Mariota's 5 touchdowns lead Oregon past Washington State
Pullman, WA - Marcus Mariota threw for 329 yards on 21- of-25 passing and five touchdowns to lead the second-ranked Oregon Ducks to a 38-31 win over the Washington State.
Devon Allen and Keanon Lowe each recorded over 100 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns, with Allen hauling in seven passes for 142 yards and Lowe catching five for 104.
With the game tied at 31-apiece late in the fourth, Mariota led a 9-play, 79- yard drive that resulted in a 6-yard scoring strike to Lowe and gave the Ducks (4-0, Pac-12 1-0) the lead.
Washington State (1-3, 0-1) quarterback Connor Halliday, who tossed for 436 yards and four touchdowns, immediately answered on the Cougars' ensuing possession, hitting Vince Mayle for a 34-yard pass to the Oregon 35. Jamal Morrow was stuffed for a loss of three on the following play, then two straight incompletions prior to a sack by Tony Washington gave the ball back to Oregon.
Mariota passed to Pharaoh Brown for 27 yards on 3rd-and-1 and the Ducks ran out the remainder of the clock to secure their eighth consecutive victory over Washington State.
Each team punted on their opening possession and Washington State opened the scoring with a 18-yard TD from Halliday to Dom Williams.
Quentin Breshears missed a 29-yard field goal on the Cougars' next touch before Mariota hooked up with Allen for an 80-yard TD to tie the game at 7-7.
Washington State answered with another touchdown drive. Halliday hit River Cracraft for 37 yards to the Oregon 16, then completed an 8-yard score to Williams on 4th-and-2.
Later in the second, Mariota converted a 57-yard touchdown pass to Lowe to make it 14-14.
Following a turnover on downs from the Cougars, Mariota opened the Ducks possession with a 41-yard scamper that led to his 13-yard touchdown pass to Allen.
Halliday and Washington State closed the half with a 12-play, 74-yard TD march that took over five minutes to complete. A facemask penalty on Oregon kept the drive alive and Halliday had a pair of third-down conversions later to set up a 6-yard pitch-and-catch from Halliday to Rickey Galvin.
The Ducks opened the second half with a missed field goal by Matt Wogan.
Washington State moved it into Oregon territory until Morrow fumbled the football, with Arik Armstead recovering for the visitors.
Mariota made the turnover count, hitting Brown for an 8-yard score to give the Ducks a 28-21 margin.
Breshears knocked down a 30-yard field goal on the next Cougars touch to trim the deficit to four early in the fourth, but Wogan hit a 34-yarder to restore the seven-point cushion.
On the opening play of Washington State's next drive, Halliday completed a 45- yard pass to Morrow before Cracraft hauled in a 5-yard score to tie the game at 31-31.