A week after being largely stymied against Stanford, Oregon’s talented backfield returned to form against their in-state rivals in a 48-24 win, the fifth straight Civil War win for the Ducks. Both Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas surpassed the century mark on the ground and quarterback Marcus Mariota carried the ball eight times for 85 yards of his own including a 42-yard scamper to open the scoring. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205764016@@
“The offensive line did an awesome job tonight,” Mariota said. “To run over 400 yards, it’s a token of what they’ve done.”
The Ducks set the tone early with Barner carrying the ball 11 times for 105 yards in the first quarter alone. By halftime the Ducks were up to 250 yards on the ground with a touchdown each from Mariota, Thomas and Barner. It was the multi-headed monster that people have come to expect from the Ducks.
“They did everything we expected them to do,” OSU cornerback Jordan Poyer said. “Their tempo is fast and if you aren’t in the right spot just once then you will get burned.”
Thomas found the endzone twice in the span of about two minutes to blow the game open giving the Ducks a 34-17 lead going into the fourth quarter before Barner scampered in from one yard out early in the fourth to put the game fully on ice. Oregon racked up 430 yards on the ground by the end of the game.
With that touchdown Barner tied LaMichael James for the most touchdowns in a single season in school history with 21.
