Josh Huff nabbed a 12-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota with 29 seconds to play to secure a come-from-behind 36-35 victory in the 117th Civil War at Autzen Stadium.
It was Huff’s third touchdown on the night, all in the second half. The Oregon senior capped a tremendous Duck career with 9 catches for 186 yards, going over 1,000 yards for the season in his final game at home.
Senior night sensation: Josh Huff shook off disappointment and a social media firestorm to turn in the best performance of his stellar Oregon career Friday night, grabbing the winning touchdown with 29 seconds to play in a gutty 36-35 comeback victory (Don Ryan, AP photo).
Marcus Mariota had an up-and-down game all night, 6-6 to start the game, 0-6 with two interceptions in a disastrous second quarter, then 4-4, then 0-4, all before taking over on the Oregon 17 with 1:38 to play and three timeouts, down 35-30. He led an 8-play 83-yard drive, hitting Huff for the win in the most clutch drive of his two seasons as a UO quarterback.
The sophomore quarterback hit Daryle Hawkins with a pass over the middle for 23 yards, giving his team some breathing room.
They lined up quickly, and he found Bralon Addison for 19 along the seam on the left hash. That gave them first down at the OSU 41, just over a minute left.
Scrambling left, Mariota found Addison along the left sideline. He toed the sideline and dove for the catch, ruled out of bounds. After a long replay review officials let the call stand. Incomplete, second and ten, clock down to just over a minute.
Mariota finds Mundt for 17 and another first down, ball all the way to the OSU 24. He scrambles right, and finds Huff underneath for five yards. The Ducks take their first time out with 54 seconds.
An incomplete pass makes it 3rd and 5. Scott Frost crosses the Beavers up with an inside handoff to Thomas Tyner, who grinds ahead for 7 and the first down. Mariota misses Mundt, thrown over his head in the left flat.
2nd and 10 from the 12, the quarterback gets time to throw as Huff wriggles open at the goal line. Mariota threads it to his back shoulder, and Huff comes down with it in the end zone between two Beavers, hugging the ball to his chest.
With 29 seconds left and two time outs, Sean Mannion throws to Brandon Cooks for 8 and then twice incomplete on throws the Ducks just miss diving for the carom. On the last play of the game he hits Cooks again for 15 near midfield. The Ducks tie him up on an attempted hook and ladder, and Tony Washington scoops up the loose football as time runs out.
It was a narrow, harrowing win, amazingly entertaining but agonizing at turns. The slips, trips, bounces and breaks were monumental, the kind of game that leaves you exhausted at the end. The Oregon defense struggled mightily but came up with a big stop midway through the fourth quarter and avoided a lapse on the last series after allowing the Beavers to amass 231 yards on the ground and 314 through the air, employing the bend-but-don’t break magic in holding the visitors to field goals twice, turning the ball over to the offense on downs on three of four fourth-down tries, one inside the five when Terron Ward slipped in the backfield on fourth and one.
Mariota, faced with his first opportunity to lead a game-winning drive with less than two minutes to play, had his greatest moment as a Duck, aided by Huff, who’d made another big catch when the Ducks went for it on fourth and 11 from the 12 midway through the fourth quarter. Mariota threaded a strike, and his leading target hauled it in just inside the left pylon.
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