EUGENE, Ore., — No. 22 Arizona’s undefeated start came to a screeching hault at the hands of No. 3 Oregon, as the Ducks shut down quarterback Matt Scott and the Wildcats to win 49-0.
The game didn’t include the expected high flying offenses, as Arizona recorded 332 total yards, Oregon 495. The Ducks total was padded by a few big plays in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.
“Obviously that one hurts,” safety Marquis Flowers said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow but we’re gonna get better and move on.”
It was the first time Arizona has been shutout since its 33-0 loss to No. 22 Nebraska in the 2009 Holiday Bowl.
Scott came into the game with the fourth most yards in the nation, but the redshirt senior wound up having arguably the worst performance of his college career.
On the senior’s first interception of the night, a red zone pick at the Oregon 11-yard-line, Scott hurt his hip and missed the offenses next three plays.
After returning, Scott threw two more interceptions and finished the game 22-for-44 for 195 yards passing.
“He had a lot of courage,” Rodriguez said about Scott. “He came back and battled so I give him a lot of credit.
“Was he as sharp as the other games? No. But I think they had something to do with that.”
With Scott struggling, the offense as a whole couldn’t get anything in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Autzen Stadium of 58,334 people.
Even though final score might not reflect it, the Arizona defense performed fairly well against a prolific Oregon offense. The Wildcats forced three turnovers and held the Ducks to just 13 points in the first half.
“They played great,” Scott said about the defense. “They were the only reason why we were still in the game, that’s all I can say really. They played great and offense didn’t finish drives.”
Arizona went 0-for-6 in its redzone trips, with Scott throwing two interceptions and the special teams messing up two field goal tries.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez said it wasn’t a tale of two halves, with the score to 13-0 at the break, but rather a tale of four bad quarters.
“It’s just disappointing we didn’t execute better and I have to do a better job of giving our offensive guys opportunities to execute better, especially in the red zone,” Rodriguez said. “You can’t afford to do that against anybody, let alone Oregon.”
The Wildcats couldn’t establish a running game either, as Ka’Deem Carey was held to just 10 yards in the first half. Carey finished the game with 76 yards but most of it came with the game out of reach. Arizona’s other back, junior Daniel Jenkins, had just four yards on three carries.
“It was difficult to establish the run because [Scott] got banged up a bit early… but its no excuse,” Jenkins said. “We didn’t execute tonight and that led to the final score.”
The score was still close at 13-0 in the middle of the third quarter until Heisman candidate running back De’Anthony Thomas returned a Kyle Dugandzic punt 38 yards, injecting life into Autzen Stadium on a rainy Saturday night.
Quarterback Marcus Mariota hit receiver Colt Lyerla for 35 yards on the next play and two short rushes later the Ducks scored to go up 21-0 and essentially put the dagger in the Wildcats.
At times, Mariota looked like a redshirt freshman, but he finished the game 20-for-35 for 262 yards with two touchdowns and pick.
“He did what he had to do,” Flowers said. “He’s gonna be a great player, you gotta tip your hat off to him.”
After Lyerla scored, the game spiraled out of control for the Wildcats. Both Scott and backup quarterback B.J. Denker threw pick-six interceptions in the fourth quarter, while Mariota hit receiver Bralon Addison for a 55-yard score late in the third.
“Obviously that hurts when you look at the scoreboard,” Flowers said. “It doesn’t matter if its representative or not that’s [the score] everyones gonna look at. It hurts, I wish it woulda came out different.”
