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Oregon cruises past Washington State

Oct 20, 2013 - 7:49 AM Eugene, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Oregon sure looked pretty in pink.

Marcus Mariota threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score in the second-ranked Ducks' 62-38 win over Washington State.

The Ducks wore pink helmets, cleats and socks for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Oregon overcame the excessive passing of the Cougars' Connor Halliday, who threw for 557 yards and four touchdowns to go with four interceptions on 58- of-89 passing. His pass attempts broke the FBS record of 83 set by Drew Brees in October of 1998.

"That was pretty cool to be able to do that," Halliday said. "I knew going in, on about Monday of last week, that we were going to throw it a lot. Nobody ever thinks 89 is going to be the number."

Mariota was 23-of-32 passing and added 67 yards on the ground on eight totes for Oregon (7-0, 4-0 Pac-12), which amassed 719 yards of total offense.

"The guys really rallied after halftime, and were able to come out and get things rolling again," Mariota said.

Byron Marshall carried the ball 21 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns, while Thomas Tyner had 99 yards rushing and a pair of scores on seven rushes in the triumph.

The Ducks remained without explosive running back De'Anthony Thomas, who missed his third straight game due to a right ankle injury.

Gabe Marks had 13 receptions for 143 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars (4-4, 2-3), who have dropped three of their last four games.

Oregon led 34-24 at the break, but tallied the first 28 points of the second half to turn the game into a rout.

Mariota hit Keanon Lowe for a 10-yard score on the Ducks' initial drive of the half and after Avery Patterson picked off Halliday, Marshall ran for a 30-yard TD to make it 48-24.

Mariota fired a 17-yard TD pass to Josh Huff early in the fourth and Terrance Mitchell returned a Halliday interception 51 yards for a score and a 62-24 Ducks lead.

Halliday tossed two late TD passes to end the scoring.

Earlier, Mariota broke off a 57-yard TD run on the Ducks' first possesion of the contest -- the two-point conversion was unsuccessful -- and Marshall plunged in from a yard out midway through the first to stake the hosts a 13-0 spread.

The Cougars answered with Halliday's 11-yard TD pass to Dominique Williams, but the Ducks drove right back down the field and Marshall capped off the brisk 4-play, 79-yard trek with a 26-yard TD run.

Tyner's 1-yard TD run early in the second made it 27-7.

Halliday completed a 12-yard TD pass to River Cracraft before Darryl Monroe strip-sacked Mariota on the second play of Oregon's ensuing sequence. Xavier Cooper picked up the ball and ran in for a 29-yard score to whittle to deficit to 27-21.

Tyner exploded for a 66-yard TD scamper three snaps later and Andrew Furney's 49-yard field goal as the first half expired pulled Washington State within 10.

Game Notes

Halliday's 58 completions tied former Eastern Michigan Andy Schmitt's FBS mark against Central Michigan on Nov. 28, 2008 ... Oregon was 3-of-10 on third down, while the Cougars were 5-of-15 in those situations.