Freeman powers Oregon victory
Freshman Royce Freeman ran for 169 yards and four touchdowns and No. 9 Oregon extended its win streak over Washington to 11 games with a 45-20 home victory on Saturday night.
Marcus Mariota threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns for the Ducks (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12), who won their second straight game as they distanced themselves from a loss at home to Arizona on Oct. 2.
Freeman’s four touchdowns were the most rushing touchdowns in a single game for a Duck since Kenjon Barner had five against USC in 2012. The freshman has rushed for 636 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Cameron Van Winkle hit two field goals for Washington (5-2, 1-2), which hasn’t defeated Oregon since the 2003 season. Sophomore Cyler Miles struggled to find a rhythm after excelling one week earlier in a 31-7 road rout of Cal, throwing for 147 yards and a touchdown with an interception and a fumble.
Oregon celebrated the 20th anniversary of “The Pick,” Kenny Wheaton’s 97-yard interception return for a gamesaving touchdown over the Huskies in 1994, which helped send the Ducks to their first Rose Bowl in 37 years.
Many Oregon fans believe that play was the spark for the Ducks’ rise to national prominence.
Oregon players wore bright green throwback jerseys with yellow pants in commemoration of The Pick, and Wheaton retraced the path of his interception sitting on the back of a bright green motorcycle in pregame ceremonies.
Freeman appeared to get his fifth touchdown on a 2-yard run late, but a holding penalty on the offense called it back. The Ducks settled for Wogan’s 26-yard field goal for the final margin.
Mariota needs just one more touchdown to pass Stanford’s Andrew Luck (82) for fifth on the Pac-12’s career list. Mariota has 19 touchdowns passing and five rushing this season. #22 USC 56, Colorado 28: Cody Kessler threw seven touchdown passes to break the Trojans’ single-game record set three years ago by Matt Barkley as host USC (5-2, 4-1) cruised past Colorado (2-5, 0-4).
Kessler, a redshirt junior in his second season as starter, spent two seasons as Barkley’s understudy, watching him claim nearly every passing record for the Trojans and the Pac-12.
“It’s an honor for me to break his record, but I’m thankful he set the bar so high and taught me as much as he did,” said Kessler about Barkley, whom he referred to as his “big brother.”
Nelson Agholor caught three TD passes from Kessler, who passed the record on Steven Mitchell’s diving 24-yard catch in the third quarter of a blowout victory for the host Trojans.
Coach Steve Sarkisian spent the week challenging Kessler to be more aggressive and revitalize a passing offense that in recent weeks looked too much like the reviled bubble-screen-heavy scheme previously employed by Lane Kiffin.
While Colorado seemed to focus on running back Javorius Allen instead, Kessler found Agholor for two scores and freshmen JuJu Smith and Bryce Dixon for one apiece as Kessler went 11-of-14 for 159 yards and four touchdowns in building a 28-0 first-quarter lead.
“We coach this guy harder than any other guy on our team, and he accepts it, and he comes to work every day with the mind-set to get better,” Sarkisian said.
Kessler also became the first Pac-12 quarterback to throw seven TD passes in the first three quarters, and the junior tied the conference record for TD passes in a non-overtime game.
Agholor had six catches for 128 yards. Smith had four receptions for 104 yards, and Allen added 128 yards rushing on 15 carries, scoring on a 39yard run.