The scene at Martin Stadium was bleak, at best — and it wasn’t because of the cold, dreary rain.
Most the 34,150 fans in Pullman, Wash., Saturday expected the undefeated Cougars and the 6-1 Ducks to run up the scoreboard in a classic shootout.
But nothing turned out as expected Saturday, especially the play of the Oregon defense.
Rashad Bauman joked with reporters after Oregon’s 24-17 upset victory after he was asked about his team’s defensive effort.
“How many’d you think they’d score?” the senior defensive back asked with a grin. “How ’bout you? You?”
The so-called experts had to admit their surprise.
Of the responses to Bauman’s query, nobody predicted that the potent Cougar offense — ranked No. 1 in the Pacific-10 Conference prior to the showdown — would only score 17 points against the Oregon defense, which was ranked ninth in the conference.
“You would never have known (that Washington State was the top-ranked offense) by the way we came prepared,” sophomore safety Keith Lewis said at Tuesday’s practice.
Even more impressive for the Ducks (7-1 overall, 4-1 Pac-10) was the lone field goal Washington State scored through three quarters, and the 322 total yards the Cougs accumulated, their lowest output of the season.
The result: Washington State’s (7-1 overall, 4-1 Pac-10) first loss of the season and a logjam of five teams atop the conference leaderboard.
“We came in knowing what we had to do — we had to beat them,” junior defensive end Darrell Wright said. “This gives us great confidence.”
Holding the Cougars to 17 points also moved the Ducks scoring defense up a spot in the statistical rankings to No. 3 in the Pac-10, allowing 22.8 points per game. UCLA is No. 1 at 16.4 points per game.
In allowing Onterrio Smith to rush for a Oregon-record 285 yards and giving up 446 total yards on the ground, the Cougar defense moved from No. 1 against the run to No. 6. Prior to the Ducks’ visit to the Palouse, Washington State had allowed just 93 yards per game on the ground.
The statistics, however, would be irrelevant if the Ducks had not prevented a potential second-straight fourth-quarter comeback. Down two touchdowns to start the fourth, the Cougars rolled up two scores in the final 10 minutes.
“We had some breakdowns defensively in the second half that were unfortunate, but we kept battling back and kept them out of the end zone,” head coach Mike Bellotti said.
And with 1:36 left on the clock, Oregon punted the ball back to Washington State inside the Cougar 20-yard-line. Quarterback Jason Gesser drove the Cougs to the Oregon eight-yard-line to set up a potential overtime thriller.
But with two seconds remaining in the game, Oregon linebacker Wesly Mallard, covering Washington State’s 6-foot-6 receiver Mike Bush, broke up a fade-pass into the corner of the end zone, securing the Oregon victory.
“I give a lot of credit to Wes Mallard,” Bellotti said. “He did a great job.
So what’s next for Mallard and the Oregon defense? Try Arizona State, statistically the fourth-best offense in the conference. Not to mention Jeff Krohn, who has taken over Gesser’s former title as the most efficient passer in the Pac-10.
Mallard, however, said the Ducks are more concerned about Sun Devil tailback Delvon Flowers, who is averaging 87 yards per game this season.
“We have the same game plan, which is to stop the run,” Mallard said. “I think we showed (against Washington State) that we have the potential to be a good defensive team. We feel we can do that every week.”