On a freezing cold night in Eugene, the No. 14 Oregon Ducks did what they do best: run the football.
It wasn’t the most dominating of performances — Oregon had 388 total yards of offense and 268 on the ground — but it was enough to win 44-21 over the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-6 overall, 2-5 Pacific-10 Conference) and help advance the team a little bit closer to the end goal of a Pac-10 Conference championship.
“It was good,” head coach Chip Kelly said. “We talked about getting out to a good, fast start.”
The team must have listened because Oregon (8-2, 6-1) sprinted out to a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and went up 31-7 with just more than seven minutes to go in the game.
It was all powered by redshirt freshman LaMichael James. He had 81 yards rushing in the first quarter — and two touchdowns — and he finished with 150 on the game with three touchdowns.
“LaMichael is doing his thing,” quarterback Jeremiah Masoli said. “He delivered every time.”
The game put James at 1,193 yards for his career, which is seventh on the Oregon single-season rushing list. But he wasn’t alone, Masoli rushed for 70 yards and also threw for two touchdowns.
“It was a little shaky,” Masoli said humbly. “There’s no excuse for that. There was a slump here and there. But we scored 44 points. I think we’re OK.”
Oregon’s first score came with 12:28 to go in the first quarter when James walked into the end zone from four yards out. The running back added another one with 5:46 to go in the first.
That was followed by a Sun Devil touchdown by running back Dimitri Nance from two yards out to start the second quarter. Arizona State got the ball after Masoli threw his first interception of Pac-10 play when he tried to dump the ball down to James. Instead, defensive end James Brooks found the ball in his arms and he returned it 13 yards to the Oregon 18-yard line.
Arizona State also benefitted from another Duck turnover in the third quarter. Kickoff returner Kenjon Barner fumbled the catch and the Sun Devils recovered the ball with 4:35 to go in the third. Three plays later, back up quarterback Samson Szakacsy connected with Kyle Williams from 15 yards out to put ASU within 10 points at 31-21.
“We need to clean that up,” Kelly said, referring to the turnovers. “We’re killing ourselves with turnovers.”
But it didn’t matter. The Ducks responded when Masoli hooked up with receiver Jeff Maehl from 21 yards out for Masoli’s second TD of the game. The Ducks then tacked on two field goals from kicker Morgan Flint to push the score to 44-21 and ice the game.
Arizona State finished with 84 yards rushing and 211 total yards as a team. Szakacsy was 13-of-22 for 113 yards and a touchdown. But the main story was how Oregon shook off the conference’s best defense. There has yet to be a team in conference that has been able to stop Oregon’s spread attack.
“They’re a tough defense,” Dickson said. “They’re No. 1 in the conference for a reason. Tough. But we just tried to run ’em and set the tempo early.”
Now, Oregon turns its focus to Arizona. The Wildcats lost to California tonight 24-16 to push them to 4-2 in conference play. More importantly, it gave Oregon sole possession of first place with two games to play. Win on Nov. 21 in Tucson and the Rose Bowl is just one game closer to being Oregon’s.
“We control everything we do,” Kelly said. “I’m sure our guys are getting ready for Arizona. It’s the stretch run.”
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