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After bye, Oregon visits Arizona State

Sep 26, 2006 - 10:43 PM No. 14 Oregon (3-0) at Arizona St (3-1), 3:30 pm EDT

TEMPE, Arizona (Ticker) - Oregon had last week off. Arizona State only wishes it did.

The 14th-ranked Ducks hope to post a road victory over the Sun Devils for a second straight year when the Pac-10 Conference rivals meet Saturday.

Aided by a controversial recovery of an onside kick, Oregon scored twice in the final 72 seconds to stun Oklahoma at home two weeks ago, 34-33.

Dennis Dixon connected on a go-ahead 23-yard pass with Brian Paysinger with 46 seconds left following the kick recovery, and Ducks linebacker Blair Phillips blocked Garrett Hartley's last-second field goal to cap the stunning victory.

Oregon (3-0, 1-0 Pac-10) is 11-1 following bye weeks under coach Mike Bellotti, winning 10 straight since a 33-14 loss to Washington in 1996.

While Oregon had a week off to rest, Arizona State was thumped at California, 49-21.

The Sun Devils (3-1, 0-1) took a 7-0 lead after Ryan Torain capped the opening drive with a nine-yard run, but the Golden Bears responded with 35 straight points.

Torain's career-best 191-yard effort was a bright spot for Arizona State, which received a terrible performance from Rudy Carpenter. The quarterback completed just 16-of-36 passes for 177 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions - two of which were returned for touchdowns.

"Rudy is carrying the ball too low," ASU coach Dirk Koetter said. "When he scrambles, he is dropping the ball out of his left hand. He is throwing off his back foot. He has been there before, he'll get it back. It's not like he's never had fundamentals. He has picked up a couple of bad habits trying to make big plays. We just have to get back to solid mechanics."

Arizona State had won the previous three meetings before coming up short here last year, 31-17.