Saturday afternoon’s matchup between Oregon and Oregon State certainly didn’t have the pizzazz of one of the oldest rivalries in college football, and for the fourth year in a row the Ducks ran to a Civil War victory, 49-21.
The 115th edition of the game featured plenty of sloppy play from both teams early on before a 21-point second quarter gave Oregon momentum heading into halftime. Three more touchdowns in the second half helped solidify the Ducks’ place in the Pac-12 Championship Game against the UCLA Bruins, who won the Pac-12 South Division with a .500 record overall.
The inaugural Pac-12 title game will be played Friday at 5 p.m. inside Autzen Stadium. Oregon returned to practice Sunday morning, fewer than 24 hours after defeating the Beavers, with a short week ahead.
“It’s a real quick (turnaround),” Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said. “We’ve got to go to work in terms of getting everything broken down.”
The Ducks (10-2, 8-1 Pac-12) have not faced UCLA this season, a team that limped to the end of the regular season with a lopsided loss at Utah before a 50-point shutout defeated at the hands of USC. The Bruins (6-6, 5-4) compiled a 1-5 record on the road this season with their only win coming against Oregon State in Corvallis.@@http://pac-12.org/SPORTS/Football/Standings.aspx@@
Most expect Friday’s matchup to fall similarly in Oregon’s favor, considering a third-straight conference title and third-consecutive BCS bowl berth are within reach. The Ducks figure to make their second trip in three years to Pasadena, Calif., to play in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin or Michigan State.
“We’re excited,” Kelly said. “We know who we’re playing and the challenge for us it to play on a short week, and we haven’t done that. But they’re playing on the same short week. We’ll go.”
Although UCLA enters the game following a disheartening loss to its Los Angeles rival USC, Oregon comes in at the other end of the spectrum. Though the Ducks are sufficiently banged up on both sides of the ball, they didn’t miss a beat on Saturday with several players playing through injuries.
Running back LaMichael James appeared to injure his left arm midway through the third quarter and was seen with an ice wrap on the sidelines later in the game. Kelly said he “wasn’t concerned at all” and that James would be fine. Before going down with his second arm injury of the season, the junior ran for a game-high 142 yards and one touchdown — his 24th 100-yard outing in 35 career games.@@http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111127/SPORTS/111270347@@
“He was joking around in the locker room that he didn’t get any reps in the second half,” fellow junior Carson York said. “He’s just excited that he’s gonna have some fresh legs to get after it against UCLA.”
Oregon’s offense overcame a sluggish first quarter where they failed to convert on three fourth-down conversions. James’ one-yard scoring run provided the only points in the quarter, but it didn’t take long for Darron Thomas to get going in the second.
Thomas connected with David Paulson, De’Anthony Thomas and Kenjon Barner for passing touchdowns to extend the Ducks lead to 28-7 at the half. Barner scored again from one yard out to start the third quarter, before Darron Thomas found freshman Colt Lyerla for a 39-yard catch-and-run touchdown fewer than two minutes into the fourth.
Paulson pulled in eight receptions for a game-high 105 yards, both career highs, and scored a 16-yard touchdown.
“D.P.’s been one of the most consistent guys all year,” Thomas said. “Just coming out each week, he’s banged up sometimes, (but) you wouldn’t even know.”
Thomas completed 27 of 40 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. De’Anthony Thomas accounted for 86 of those yards with a game-high 10 receptions and also ran for 71 yards on four carries to finish with a game-high 197 all-purpose yards.