Oregon vs. Washington and Oregon State vs. California recaps

Just one week after receiving a much-needed win against a Pac-12 conference opponent, the University of Oregon Ducks were resoundingly reminded that there’s a sizable gap between themselves, and the best team in their conference.

Four different players combined to tally all five of the touchdowns scored by the University of Washington Huskies, in their 38-3 win over Oregon. While the Huskies are loaded with many talented players who will be playing on Sunday’s in the near future, their win was more of a total team domination over the Ducks.

If there was one standout performer for Washington, it would have to be senior wide receiver Dante Pettis. On top of his four catches for 87 yards and a touchdown, his 64-yard punt return — which gave the Huskies their first touchdown of the day — made him the NCAA’s all-time leader in punt return touchdowns.

For the Ducks, the headline performer was once again senior running back Royce Freeman, who had 24 carries for 122 yards. It was his fourth-straight game with 120 or more rushing yards this season. Meanwhile, freshman quarterback Braxton Burmeister continued his bumpy ride as the team’s signal caller, only throwing for 31 yards on seven completions, as well as one interception.

At least for a moment, Oregon looked like they could ride the high of their win last week against the University of California, as they were actually leading Washington by a 3-0 score at the end of the first quarter. They held Washington to 76 yards of offense in the first quarter, and the Huskies missed a 45-yard field goal attempt on their opening drive. However, as the score would indicate, Washington went on to score the next 38 unanswered points.

Oregon is only one win away from becoming bowl eligible in head coach Willie Taggart’s initial season there. They’ll get this upcoming weekend off to regroup, and then try and pick up that sixth win of the year against the University of Arizona on Saturday, November 18th.

As far as Oregon State University, it seemed like they got something of a jump start after the resignation of former head coach Gary Anderson. While they lost both games since his departure, both losses were by a combined four points.

However, the results on Saturday, against the University of California Golden Bears, weren’t nearly as close. The Beavers were outmatched in the second half of the game, as the Golden Bears outscored them by a 17-10 margin in the final two quarters, en route to a 37-23 win.

California’s Ross Bowers threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns in the game, but it was junior running back Patrick Laird who really terrorized the Beavers on Saturday. He had 33 carries for 214 yards, both of which were career highs for him, as well as six catches for 19 yards.

After Oregon State started by scoring a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, thanks to an option pass from tight end Tuli Wily-Matagi to running back Ryan Nall, Laird’s rushing touchdown for California tied the game at seven.

Senior running back Thomas Tyner, who led the Beavers with 41 yards rushing, scored a touchdown of his own in the third quarter, cutting California’s lead to 23-20. But, that obviously didn’t last.

Oregon State will actually get their crack at the University of Arizona first (prior to the Beavers’ in-state rivals), as they’ll square off against the Wildcats on Saturday, November 11th in Tucson.