SEATTLE — Atticus Sappington is in the business of changing vibes.

Oregon’s senior kicker didn’t only change memories for the 72,376 who watched him make four kicks, from 42, 36, 37 and 51 yards against Washington Saturday. He rewrote — at least in part — the emotions of a loss two years ago at Husky Stadium as he watched his career-long 51-yard kick sail through from midfield in Seattle.

“I don’t concern myself with the past,” Sappington said. “I’m my own person.”

Malik Benson’s 64-yard, fourth quarter, third-and-9 score put the No. 6 Ducks (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) ahead of Washington (8-4, 5-4 Big Ten) by two scores at Husky Stadium, and Dillon Thieneman sealed the 26-14 win with an interception for the second time this season. Oregon punched its ticket to the College Football Playoff by downing its rival, and Dan Lanning was loving it.

“History’s great,” Lanning told his players before the game. “But what’s more fun is writing history.“

Oregon’s game could’ve stalled on the first drive, in third-and-7, but Moore (20-29, 286 yards, touchdown) completed a 35-yard go-ball to redshirt freshman Jeremiah McClellan. It could’ve stalled again, when Moore’s back-shoulder shot to Benson (five catches, 102 yards, touchdown) went through the senior’s hands, or when his third down effort slipped through a Husky defensive back’s gloves. 

“I’m very emotional when it comes to my journey,” Benson said. “But (I’m) just telling my teammates — telling myself — don’t let the game be bigger than what it needs to be.”

Sappington (4-4 field goals) was good for the first time, from 46 yards on the west end of Husky Stadium, and Oregon was on the board.

It did stall, a drive later, when the Ducks emerged in 21-personnel and Moore missed Hill high and open underneath on third-and-2. Moore and Demond Williams Jr. both started 2-5, took big sacks and handed the ball off to their punters instead.

Williams (15-30, 129 passing yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions) made the first real mistake — picking on double coverage from linebacker Jerry Mixon and nickel Jadon Canady on receiver Denzel Boston. Oregon has struggled with big wideouts all season, in its loss to Indiana and Elijah Sarratt and its win over USC and Ja’Kobi Lane.

Canady was on the field for both. In Seattle, he climbed the five-inch difference between himself and Boston (four catches, 25 yards, two touchdowns) with a backward leap and picked off Williams after Washington started in Oregon territory when Canady and nickel Daylen Austin shoved punt returner Dezmen Roebuck.

More mistakes followed for the Huskies: a pass interference call went against corner Ephesians Prysock to move Oregon into Washington territory, and edge rusher Zach Durfee bit on Moore’s third down option run before the quarterback converted with his legs.

After Noah Whittington was slowed on fourth-and-1 but Oregon called a timeout, the Ducks instead ran Moore and Whittington (17 rushes, 47 yards) on a speed option to the short side, and converted. 

Two plays later, Moore kept the read play again, Durfee bit again and hung onto Whittington (sans the football) while Moore dove in for Oregon’s first touchdown.

“We’ve got a tough quarterback,” Lanning said. “He was able to go out there and get the tough yards when it mattered.”

Williams, whose dual-threat ability flashed in his first career start at Autzen Stadium last season, lived outside the pocket but struggled to complete from there despite first-quarter rushes for six and nine yards. A third-down rollout completion that was called complete to Omari Evans was overturned, and Washington punted for the fourth time with 9:11 left in the second quarter.

Moore paid off the possession with another fourth-down completion — this time 22 yards to Benson on fourth-and-3. With 3:22 left in the first half against Washington, Sappington was standing alone at the 50-yard line. 

Ducks kickers have bad history at Husky Stadium, but Sappington had already begun to dispel that with the 46-yard make on the same posts where Camden Lewis’ 2023 effort slipped wide. In the second quarter Saturday, he ducked his head and rounded into a full sprint before slowing down near the Big Ten logo at the 25-yard line.

It’s an optical illusion, he explained afterward, which makes the uprights look wider once he arrives at his spot. Near the line, Sappington eased up on the gas and sent a 32-yard kick through to push Oregon ahead, 13-0.

Washington drove near the goal line inside a minute at the end of the first half on the back of two catches from freshman receiver Roebuck. Williams avoided a deep sack with his legs, and the Huskies burned their last timeout, and fired off a split-second throw to Boston with linebacker Jerry Mixon growing larger in his vision. The Huskies completed their 12-play, 75-yard drive in 3:01 with a touchdown to cut the Ducks’ halftime lead to 13-7.

Out of the half, Oregon ate nearly six minutes of clock and drove into the Washington red zone, but was stymied by an Iapani Laloulu holding penalty. Sappington emerged again, and came good from 37 yards. Washington drove inside the Oregon half, punted and pinned the Ducks inside their own 10-yard line again.

Oregon took its shot right away — 41 yards, to McClellan — and backed up to the Husky 41-yard line four minutes later. It’s, “around the edge,” Lanning said later, of where they’re comfortable calling Sappington’s number from. He walked out for the fourth time and sent his 51-yard effort spinning through.

“I hit it pretty good,” Sappington said. “So I saw it, and it had some good height on it, and, like, ‘Come on.’ I was like, ‘Come on, just get there.’ 

“And I saw it start to cross the plane,” he said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Okay.’”

McClellan (three catches, 78 yards) nearly hauled in a third-down deep shot to open the fourth quarter, but the receiver’s one-handed, back shoulder helmet-pinning catch was ruled incomplete on the field and upheld after Oregon spent a challenge on the play.

Instead, Washington was back inside Oregon’s 20-yard line, on fourth-and-8, down 12 points with 9:01 left, and it wasn’t handing the ball to its kicker. Instead, it was finding Boston on a deep crossing route, uncovered in the endzone. Instead, it was within a score.

Benson made sure it didn’t stay there, with his 64-yard world-halting touchdown. The transfer wideout, who kept the Ducks alive four weeks ago in Iowa City with his clutch reception, rose over the middle and sped into the endzone to push Oregon’s advantage to 26-14. 

Before the drive, he was telling his teammates, “We gotta score. We gotta score. We gotta score.” During the week, he was talking to Laloulu and getting “well-educated” on the history of the game. Before the play, Moore knew it was a shot call, and that the backside had a high-low concept that he liked, and that he had numbers.

“Malik…you know he’s going to be a playmaker with the ball in his hands,” Moore said. “I just had to find a way to give it to him,” 

Once he caught the ball, Benson thought, “Yeah, it’s my time to turn up.”

After the Ducks turned it over on downs near the Husky goal line with 2:14 to play, Williams took his shot. Thieneman, who wore matching “Caucasian Collision Unit” shirts with Boettcher to the postgame press conference and dealt a fitting hit to Roebuck earlier in the game, got under it. Oregon was loving it.

“It’s not about a lack of emotion,” Lanning said. “It’s about controlling emotions.”

Finally, on the sideline in Seattle as Moore kneeled out Oregon’s regular season, the emotions began to flow. Oregon, cathartically victorious in Seattle, walked up and down the sideline. Boettcher stood on a bench and waved his arms. Lanning sprinted from midfield to the railing. This year, the Ducks didn’t need to hurry off the field.

Oregon now awaits the final College Football Playoff rankings Dec. 7.