Oregon starts fast, holds off Arizona

EUGENE, Ore. - One week after he silenced critics with a season-saving drive for Oregon, quarterback Jeremiah Masoli may have finally won his critics over Saturday against Arizona.

The sophomore quarterback threw for 298 yards and accounted for five touchdowns, leading the Ducks to a 55-45 victory against Arizona.

Masoli rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two more all in the first half for the Ducks (8-3, 6-2 Pac-10 Conference), who still had to withstand Arizona’s attempted second-half rally from a 48-17 deficit.

Masoli completed 21 of 26 passes including all 11 of his attempts in the second quarter eclipsing his previous season-best of 161 yards passing.

He also rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries. His passing yards and completions were both career-bests for the junior-college transfer, who was making his eighth start for the Ducks.

“We were just all clicking,” said Masoli, who led the Ducks on a 74-yard scoring drive in the final two minutes against Stanford last Saturday in a 35-28 win.

Even with Masoli’s impressive performance, it was Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount who sealed the victory with a 40-yard touchdown run with 3:38 to play after the Wildcats had scored 28-straight points to cut the Ducks lead to 48-45 late in the fourth quarter.

Blount, who tied the single-season school record with his 15th touchdown, finished with 75 yards on nine carries. Arizona quarterback

Willie Tuitama finished with 328 yards passing, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wildcats’ running back Keola Antolin rushed for 87 yards and four touchdowns and tight end Rob Gronkowski had 12 catches for 143 yards and a touchdown.

“We can’t play one half,” Gronkowski said. “We have to play the whole game. The first half was not good. No one was awake. This was a huge game. There are no excuses.”

The win puts Oregon alone in third place in the Pac-10 with a chance to finish in second if it can beat Oregon State in two weeks.

Arizona, which is bowl eligible for the first time since 1998, dropped to 6-4 overall and is tied with Cal for fourth place in the conference at 4-3.

The Ducks debuted their new “lights out” all-black uniforms and helmets for the game, and that was the way they performed in the first half.

Masoli scored on the third play of the game, running 66 yards on an option-keeper to put Oregon up 7-0 42 seconds into the contest.

Less than a minute later, Patrick Chung stepped in front of a Tuitama pass and returned the interception 31 yards for the score.

The Wildcats cut the Ducks’ lead to 14-10 on a 29-yard field goal by Jason Bondzio and a two-yard run by Antolin, but Masoli hit Terrence Scott with a 44-yard touchdown pass to give Oregon a 21-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Masoli had scoring runs of 5 and 6 yards, Jeff Maehl scored on a 65-yard catch-and-run from Masoli and Morgan Flint added a 23-yard field goal to give the Ducks a 45-17 lead at the break.

Masoli’s 274 passing yards in the first half was more than his totals from the last two games combined and his two touchdown passes were his most in seven games.

“Jeremiah Masoli came out firing on all cylinders,” said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, who has watched his starting quarterback throw for just 44 and 42 yards in games this season. “He cut loose and did some great things. He threw the ball as we imagined and as we had seen in practice.”

Flint added a 39-yard field goal 2:14 into the second half to make it 48-17 before the Wildcats came to life and nearly came all the way back.

Tuitama and Gronkowski connected on a 7-yard touchdown at the 8:53 mark of the third quarter to make it 48-24, and Antolin followed with fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 3, 1 and 13 yards. The last came with 6:38 to play.

“I think they were executing a little better,” Oregon safety TJ Ward said.

“I don’t think we were as aggressive as we were in the first half. They didn’t try anything new, I think they were just working.”

The Ducks’ ensuing drive stalled and after they stopped Arizona on a fourth-and-two at their own 45, they took over with 3:50 left in the game and two plays later Blount scored on his long run.

“We had a chance to win the games so I’m proud of the way the guys stayed in the game,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said.

“Really, we had the game right there. Just a tough loss. Disappointing we didn’t play better in the first half.”