Oregon continued a four-week trend of inconsistency Saturday against Washington.
While the Ducks excelled on one side of the ball, they struggled to execute on the other.
Despite its troubles, Oregon continued another four-week trend as well: winning.
The Duck defense carried a sputtering offense to a 31-6 victory against the Huskies at Autzen Stadium. While the score is indicative of a blowout, the outcome remained in question until late in the fourth quarter.
Oregon held Washington to 256 yards of total offense and put the game away with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when defensive end Chris Solomona intercepted a swing pass from Washington quarterback Casey Paus and returned it 10 yards for
a touchdown.
Solomona fought off a block and snared the ball with his right hand before lumbering into the end zone.
“We’d been going over it throughout this week about (Washington’s) backs flaring out,” Solomona said. “(Defensive line) Coach (Steve) Greatwood said whenever you see the back flare out of the corner of your eyes, they are going to throw it there. I saw the back go, and I just followed him. Robby (Valenzuela) put some pressure on the quarterback, and I made a big play.”
To that point, the Oregon defense did everything it could to compensate for numerous offensive mistakes.
For the game, the Ducks held the Huskies to 45 yards rushing and caused seven turnovers. This performance came a week after Oregon held Stanford to minus-eight yards rushing and sacked Cardinal quarterbacks
10 times.
Middle linebacker Jerry Matson, who finished with six tackles, said the Oregon defense has a chance to be as good as it was in the mid-1990s, when the Ducks earned a trip to the Rose Bowl.
“If you’re an offensive coordinator, you know that your job is going to be tough when you play us,” Matson said. “We got the game ball on ESPN last week, and I know this was as good a job, if not better. We are a good defense, and hopefully we keep on playing even better than this and really become a ‘Gang Green’ type of defense that’s a notorious thing for a long time.”
Defensive end Devan Long led the way for Oregon with eight tackles, including three for loss. The Anacortes, Wash., native said the defense thrives on athletes working together.
“We just went out there and played as a team, and that’s how good defenses
play,” Long said. “There’s no single person,
no egos.”
As well as the defense played, the offense was equally as poor in the second half. After scoring 17 first-half points, Oregon struggled with mistakes and missed opportunities in the final two quarters.
For the game, Oregon managed only 24 points and 292 yards offensively against the Pacific-10 Conference’s second-worst defense, with one of its touchdowns coming late in the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided.
For the second straight week, wide receiver Marcus Maxwell cost quarterback Kellen Clemens an interception by knocking a ball into the air. Midway through the second quarter, Clemens fired a strike to Maxwell in the end zone, which would have given Oregon a 17-3 lead. Instead, the ball bounced off the senior receiver and was intercepted by Husky defensive back Dashon Goldson.
Long said the Ducks aren’t sure which side of the ball will excel from week to week.
“We were an offensive team against Washington State, we were a defensive team last week and this week too,” Long said. “It just depends on who we’re playing. You just don’t know what you’re going to get.”
While Oregon’s four game winning streak is impressive, it has come against the bottom-feeders of the Pac-10. With a huge game against California coming next Saturday, and tough games against UCLA and Oregon State to follow, the Ducks better find a way to perform on both sides of the ball or the only things that will be consistent for the Ducks will be losses.

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