There was a line of scrimmage drawn in the desert Saturday, and the Oregon football team dominated it on both sides.
The Ducks’ often-unheralded offensive and defensive lines shone Saturday in Oregon’s 31-14 win over Arizona in Tucson. By substituting often, head coach Mike Bellotti kept his linemen fresh and enabled the Ducks to reel off 24 unanswered points as they came back from deficits of 7-0 and 14-7 in the win.
Oregon quarterback Jason Fife, who threw for 244 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, and running back Onterrio Smith, who rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns, both benefited immensely from the solid play of the offensive line.
“I give credit to the (offensive) line people because our protection was awesome for Jason all day long, and the ability to run the football by Onterrio was set up by their blocking up front,” Bellotti told KUGN radio after the game.
The offensive line allowed two sacks early in the contest but gave Fife more and more time to throw as the game wore on. That time allowed the junior signal-caller to engineer two crucial scoring drives that put Oregon ahead for good.
The first drive was a five-play drive midway through the third quarter that included Smith runs for nine, six and eight yards, and a Fife pass to tight end George Wrighster for 19 yards. The touchdown play was a Fife pass to Keenan Howry — the senior receiver’s first touchdown all season — over the middle for 34 yards. On that play, Fife stepped up into the pocket and bought himself enough time to get Howry open downfield.
“Jason did a great job today of feeling the pressure, stepping up and utilizing the pocket,” Bellotti said.
The second drive was a long, 12-play affair at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth that ended in a five-yard Fife touchdown pass to end the scoring at 31-14. The drive included a crucial fourth-and-one conversion — the Ducks’ fourth conversion in four fourth-down attempts this season — by Smith that kept the drive alive.
On the other side of the ball, the Oregon defensive line dominated Arizona’s rushing attack, forcing the Wildcats to go to the air offensively.
“We got pressure on him, got a bunch of sacks,” Bellotti said. “We did take the run away, and I give credit to the front seven, they did a great job.”
The Ducks sacked Wildcat quarterback Jason Johnson five times for a loss of 27 yards and held the Arizona rushing attack — already depleted with the loss of star running back Clarence Farmer — to 30 net yards on the evening.
The Ducks went into the weekend ranked second in the Pac-10 in rushing defense and held up that reputation Saturday.
“We were down three defensive ends today,” Bellotti said. “So I was really pleased with that group of defensive linemen. I can’t say enough about those kids, and our depth there is amazing.”
The Ducks will need to keep up their run-stopping pace to have a chance against UCLA at the Rose Bowl on Saturday. The Bruins ran for 247 yards at Reser Stadium on Saturday, as redshirt freshman Tyler Ebell broke out for 203 yards. UCLA quarterback Cory Paus also threw for 378 yards in the offensive spectacle.
“From what I saw, their offense was pretty unstoppable today,” Bellotti said. “But we just have to take care of business.”