Dante Pettis & Huskies Run Past Oregon State – Oregon Wins but still Lose

To borrow a commonly used phrase: the University of Oregon Ducks proved last Saturday that tough times don’t last, but tough teams do.

Despite seeing their top two quarterbacks being knocked out of the game due to injury, and also losing their best player on offense (senior running back Royce Freeman), they still outscored the University of California Golden Bears by a 21-10 margin in the fourth quarter of the game, en route to a 45-24 game.

The Ducks took the second half kickoff and went 73 yards on 13 plays, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by senior running back Kani Benoit, giving Oregon a 24-7 lead. But California went on to cut that lead to 24-17 with less than 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Benoit – assuming the starting role in place of the injured Freeman, who was lost in the first quarter to a shoulder injury – then shifted the tide of the game back in favor of Oregon, exploding for a 68-yard touchdown run that put the Ducks back up by 14 points. The Golden Bears fumbled the ball on ensuing drive, giving the Ducks fantastic field position right at California’s three-yard line; junior running back Tony Brooks-James punched in another touchdown run, giving Oregon a commanding 38-17 lead. Oregon responded with one more rushing touchdown – courtesy of freshman running back Darrian Felix – with just over two-and-a-half minutes remaining, to seal the win.

While head coach Willie Taggart will happily take the win, it could come at great cost. Herbert, the promising sophomore who was looking to avenge his double-overtime loss to the Golden Bears last season, will be out for the remainder of the year due to a broken collarbone.

So while the Ducks got a win, it could be pyrrhic in nature. And they’re not going to get one modicum of sympathy from their next opponent — the Washington State University Cougars — who are sitting atop the Pac-12 North standings with a 5-0 record, after defeating the Trojans of USC on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, if you’re a football fan in Corvallis, and happened to feel a stiff breeze run past you, that might not be the first cool wind of the Fall season. Instead, it might’ve been wide receiver Dante Pettis of the University of Washington running right past you – and the rest of the Oregon State University football team – en route to another touchdown.

The senior Huskies wide receiver had 12 catches for 105 yards and three touchdown catches against Oregon State University, helping lead Washington to a 42-7 thrashing of the Beavers.

Junior quarterback Jake Browning continued his torment of Oregon State, throwing for 294 yards and three touchdowns; in his three years at the University of Washington, he’s averaged just a tick under 300 yards passing and three touchdown passes anytime his team plays the Beavers.

Oregon State maintained a faint glimmer of hope for an epic upset through the first half of the game, limiting Washington to only 214 yards of total offense, and a meager 7-0 halftime lead. But Washington stepped their collective feet on the gas pedal – as well as the throats of the Beavers – in the second half, scoring touchdowns on five of their seven second-half possessions; the other two drives ended in an interception, and the Huskies kneeling on the ball to end the game.

Finding any noteworthy individual performer in the game for Oregon State seems a bit difficult, considering the Huskies held the Beavers to less than 200 yards of total offense. Junior running back Ryan Nall accounted for basically one third of the team’s production, with a combined 62 yards in the game (44 receiving and 18 rushing).

It’s “out of the frying pan and into the fryer” for Oregon State, as they go from hosting the Hukies in Corvallis to visiting the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, to take on USC next Saturday.