Injuries endangered a dream, but a lack of discipline killed it.
Oregon fell to unranked Arizona 31-24 Thursday night in Autzen Stadium. The loss drops them to 4-1, 1-1 in the PAC-12.
The Wildcats put together four touchdown drives in the second half, and two of them were aided by costly, stupid personal foul penalties by Oregon linebackers.
The most devastating one came late in the fourth quarter. Tied 24-24 the Wildcats had the ball 3rd and 8 at the Oregon 8 with three minutes to play. Tony Washington burst through for a crucial sack to force an apparent field goal, but he gave Arizona a gift first down by strutting out to midfield and bowing to the sideline. The celebration penalty set Arizona up at the two, and Terris Jones-Grigsby bulled over from the one for the winning score.
Earlier in the half Rodney Hardrick extended an Arizona touchdown drive by twisting Wildcat quarterback Anu Solomon’s head after the whistle, a 15-yard personal foul.
When he was hired, Don Pellum said he wanted to bring discipline, swagger and aggressiveness to the Oregon defense. After five games, the discipline is nonexistent, and the swagger and aggressiveness show up in all the wrong ways.
In all Oregon committed 10 penalties for 79 yards. They suffered two turnovers, both fumbles by Marcus Mariota, who was under constant pressure, sacked five times. So far this season the Ducks have lost four offensive linemen to injury, starting tackles Jake Fisher and Tyler Johnstone, key reserves Haniteli Lousi and Andre Yruretagoyena. Mariota has been sacked 12 times in two games, harried and hit constantly.
A last-ditch comeback effort ended when UA linebacker Scooby Wright stripped Mariota at the Oregon 34. Jones-Grigsby plowed through three Oregon defenders for a clinching first down.
After the game Mark Helfrich told the press, “I thought we played hard, for the most part. We came out ready to play; we didn’t play cleanly enough or smart enough.”
In his last six games in the conference, Helfrich is now 3-3, with two losses to Rich Rodriguez. Chip Kelly went 33-3 in the league over four seasons. An era has ended. Even with the best quarterback in college football, the Ducks are a 9-4 football team.
They travel to Pasadena to face 8th-ranked, undefeated UCLA in 9 days, and two very physical defenses in Washington and Stanford after that. Unless this team rights itself and gets healthy, road trips to Utah and Oregon State look like potential challenges as well.
Tonight, Arizona played smarter and harder. They had a better plan, better execution, and a much better running game. They frustrated the Oregon offense and prevented big plays. And Oregon aided them with 32 missed tackles, a sloppy and inefficient offense stymied by ineffective line play, a dropped touchdown pass on the opening series, spotty play calling and brutally undisciplined penalties. This team is prone to self-inflicted wounds. In 24 hours, they have to forget them all and regroup.
Oregon still “controls its destiny” in the PAC-12 North, where every team has a conference loss. In fact, the winner of Cal-Washington State will be in first place after Saturday at 2-1.
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