Ducks Pound 23rd Ranked South Florida into Submission During Sun Bowl

Four different receivers caught touchdown passes for Oregon, and both Walter Thurmond and Michael DiVincenzo returned interceptions for touchdowns.

Salem-News.com

EL PASO, Tx. - Jonathan Stewart's rush for a career-high 253 yards meant two touchdowns, and Justin Roper threw four touchdown passes as Oregon let 23rd-ranked South Florida have it today during the Sun Bowl where they finished they dominated the game and finished with a score of 56-21.

Justin Roper was playing in the place of Dennis Dixon, the team's injured signal-caller. He completed 17-of-30 passes for 180 yards. Stewart carried 23 times with the Ducks racking up 534 yards as they set a Sun Bowl point record.

The Associated Press reports that Oregon made it look easy against the Bulls (9-4), who many say carried one of the best defenses in the nation. Much of it is attributed to Roper, a redshirt freshman, and Stewart who is known as smooth a very smooth runner.

This was the Ducks first win since losing quarterback Dennis Dixon who suffered a knee injury last November. It was the end of a three-game losing streak that dashed their hopes for a national title.

Four different receivers caught touchdown passes for Oregon, and both Walter Thurmond and Michael DiVincenzo returned interceptions for touchdowns.

The Register Guard reported that the Ducks mixed it up early, "running misdirection and counter run and pass plays and established Jonathan Stewart, the other advantage of the spread offense. The game was won on first down. The Ducks averaged 6.5 per play in the first half and 7.8 in the second half and were often in short yardage situations. The third down conversion rate, which had slipped from around 50 percent with Dixon to 28 percent at the end of the season, was 8-of-14; quite an achievement considering South Florida entered the game sixth in the nation, allowing only 28 percent conversion of third downs."

As far as South Florida goes, they say quarterback Matt Grothe made structured plays in the first half for the Bulls, "but many were on long yardage situations."

The Bulls lost two yards on ten first down rush attempts in the first half and wasn’t much better, seven for 19 yards in the second. At the end, the Bulls were only 4-of-14 on third down conversions.

Oregon, which began the season 8-1, was ranked as high as number two in the nation before the loss of Dixon. It only got worse from there, as the Ducks fell from the possiblity of BCS and Pac-10 title contention. The stomping of South Florida is a good turn of events for the Ducks.

The game featured a Sun Bowl-record 21 penalties for a total of 202 yards, a mark the two teams achieved before halftime; USF was penalized eight times for 65 yards, while the Ducks drew 13 flags for 137 yards. South Florida had a total of five turnovers, four on interceptions. They actually dominated the time of possession battle, with control of the ball for almost 35 minutes.

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