(post title slight modification of the Bi-Mart button for the game). Another exciting game at Autzen ends with the good guys holding the visitors at arm's length after a clinical start gave the Ducks a 21-3 lead just after the start of the second quarter. The Sun Devils, notorious this season for slow starts and for recovering from large early deficits to win ball games, wound up on the short side of the scoreboard as they failed to take substantial advantage of scoring opportunities throughout the game. This included settling for four field goal attempts, with one attempt one missed, as the stout Sun Devil defense began to make plays on the Ducks offense.
The Ducks scored on their first three possessions of the game to grab that early lead that proved to be insurmountable. The first Sun Devil field goal, amidst the early Duck onslaught, was the result, once again, of the "bend but don't break" policy that drives the fans in the stands absolutely nuts, still an excellent result given that it was a first and goal from the three yard line at one point.
Part of the problem, as it were, was that the Ducks took about six minutes in total time to score those three touchdowns, leaving a lot of time for Rudy Carpenter to drive down the field and chew up large chunks of time, leaving the Duck defense to play a lot of snaps (I do believe the half time possession was over 20 minutes to Arizona State, to just under 10 for the Ducks).
With the talk that the Sun Devils had given up close to 30 quarterback sacks going into the game, the hope that the Ducks could disrupt the Sun Devils offense by rushing him wasn't much of a reality, especially in the first half, as the Ducks got to Carpenter only twice. However, those sacks did help end a couple of sets of downs for Arizona State quickly, allowing the Ducks to maintain its lead, which was 21-13 at half time.
Quarterback Dennis Dixon had a great game on national television (thank you ESPN!) by tossing four beautiful touchdown passes, with game stats ending up at 13 for 22 for 189 yards, which might've been even more impressive were it not for the befuddling case of the "dropsies" exhibited by wide receiver Jaison Williams, who still managed five catches for 106 yards. Tailback Jonathan Stewart had another strong game, with 21 carries for 99 yards, including a twisting 33 yard touchdown run that came across the flow of the play, a highlight run to be sure. Punter Josh Syria also had a very strong game in terms of field position, with two punts that wound up being downed inside the five yard line, the first of which, in the game of field position, helped set up Stewart's touchdown run.
The bad news is that lineback John Bacon tore an ACL and is done for the year, but freshman Casey Matthews stepped in and did very well. And of course, one could hear the entire breath of Autzen being held as Dixon wrenched his knee on a tackle at the end of a run early in the fourth quarter, but as the Ducks had a 35-16 lead at that point, there was no need to rush him back unnecessarily as Brady Leaf did a good job running a couple of drives that ate up some more precious time.
At the end, the talk in our section is One game at a time!, which means that nobody I know is ready to even tentatively sketch in plans for New Orleans just yet; too many crazy things have happened (and need to continue to happen elsewhere) in this college football season to take anything for granted. Besides, we all know what happened the last time that Arizona and Oregon played LAST NOVEMBER, so payback will be on the minds of the Oregon team. That game with Arizona is to be televised on ESPN on Thursday November thee 15th, which will give the Ducks, including Dixon, a chance to heal their various wounds.
Bear Down On Arizona Ducks.............one game at a time!
ESPN RECAP
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