Rich Rodriguez and the Arizona Wildcats thoroughly dominated a lifeless and uninspired Oregon team 42-16, dropping the Ducks to 9-2.
During the week Josh Huff and De’Anthony Thomas drew fire for comments about how they weren’t excited to be going to a Rose Bowl, that the National Championship was their only goal this year. Though both played well today, the team clearly lacked focus against an inspired Wildcat team, trailed early and never recovered (Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports photo).
The Ducks couldn’t stop Ka’Deem Carey, who ran at will through the soft middle of the Oregon front seven, gashing them for 206 yards on 48 carries, 4 touchdowns, perfectly following the script written by Stanford’s Tyler Gaffney three weeks ago.
Arizona quarterback B.J. Denker played a nearly flawless game, 19-22 passing for 178 yards and 2 tds, 14 rushes for 102 yards. The UA offense did not have a turnover, and the victors were superbly disciplined, with just two penalties on the day, for 20 yards.
Marcus Mariota’s Heisman campaign is clearly over after Oregon’s second dominated loss on national TV. He suffered his first two interceptions, the first on a dropped, twice-tipped ball along the sideline early in the game, the second a poor decision on a pass over the middle in a desperation drive in the fourth quarter.
Mark Helfrich has to regroup his team quickly. They play Oregon State in The Civil War in just six days.
It was the worst loss by the Ducks since the 2009 game at Boise, or a home defeat by these same Wildcats in 2006. It signals perhaps that Oregon’s run of dominance in the PAC-12 is over. For the third year in a row, they’ve lost the game before The Civil War, a reminder to both players and fans that the “Win the Day” ethos of the Chip Kelly era succeeded for a reason.
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