They say good teams find a way to win. Well, despite being outgained by nearly 200 yards, the Oregon Ducks left Tempe victorious as they defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 42-31.
On a night where their potent offense was slowed, the fifth-ranked Ducks used their defense and pass game to pull away in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.
ASU (2-2) held the nation’s second- leading rushing offense to 145 yards, but Darron Thomas led the Ducks’ (4-0) aeriel assault, as he threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns.
Oregon also made plays on defense when it had to, forcing seven turnovers and scoring two defensive touchdowns.
ASU got off to a good start in the first quarter, as Deantre Lewis scored on a 53-yard run that gave the Devils an early 7-0 lead.
Oregon’s quick strike offense responded in just 64 seconds, as LaMichael James blew past ASU defenders for a 40-yard score. Just a few moments later, John Boyett intercepted a Steven Threet pass and took it all the way to give the Ducks a 14-7 lead.
But the Sun Devils weren’t phased. Threet connected on a pair of touchdown passes to Mike Willie and Kerry Taylor, and Thomas Weber kicked a 34-yard field goal, giving ASU a 24-14 lead.
Unfortunately the Ducks responded with what they do best: scoring points quickly.
It took just a minute and 20 seconds for Oregon to drive 80 yards, which was capped off by a Thomas touchdown pass to Jeff Maehl. After the defense held ASU, the Ducks drove 80 yards again, this time in 30 seconds. Thomas’ touchdown run gave Oregon a 28-24 lead heading into halftime.
The Sun Devils had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the second half when they recovered an Oregon fumble on the kickoff, but running back Cameron Marshall fumbled on the Ducks’ two-yard line.
That was just the beginning of the bad things to come for ASU.
A few minutes later, the Devils had a chance to recover an Oregon fumble on a punt, but LeQuan Lewis could not keep possession of the football.
The Ducks made ASU pay with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to Josh Huff, taking a 35-24 lead.
ASU had a good ensuing drive going, but a swing pass to Marshall was ruled a fumble, and Boseko Lokombo recovered and took it 32-yards to give Oregon a 41-24 lead. Marshall did not bother going after the ball because he thought it was an incompete pass.
Threet tried to rally the Devils, as he connected with Mike Willie for a 15-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 11, but he threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter in Oregon territory.
“It’s very disappointing to play well and then make a couple plays that cost you the game,” Threet said afterwards.
It was the second straight loss that left ASU fans thinking “coulda, woulda, shoulda.” Last week the Devils outplayed the eleventh-ranked Wisconsin Badgers in nearly every way imaginable, yet lost 20-19.
“When we start finishing, we’re going to be a top team,” Willie said.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for ASU, who played its final home game for over a month. The Devils face the Oregon State Beavers in Corvalis next weekend, followed by road games against Washington and Cal before returning home to play Washington State on October 30th.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 27th, 2010 at 4:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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