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Stewart, Ducks run all over Huskies

Oct 21, 2007 - 5:52 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Jonathan Stewart helped beat-up Oregon avoid the trap that has victimized many ranked teams this season.

Stewart ran for a career-high 251 yards on career-high 32 carries and scored twice and Andre Crenshaw scored the go-ahead touchdown as the seventh-ranked Ducks held off upset-minded Washington, 55-34, in a Pac-10 Conference clash on Saturday.

The Ducks, who were playing without injured running back Jeremiah Johnson and receiver Cameron Colvin, moved the ball at will and racked up 665 total yards, including a school-record 465 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

"Calling this a trap game is a disservice to Washington," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said.

"They're a good football team, they work very hard," he said. "They've got a great player at quarterback and they've got some weapons in Louis Rankin and Marcel (Reece). They did some things. We just wore them down with our offense. That's a credit to our guys up front, they did a great job."

Oregon did not miss a beat without Johnson, who tore his Achilles' tendon in last week's 53-7 blowout of Washington State. The Ducks outscored Washington, 24-3, in the fourth quarter.

"It felt good to play that kind of game in front of my family - give them a chance to come and see what it like for me to play college football," Stewart said.

"(It felt) real good. It is a rivalry game, and it just feels good. It feels good any game really, to walk out with a fifty-point performance and win," he said.

Oregon (6-1, 3-1 Pac-10), which had not won in Seattle since November 8, 1997, kept its conference title hopes alive after No. 10 California lost, 30-21, to UCLA earlier in the day.

The Ducks now face their main competition for the Pac-10 title, 14th ranked Southern California.

"We've got USC," Stewart said. "We've got to think about USC and nobody else."

On a day where Vanderbilt shocked No. 6 South Carolina and No. 1 Ohio State survived a scare from Michigan State, Oregon took Washington's best shot and came out on top.

Now Bellotti's team stands to move up significantly in the BCS standings after No. 2 South Florida lost to Rutgers on Thursday night.

"We knew coming in we were facing one heck of a football team," Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said.

"Especially on the offensive side of the ball. It was, for much of the game, a heck of a football game except we were unable to match score for score with them in the end. Good effort, but no victory."

After the Huskies tied the game at 31-31 late in the third quarter, the Ducks opened the fourth quarter with a eight-play, 52-yard drive that was capped by a five-yard run from Crenshaw to take a 38-31 lead with 12:41 left in the fourth.

After Oregon's defense held, Matt Evenson kicked a 47-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 41-31 with 8:21 left.

Ryan Perkins kicked a 42-yard field to pull Washington (2-5, 0-4) within a touchdown, but Willingham curiously opted to attempt an onside kick which the Ducks recovered with six minutes remaining.

Willingham explained his decision saying,"because I wanted to create something to give our team the best chance to win."

Oregon quickly marched down the field, and quarterback Dennis Dixon put the game away by running in from 14 yards out to pad the lead to 48-34 with 4:52 to play. Remene Alston added a five-yard score for the final margin.

The Ducks responded nicely after the Huskies traveled 85 yards in eight plays to tie the game at 24-24 with 12:06 left in the third.

Dixon led a 15-play, 94-yard drive that was capped by a 17-yard touchdown run by Crenshaw on an option play.

Dixon made a beautiful fake to the fullback, who was hammered by a pair of Huskies. Dixon then darted to the right before pitching to Crenshaw at the last second. Crenshaw then scored on the Ducks' longest scoring drive of the season.

However, the feisty Huskies would not go away. Jake Locker, who threw a career-best four scores, finished off a six-play, 59-yard drive by hitting Marcel Reece for a 38-yard score that tied the game again at 31-31 with 1:12 left in the third.

Dixon completed 19-of-30 passes for 196 yards and one score with an interception for Oregon, which has scored 50 or more points in four of its last five games.