Disappointing day for UW

EUGENE, Ore. – After turning the ball over on the first play of its first two possessions, Oregon kicked its game into autopilot and flew away with a 45-21 Pacific-10 Conference win over Washington at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.

The Ducks’ aerial assault overwhelmed Washington (1-5, 0-3 in the Pac-10). Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens went 36 of 48 for 425 yards and four touchdowns. His 36 completions set an Autzen Stadium record before a sellout crowd of 58,269.

The Huskies failed to put together an effective pass rush and Clemens kept the front seven off balance with quick swing passes, by running himself and by running the option out of the shotgun.

Making matters worse for the Washington defense, the already-thin secondary took two early hits.

In the first quarter, cornerback Josh Okoebor went down with a pulled hamstring and safety C.J. Wallace was carted into the locker room with an injured right foot. Wallace returned in the second half, but Okoebor did not. His status is unknown.

“We were not able to control their passing game. It was very disappointing,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “I was very disappointed with our team – not just facets, but the entire team.”

Willingham said he wasn’t displeased with effort, but “in our execution. We didn’t execute on our tackles. We didn’t execute on our blocks.”

Defensive coordinator Kent Baer called the effort a “step back.”

Missed tackles plagued the Huskies.

Baer said the game plan was to force Clemens into throwing underneath the coverage. That worked – his longest throw was for 33 yards. But missed tackles continuously resulted in big plays for the Ducks (6-1, 3-1).

“We made too many mistakes,” Wallace said. “(The loss) is no surprise when we make mistakes. Oregon is very good at fundamentals. We made mistakes like missed tackles, simple stuff that turns big and adds up.”

The Huskies turned Oregon’s second fumble into a 26-yard touchdown strike from Isaiah Stanback to Anthony Russo. It was 7-0 for UW, but from then on it was all Oregon.

Clemens’ first scoring drive? Eight plays, 86 yards in 2:44.

The Ducks’ second scoring drive consisted of 10 plays, 70 yards, 3:40.

Then an 11-play drive that went 82 yards in 2:42 made it 21-7 and it wasn’t halfway through the second quarter.

Oregon racked up 18 first downs to the Huskies’ four in the first half.

When Washington did have chances, it squandered them.

Tackle Wilson Afoa recovered the Ducks’ first fumble at the Oregon 40, but UW couldn’t convert it into points.

“You have to score more when you play a good team and they make mistakes,” Willingham said. “You have to take advantage of that and we didn’t.”

On another first-quarter drive, the Huskies attempted a flea-flicker and Stanback threw a perfect pass down the middle of the field to a streaking Sonny Shackelford. Shackelford got his hands on the ball, but couldn’t bring it in.

“I got a little excited when I got toward the end zone and it just went through my hands,” Shackelford said.

Washington’s offensive line allowed four sacks, including back-to-back sacks by Devan Long late in the first half.

The Huskies appeared to have stopped an Oregon drive with 2:31 remaining in the first half, but Manase Hopoi rolled into the long-snapper on a shanked punt that would have put the Huskies at their own 46. The personal foul for illegal contact with the snapper gave the Ducks a first down.

Halftime couldn’t slow the bleeding.

Washington opened the half with a Stanback interception.

Oregon needed just 2:24 to tack on another TD as Clemens hit Terrence Whitehead with an 11-yard scoring pass.

It was Clemens’ 60th career TD pass and moved him past Joey Harrington into third on Oregon’s all-time list.

The rout was officially on at 28-7.

Stanback had his least productive game of the season going 13 of 26 for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He was often pressured and overthrew receivers on several attempts.

Oregon defensive end Devan Long ate up the weak side of the offensive line and had 21/2 sacks, four tackles for loss and seven total tackles.

The Huskies’ running game stalled before it even arrived, gaining just 28 first-half yards. (They finished with 121 after a strong fourth quarter.)

Washington’s first sustained drive didn’t happen until late in the third quarter and resulted in a 5-yard touchdown reception by tight end Robert Lewis with 10:08 to play, but it hardly mattered at 38-14. The Huskies’ six first downs on that drive surpassed their game total prior to the drive.

Freshman Jonathan Stewart scored his fourth TD in the third quarter.