In one of the most anticipated match-ups of the season, the third-ranked Oregon Ducks played host to the seventh-ranked Michigan State Spartans. Led by star quarterback Marcus Mariota, who bypassed the NFL Draft to return for his redshirt sophomore season, the Ducks rallied from a nine-point second half deficit to defeat the Spartans 46-27.
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Mariota was the star, putting the Ducks on his back. He completed 17-of-28 passes for 318 yards with three touchdowns and rushed for another 42 yards. Spartans’ quarterback Connor Cook completed 29-of-47 passes for 343 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
After the teams traded two stops, the Spartans drove from their own 12-yard line to the Ducks’ 38. On third down, Cook dropped back to pass and clearly made a terrible read – he was picked off by Erik Dargan and Dargan returned the interception 36 yards to the Spartans’ 39-yard line.
The Ducks took advantage, scoring one-yard, fourth down run by Thomas Tyner, which was followed by a two-point conversion to make the score 8-0.
After forcing another Spartans’ punt, the Ducks added a field goal, making it 11-0.
The Spartans responded exactly the way they needed to – they marched 76 yards on eight plays and Langford rushed 16 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 11-7. It only took the Ducks two plays to answer – Mariota found Devon Allen for a 70-yard score to push the lead back to 11.
However, that’s when the Spartans took over. On the ensuing drive, Michael Geiger knocked down a 34-yard field goal. The Spartans then forced two consecutive Ducks’ three-and-outs and scored touchdowns on both possessions. Cook found Tony Lippett for a seven-yard touchdown and on the next possession, he hit Josiah Price for another seven-yard score, giving them a 24-18 lead at the break.
The Spartans added a field goal on their opening drive of the second half but the Ducks answered with a a second touchdown from Mariota to Allen, this time from 24 yards out. After another stop, Mariota threw his third touchdown of the game, a 37-yard toss to Keanon Lowe. After another stop by the Ducks, Royce Freeman broke free for a 38-yard touchdown, pushing the lead to 39-27 41 seconds into the fourth quarter. The Spartans got into Ducks’ territory on each of their next two possessions, but they were stopped on a fourth-and-two run by Langford (the Ducks limited Langford to 86 yards on 24 carries) and on the following drive, Cook had his pass picked off by All-American cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu.
The Ducks added another touchdown from Freeman, who finished with 89 yards on 13 carries, this time from 14 yards out to make up the final score, 46-27.
The Ducks will return to action next Saturday when they host the Wyoming Cowboys while the Spartans will host the Eastern Michigan Eagles on September 20.