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Oregon Ducks vs Washington Huskies Recap

Special games are one thing; special performances are quite another. The Oregon Ducks will play a special game next weekend, but this past Saturday in Seattle, they received a special performance from their special teams unit.

The Oregon Ducks have reached the Pac-10 game of the year against USC without a single conference loss, and they owe such an outcome to their punt-blocking, extra-point-snaring, field-goal faking ways. A 15-point second quarter fueled entirely by special teams turned the Washington Huskies from determined Dawgs into panting pups, as Oregon shifted momentum and then kicked into overdrive on Saturday at Husky Stadium. By surviving a rough first quarter and a sluggish Jeremiah Masoli, Chip Kelly's crew subdued a hostile crowd and took away Washington's will. A 21-0 third-quarter burst effectively ended the proceedings, enabling the Ducks to return home to Autzen Stadium for the ballyhooed battle against the Trojan Empire that has denied UO a conference title since 2001.

This game didn't start out well for Oregon, as its fans feared. Masoli, coming off a right knee injury, was understandably rusty, and the homestanding Huskies took advantage by swarming to the ball and dominating up front. While Oregon couldn't move downfield on offense, the Huskies and Jake Locker did, snagging an early field goal and generally taking the fight to the Ducks. Something needed to happen for Oregon to reverse the flow of action, and that's when some special things began to happen for the visitors from Eugene.

Early in the second quarter, the Ducks blocked a Washington punt, and UO's Tyrell Irvin recovered a blocked punt in the end zone to give Oregon a touchdown despite the utter absence of any offensive production. The thunderbolt was quickly followed by a two-point conversion that came from a simple read of numbers at the line of scrimmage by Nate Costa, the Ducks' holder and backup quarterback. Washington had carried the play for more than 17 minutes, but with 12:36 left until halftime, it was Oregon who owned an 8-3 edge. That was the first event which rocked the Huskies back on their heels, but the fun was just starting for UO's special teams unit.

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After Locker threw a crippling interception in the end zone on 4th and goal from the Oregon 2, the Ducks--converting a 3rd and 25--marched into Washington territory but then bogged down in the red zone. It was at this point that Costa again confounded the Huskies by running to the left side of the field, just as he had on the successful two-point try. Costa sprinted past the first-down marker to give the Ducks' offense a second chance, and when Masoli struck paydirt with only 2:23 left in the second quarter, a game fought on fairly even terms saw Oregon ahead 15-3 on the scoreboard. Washington would steal a field goal due to an Oregon penalty at the very end of the half, but as the third quarter showed, the Huskies--who poured so much into the first quarter--never emotionally recovered from the special teams plays (and Locker's end zone pick) that cut against them in the second quarter.

The Ducks trampled Washington coming out of the locker room, ripping off three straight touchdowns while smothering an increasingly listless Locker on the other side of the ball. Running back LaMichael James accumulated most of his 154 yards after halftime, as UO accumulated 259 rushing yards on the afternoon. Masoli regained a measure of the comfort he found in late September, and by the end of the third quarter, this once-competitive contest had become a 30-point bloodbath, with Oregon in front, 36-6. A final trap game had been successfully navigated, and now, the Ducks can set their sights on Southern California's conference colossus on Halloween.

Pretty special, indeed.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer