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Moore, Boise State hold on to upset Oregon

Sep 21, 2008 - 2:14 AM EUGENE, Oregon (Ticker) -- While Oregon clearly has a major problem at quarterback, Boise State obviously has no issues with Kellen Moore.

Playing on the road for the first time, Moore passed for career highs of 386 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday as Boise State staved off a furious rally to hold on for a 37-32 upset of 12th-ranked Oregon.

A perennial power in the Western Athletic Conference, Boise State (3-0) recorded the first road win over a BCS-conference team in school history.

"Coming into this place and getting the victory, it's big," Moore said. "It's only going to get bigger. I think we're really good. But you still gotta take it week to week."

The upset came courtesy of Moore, who finished 24-of-36 and completed passes to 11 different receivers. The redshirt freshman threw TDs of 9, 3, and 73 yards as Boise State opened a 37-13 lead through three quarters.

Oregon (3-1), which was without injured starting quarterback Justin Roper, nearly erased the deficit behind true freshman Darron Thomas, who tossed three fourth-quarter scoring passes.

But the Ducks, who rallied from a 20-3 deficit to beat Purdue in overtime last week, could not repeat the feat in this one.

Thomas capped off a nine-play drive with his 7-yard TD pass to Ed Dickson with 2:07 remaining. But his two-point conversion pass to Jaison Williams fell incomplete, keeping the Ducks' deficit at 37-32.

The Broncos, who entered with an 0-13 all-time road record against BCS conference teams, salted away the victory by running out the clock on their final possession.

"This is big," Boise State coach Chris Petersen said. "I know Oregon had some quarterback issues, and that helped us. But it was great for our guys to hang on and get this done."

Roper, who was named the starter after Nate Costa suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, will be sidelined up to three more weeks with a strained knee ligament.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti was forced to use junior college transfer Jeremiah Masoli, the Ducks' third-string quarterback in the preseason, as his starter for this one.

But Masoli suffered a mild concussion in the first quarter and did not return, forcing the Ducks to turn to true freshman Chris Harper. However, Harper also was ineffective well into the second half, so Bellotti replaced him with Thomas - a move he admitted should have been made earlier.

"We were probably too stubborn offensively," Bellotti said. "I should've made the call earlier to get (Thomas) into the game."

Thomas completed 13-of-25 attempts for 210 yards while Dickson finished with seven catches for 103 yards and two TDs. But Oregon's late rally was not enough to battle back against Boise State, which finished with 424 yards of total offense.

Jeremy Childs had four catches for 100 yards. Vinny Perretta hauled in three catches, including a 73-yard scoring strike, for the Broncos, who improved to 3-11 all-time against teams from the Pac-10 Conference.

Facing a 6-0 deficit, Boise State closed out the first half with 24 consecutive points. Oregon narrowed the gap to 24-13 on Jeremiah Johnson's 18-yard TD run early in the third quarter, but the Broncos tacked on 13 more points to pull away.

Boise State went ahead, 31-13, on Perretta's 73-yard TD catch. The Broncos entered the fourth quarter with a 37-13 bulge thanks to a pair of field goals from Kyle Brotzman.