The Ducks have collapsed before this season, but not like this. This
was
heart-attack collapse,
a shot-in-the-head collapse to a bitter Northwest rival.
This was dominoes.
The offense faded first, and the defense followed as the Oregon
football
team gave up 42
unanswered points in a 42-14 loss to Washington at Autzen Stadium on
Saturday. It was Oregon’s
fourth loss in five games after starting the season 6-0.
“We came out on fire and did a great job (Saturday),” Oregon head coach
Mike
Bellotti said. “We
didn’t sustain that.”
Oregon scored the game’s first 14 points as quarterback Jason Fife
engineered drives of 80 and
98 yards on the Ducks’ first two possessions in the first quarter in
front
of 57,112 at Autzen.
But Oregon went 3-and-out on its next offensive possession. That set
the
tone for the Ducks’
offense for the rest of the afternoon, as Oregon scored no more
touchdowns,
attempted only one
field goal — a Jared Siegel miss — and punted seven times in more than
51
minutes of game time.
The Ducks played the game without the services of Onterrio Smith, who
sat
out the game with a
knee injury. Bellotti said Smith will likely have surgery on Monday.
Fife, who started the game by completing six of his first seven passes,
went
4-for-22 over the
rest of the contest.
“I was thinking about it in the locker room, and I couldn’t pinpoint a
reason,” Fife said of his
anemic performance.

Meanwhile, the Washington offense cracked an Oregon defense that held
the
Huskies to a
three-and-out on their first possession of the game. Washington went to
the
air on its second
possession after running three times on its first, and the formula
worked
for the Huskies.
Washington quarterback Cody Pickett went 6-for-7 passing and Rich
Alexis ran
in a five-yard
score to bring the Huskies within a touchdown.
On the next Washington possession, Pickett hit a wide-open Reggie
Williams —
who ended the game
with 14 catches for 198 yards and three touchdowns — across the middle
for a
23-yard touchdown
that evened the score with 7:44 remaining in the first half.
“I’m really proud of the ability of the team not to blink, not to
worry,
just to keep coming back,
making plays and getting it tied 14-14 before the half was a big lift,”
Washington head coach
Rick Neuheisel said.
The teams remained deadlocked coming out of the locker room, and with
Fife
struggling, Bellotti
put in redshirt freshman quarterback Kellen Clemens on Oregon’s first
offensive possession.
Clemens threw an interception on his first play.
“I was pretty nervous out there,” Clemens said. “It was a rookie
mistake.
The cornerback baited me
up.”
That interception came deep in Oregon territory and set up Washington’s
go-ahead score, a Pickett
option toss to Alexis on the left side that went for a 13-yard
touchdown.
Clemens led a seven-play drive on the ensuing Oregon possession, but
the
drive ended in a 39-yard
missed field goal, Siegel’s second-straight miss after a streak of 17
made
field goals.

Washington led an unsuccessful drive, but Oregon’s Keenan Howry fumbled
the
ensuing punt back
to the Huskies. That set up a game-sealing six-yard touchdown pass from
Pickett to Patrick
Reddick.
Pickett finished the game with 316 yards on 26-of-37 passing and four
touchdowns. He broke the
Pacific-10 Conference record for passing yards in a season late in the
second quarter, and also
broke the Pac-10 record for season completions and Washington record
for
touchdowns in a season.
Williams also broke or tied several records, including the Autzen
Stadium
mark for catches in a
game and Washington’s record for career receiving yards.
“We got into a rhythm with our passing game, and the o-line opened
everything for us,” Williams
said.
Pickett, who was the recipient of comments about his playing ability
from
Oregon free safety Keith
Lewis, said, “During the game, I asked him a question or two, but he
didn’t
have much to say.”
Oregon will take on Oregon State on Saturday in a Civil War matchup
that
could determine bowl
fates for both teams. Washington will head east to Pullman for the
Apple
Cup, and the Huskies will
likely need a win to solidify a spot in a bowl.
Notes: Washington punter Derek McLaughlin booted an 80-yard punt in the
first quarter was the
longest in both Washington and Autzen Stadium history…despite his
struggles, Fife has thrown at
least one touchdown in every game this season…Oregon has now caught
an
interception in
15-straight games after picking Pickett twice…the crowd of 57,112 at
Autzen Stadium was the
largest in Oregon history.