The last time Royce Freeman was talking about breaking records, he did it after becoming Oregon’s all-time rushing yards leader, passing LaMichael James. It was in a loss to UCLA, so the loss overshadowed the career achievement.
On Saturday night, in Oregon’s 48-28 victory over, Freeman had two milestones: He became Oregon’s all-time rushing touchdown leader (59) — again passing James — and he passed LaDainian Tomlinson for 10th in NCAA career rushing yards.
“Every time we hand it off to Royce we expect a touchdown,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “He’s everything to this football team. I told Royce afterwards how proud I was of him and how much I appreciated him because I know one thing he wanted to do, and a big reason he came back, was to make sure this program was coming back in the right direction.”
Freeman scored four touchdowns against Arizona, especially sweet considering he hadn’t scored since Sept. 23 against Arizona State.
“It was kind of frustrating,” Freeman said. “It just felt really good to break through today.”
The Ducks absolutely dominated Arizona on the ground. They finished with 353 rushing yards, and Freeman and Tony Brooks-James had over 120 yards. Freeman finished with 135 yards and four touchdowns.
The Ducks had 11 rushing plays of over 10 yards. Freeman had three of them, and two of them were for touchdowns.
Justin Herbert’s return is the main storyline from the game, but his presence helped the Ducks be more balanced on offense. The Ducks leaned heavily on the run in Herbert’s absence, putting pressure on Freeman. Now, with the threat of the pass, it’s off his shoulders.
“I feel like it took a lot of pressure off of me running the ball,” Freeman said.
Even Freeman will eventually take the time to appreciate all that he accomplished.
“It will be nice to look back on these pieces of memorabilia and just relish all the moments I’ve had here at the university,” Freeman said.
His four touchdowns:

Royce Freeman’s 59th career TD makes him Oregon’s all-time leader. With 26 rush yards, he’s also moves into 10th in NCAA history (5,390). pic.twitter.com/2jGObRemGv
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 19, 2017

Adding to his record. Royce Freeman gives Oregon a 28-21 lead with career touchdown No. 60 #GoDucks #AZvsUO pic.twitter.com/jB6eQGp9LD
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 19, 2017

No stopping Royce Freeman #GoDucks #AZvsUO pic.twitter.com/mRsWOa3jzx
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 19, 2017

Ducks pull out their bag of tricks on the flea-flicker, and Royce Freeman pounds it in for his third career 4-TD game #GoDucks #AZvsUO pic.twitter.com/mHiocSD4R8
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) November 19, 2017

Follow Jack Butler on Twitter @Butler917