seventh on Oregon’s all-time single-season rushing list.
“You just can’t be a one dimensional team and I don’t think we are as far as rushing the ball,” James said. “Anyone can carry the ball. Masoli, Barner, me, Andre Crenshaw came in and did some great things tonight. It doesn’t matter who is in we won’t miss a beat.”
Osweiler, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Kalispell, Mont., was rendered ineffective by the Oregon defense. He completed five of 10 passes for just 14 yards with an interception by Talmadge Jackson and a near pick-six from Oregon freshman Cliff Harris, making his first career start. Osweiler’s night ended prematurely when, on a second-quarter scramble negated by an ASU holding penalty, linebacker Eddie Pleasant tackled him and knocked him out of the game.
The play before that, Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli scrambled to his right on first and goal from the nine-yard line and found Ed Dickson, who caught the ball at the one-yard line and spun his way into the end zone.
“Ed made a great catch and a good effort,” Kelly said of the catch. “I was yelling at Jeremiah to throw it away. He didn’t listen. Obviously.”
Though Masoli did set up an early Sun Devil touchdown with his first interception in Pac-10 play, he completed 10 of 20 passes for 120 yards and carried the ball seven times for 67 yards, smoothly directing the Oregon offense.
“It was a little shaky,” Masoli said. “There’s no excuse for that. We had a little slump here and there. But we scored 44 points. That’s good at the end of the day.”
Arizona State caught the Ducks sleeping in the opening minutes of the second half. Backup quarterback Samson Szakacsy engineered a 14-play, 78-yard drive on the Sun Devils’ first possession, carrying the ball into the end zone himself from a yard out. Oregon running back Kenjon Barner muffed the ensuing kickoff, and Szakacsy found Kyle Williams for a 15-yard touchdown pass, cutting Oregon’s lead to 31-21 in the third quarter.
The Ducks, however, responded with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Maehl with 1:23 left in the third quarter and stifled the Arizona State offense for the rest of the game.
“You could see them (getting tired). Guys were tapping out,” center Jordan Holmes said.
At 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Pac-10, Oregon enters next week’s contest in Tucson against Arizona with new life, bouncing back from the loss to Stanford to find itself back in control.
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