Kenjon Barner ran for 171 yards and one touchdown and the ninth-ranked Oregon football team defeated No. 18 Arizona State 41-27 Saturday night at Autzen Stadium.
The redshirt junior running back got the starting nod in place of injured all-American LaMichael James, and he didn’t disappoint. Barner’s career-best 171 yards took a career-high 31 carries to achieve, with 148 of those yards coming in the second half.
After leading by just four points at halftime, Barner’s 21-second half carries helped the Ducks outscore Arizona State 20-10 over the final 30 minutes of play. With the win, Oregon improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in Pac-12 play heading into next week’s game at Colorado.
“I was proud of our guys,” Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. “We talk about playing a full 60 minutes and that’s what our guys did tonight.”
Arizona State quarterback Brock Osweiler got off to a red-hot start in the first quarter, completing 11 of his 13 pass attempts for 122 yards and two scores. He connected with seven different Sun Devils during that stretch, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Gerell Robinson and a 25-yard score to Mike Willie.
The tallest quarterback in the FBS at 6-foot-8, Osweiler was kept relatively in check after that point and finished the game 29-of-46 for 291 yards (115 coming in the fourth quarter) and didn’t throw a touchdown pass after the first quarter.
“Against a real good defense like theirs, you have to mix it up,” Kelly said. “Once we wear ‘em down we can start to control the clock a little bit and that’s what we did in the second half.”
Robinson led all receivers with six receptions for 120 yards and one score, and Willie caught five passes for 79 yards and one touchdown.
Oregon freshman De’Anthony Thomas got the Ducks on the board with a 16-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Lavasier Tuinei and David Paulson each recorded scoring grabs from 28 and 12 yards out, respectively, before the end of the half.
Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas completed 13 of his 16 pass attempts for 187 yards in the first half, but was forced out of the game with a leg injury early in the third quarter. Thomas said after the game he could have returned if necessary, but Kelly opted to stick with redshirt freshman Bryan Bennett for the rest of the way.
Bennett had no trouble leading Oregon in the second half, with De’Anthony Thomas and Barner adding scoring runs in the third quarter before a pair of Alejandro Maldonado field goals capped the Ducks’ scoring for the night.
For his part, De’Anthony Thomas finished with a team-high 203 all-purpose yards and two scores. Cornerbacks Anthony Gildon and Cliff Harris accounted for both of Oregon’s takeaways on Osweiler interceptions, the latter taking the ball 50 yards up field to set up Paulson’s touchdown with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half.