GLENDALE, Ariz. — Marcus Ardel Taulauniu Mariota won eight games as a collegiate starting quarterback before his 19th birthday. He swooped into Oregon, snatched an unexpected quarterback vacancy from a talented sophomore and passed and ran his way all over the Oregon record books. Hoisting the Fiesta Bowl’s Offensive MVP award after the game was [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein racked up 2,490 passing yards in the 2012 season. In the rushing department, Klein ran for 890 yards, and if you combine both his aerial and ground scores, he tallied 37 touchdowns on the season. If you break it down further, the Heisman candidate was insanely impressive [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Many teams this year have avoided kicking to De’Anthony Thomas, and it only took Kansas State 12 seconds of playing against him to learn why.  Thomas fielded the kickoff at the six-yard line along the Ducks’ sideline, made a few moves and simply turned on the jets on a 94-yard return of [...]

There was a moment few saw before the kickoff Thursday night at Fiesta Bowl that summed up the last four BCS-laden years enjoyed by Oregon football. Head coach Chip Kelly had taken advantage of the arrival of the stars of the TV comedy “Modern Family” to sneak back up the ramp toward the locker rooms. [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — A football game is 60 minutes long. Oregon led for 59 minutes and 48 seconds of Thursday’s Fiesta Bowl, in which the Ducks blew away the Kansas State Wildcats, 35-17. Senior Kenjon Barner had a quiet, yet strong final outing, rushing for 143 yards on 31 carries. Marcus Mariota was named the [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — If you didn’t understand what was happening when the referee took to his mic and said “we have an obscure ruling” before explaining the Ducks’ one-point safety, you weren’t the only one. The obscurity is one of the rarest in college football — it’s only happened one other time in NCAA history — and most of [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — In the end, Kansas State’s best wasn’t enough. Oregon will come out of Glendale with a 12-1 mark on the year after staving off the Wildcats 35-17 Thursday night in Glendale. The fourth quarter brought pride to K-State fans, as senior quarterback Collin Klein drove the team 72 yards on 11 plays, [...]

The third quarter belonged to Oregon, completely and totally. After entering the locker room at halftime with much of the momentum thanks to a late touchdown drive, quarterback Marcus Mariota led the Ducks on back-to-back scoring campaigns. The first, a 10-play, 62-yarder culminating in a redemptive 22-yard field goal by Alejandro Maldonado. The kick, only [...]

All year long (okay, minus the Stanford game), Oregon has been a stick of dynamite. It’s usually just a matter of how long the fuse is. With about one minute left in the first half of Thursday’s Fiesta Bowl, the Ducks exploded, driving 76 yards in 46 seconds. Oregon senior running back Kenjon Barner sealed [...]

Just a quarter into the Fiesta Bowl, the Ducks have struck fast and first at the Wildcats. Sophomore speedster De’Anthony Thomas took the opening kickoff of the game 94 yards for the touchdown, silencing the wide swathes of fans wearing purple and silver at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Dion Jordan caught a screen pass [...]

I hate to fuel the “Will Chip leave?” fire, but USA Today’s George Schroeder — former sports columnist for the Eugene Register Guard  — reported today that Oregon would likely promote offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich in the event that head coach Chip Kelly accepts a position in the National Football League. This comes from a [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — With kickoff fast approaching, here are a few keys to the game for both teams. Oregon 1. Win third down: Everybody knows at this point that the Wildcats offense revolves around dual-threat quarterback, Collin Klein. The Heisman finalist had 22 rushing touchdowns this season, but unlike other mobile quarterbacks he isn’t a [...]

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The scene on the field just before the Fiesta Bowl offered plenty of distractions. Brigetta Barrett, who won the women’s silver medal in the high jump at the London Games, warmed up her pipes during the sound check for the national anthem. Apparently she’s a world-class singer, too. Over in one corner, [...]

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GLENDALE—Oregon will wear green uniforms, white jerseys and green pants when they take the field in a few hours against Kansas State, while Kansas State (as they always do) will don silver helmets, purple uniforms and silver pants. Oh, and if you can’t quite figure out what color the wings on the Ducks jerseys are, [...]