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Mariota sets records, No. 3 Oregon downs South Dakota

Aug 31, 2014 - 6:48 AM Eugene, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Marcus Mariota threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as the 3rd-ranked Oregon Ducks trounced the South Dakota Coyotes, 62-13, on Saturday.

Mariota went 14-of-20 for 267 yards and ran for 43 yards on six carries. He now has the most career total touchdowns in Oregon history with 82 after entering the game tied with Joey Harrington. Mariota also tied Darron Thomas' school record of 66 career touchdown passes.

Byron Marshall had two touchdowns on eight catches with a game-high 138 receiving yards, while also leading all rushers with 90 yards on eight carries for Oregon (1-0), which won its 10th straight home opener.

Royce Freeman had two rushing touchdowns with 75 yards on 10 carries, Kenny Bassett added a rushing TD, Charles Nelson returned a punt for a score and Pharaoh Brown and Dwayne Stanford each had a receiving touchdown in the win.

South Dakota quarterback Kevin Earl completed 13 of his 26 passes for 136 yards, while Trevor Bouma scored the Coyotes'(0-1) lone touchdown.

Oregon wasted no time getting on the board. Mairota threw a bomb to Stanford over the middle for a 62-yard touchdown and Taylor Alie ran the ball in on the two-point conversion less than two minutes into the game.

Miles Bergner answered back for South Dakota on its next drive with a 47-yard field goal.

Thomas Tyner and Mariota each had consecutive 11-yard rushes before Mariota connected with Marshall on a 41-yard strike down the sideline for a 14-3 lead. Alie failed to convert the 2-point try after Mariota's pass was incomplete.

Darren Carrington's 34-yard catch placed the Ducks on South Dakota's 1 and Freeman plunged into the end zone to cap an 11-play, 97-yard drive.

Bergner tacked on a 25-yard field goal for the Coyotes to make it a 21-6 game.

The Ducks responded with two straight touchdowns. Freeman carried the ball and broke free on the outside down the right sideline for a 26-yard touchdown. Mariota then stepped up in the pocket and moved to his left, finding Marshall from 11 yards away for a 35-6 advantage.

South Dakota scored on its next drive. Jasper Sanders found a hole and raced to Oregon's 30 for a 45-yard gain and later rushed for 16 more yards before Bouma found the end zone on a 3-yard scurry.

Mariota took it in from a yard out to cap a quick 10-play, 76-yard drive that lasted just 82 seconds and gave the Ducks a commanding 41-13 lead going into the half.

Both teams couldn't get anything going on their initial drives coming out of the break. Nelson returned South Dakota's punt for a quick 50-yard touchdown.

Jeff Lockie took over at quarterback and led the Ducks down the field on a solid drive, culminating with a 4-yard TD catch from Brown and a 55-13 score.

Bassett's 9-yard rushing touchdown with 9:21 remaining accounted for the final score.

Game Notes

It was the first meeting between the two schools ... Mariota has thrown at least one touchdown pass in each of his 27 games. The streak is second-longest in the nation behind Marshall's Rakeem Cato (32) ... South Dakota played a member of the Pac-12 Conference for the first time ever ... Oregon accumulated 673 total yards compared to South Dakota's 370.