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Three quarters of a game Dennis Dixon passed for 196 yards and Jonathan Stewart ran for 251 yards, to lead the Oregon Ducks (6-1) to a 55-34 win over the Washington Huskies (2-5) at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington. The Ducks rolled up 661 yards in total offense. In its last five games preceding this one, Washington had been outscored 56-0 in the third quarter. Saturday night, Washington outscored the Ducks 14-7 in the third quarter, to take a 31-all tie into the fourth quarter. And then the roof collapsed as it has in the last five games. Oregon outscored UW 24-3 in the fourth quarter to secure a 55-34 victory. Coach Mike Bellotti has perfected his spread option attack to the point of where his version is arguably the most potent offense in the country. QB Dennis Dixon runs the option like Houdini, either passing the ball, handing the ball off to Jonathan Stewart or keeping the ball himself after some prestidigitation. During the telecast, at times, the cameramen and play-by-play announcer were fooled by Dixon's handoffs, not knowing whom to follow, Dixon, Stewart, or Andre Crenshaw. Crenshaw posted 113 yards on the ground to go along with Stewart's 251 yards and Dixon's 99 yards. While faking a handoff, Dixon leaves the ball in the hands of his running back for as long as he can, his timing being impeccable, and your eyes tend to follow the ball in the hands of the running back -- only Dixon's got it. Altogether the Ducks rushed for 465 yards -- this in comparison to the Huskies' 164 yards, with 78 of those coming from quarterback Jake Locker. RB Louis Rankin added another 76 yards to the Huskies' total rushing number of 164 yards. Just a thought. If Oregon had needed an athletic director and football coach back in 2004, would donor Phil Knight have approved of the hiring of Todd Turner and Tyrone Willingham, respectively? Washington's fear of the NCAA and the media were the reasons for their hiring, both being squeaky clean. The Good: -- This was one of Locker's best games. As a result, Jake's passing efficiency rose from 99.8 to 106.8, based on 95 completions out of 200 passes, which have gone for 1193 yards, 11 touchdowns and 9 picks. He's completing 47.5% of his passes on the season. -- Jared Ballman averaged 55.0 yards per punt. Ryan Perkins kicked two field goals, registering a long of 42 yards. -- Louis Rankin had a good night running the ball, averaging 6.6 yards on 11 carries. -- WRs Reece and Russo posted good games. -- The offensive line made some nice blocks. I don't remember a holding penalty being called on them. Only 20 yards in penalties were called on the Dawgs. -- Being tied at 31 going into the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, after twice falling behind by a touchdown, the Dawgs' responded with two big-plays that went for touchdowns: Locker's 42-yard TD pass to Rankin to knot it at 24 and Locker's 38-yard TD pass to Marcel Reece to tie it at 31. -- -- After the game, Dixon had this to say about Locker, 'I talked to him personally. I just told him he doesn't know what he brings to a defense. He brings a tremendous scare. As he grows into this offense he is going to be one heck of a player." -- UW is transitioning to the easier part of its schedule and appears equipped to handle the likes of Arizona, Stanford and WSU. Cal, OSU and Hawaii are different matters. The Bad: -- The no-huddle offense stupefied the Huskies defense. Oregon ran 92 plays to UW's 60. Seemingly, the coaches had the Huskies ill-prepared for this facet of the game. -- Five three and outs and one four and out, each coming after an Oregon score. For the six anemic drives the offense took an average of 1:04 off the clock and averaged 3.9 yards per drive. Obviously, the offense needs faulting here. -- Locker's completion percentage; he completed just 38.7% of his passes on the night -- Jonathan Stewart's running on the night; he averaged 7.8 yards on 32 carries. Imagine if Locker and Stewart were on the same team at UW. The Ugly -- "Half the time, I didn't know where the ball was," said Huskies linebacker E.J. Savannah. [Condotta]. That comment reminds me of the time when QB Todd Marinovich said, "All I saw was purple." -- The front seven couldn't stop the run, and allowed 465 yards rushing. -- At this point in possession is getting down right ugly. (34:23 to 25:37 against Oregon) -- -- In the second half, I'm surprised that the impeccably dressed Willingham didn't tuck Locker's jersey in for him. :) -- Notre Dame's green throw-back jerseys, which were worn in the USC game, were a slap in the face to the team they were meant to honor. Is there anybody better than Cedric Ellis at nose tackle?
Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at
malamute@4malamute.com |
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