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Saturday, Sep. 18 5:00pm ET
Oregon 72, Nevada 10 | |||||
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BOX SCORE
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) _ If it hadn't been for a broken leg last season, Reuben Droughns might have added a school record for Oregon on a day of near records for the Ducks. Droughns scored three touchdowns as he passed the 1,000-yard mark for career rushing in a 72-10 win over Nevada on Saturday, carrying 18 times for 110 yards. "This game will give us confidence, but that still wasn't a Pac-10 team," Droughn said as the Ducks ended their nonconference season at 2-and-1. Running back Herman Ho-Ching and wide receiver Marshaun Tucker added two touchdowns apiece, Jason Cooper ran a kickoff 99 yards to score for the second-longest return in school history, and Nathan Villegas tied his career record with a 49-yard field goal and tied the school record for consecutive extra points at 74 before missing his first ever for the Ducks. Oregon never trailed, and had to punt only once, with less than six minutes to play. The Ducks broke their home record for points set last year in a 63-28 win over Stanford. But the school record set in a 97-0 win over Willamette in 1916 still stands. "Overall, I've got to be pleased," said coach Mike Bellotti. It was also a near-record for Droughns, who almost replaced Ahmad Rashad in the Oregon record books. He passed the 1,000-yard career rushing mark in 158 carries in just eight games, better than Ahmad Rashad did in 1971 when he passed 1,000 yards with 169 carries in eight games. But Droughns passed the milestone over two seasons, sitting out most of 1998 with a broken leg. Bellotti said his Ducks did what he had hoped, establishing a strong running game early as Droughns opened the scoring in just five plays by plowing straight ahead from two yards out just 1:30 into the game. "We said that we wanted to start fast and finish strong," Bellotti said. "We tried not to give up the big play and that is what we preached all week long." Oregon quarterback A.J. Feeley set up the first touchdown with a 40-yard pass to wide receiver Tony Hartley, who ended up with 83 yards on three receptions and a touchdown of his own. Feeley completed 12 of 17 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns for the Ducks, while backup quarterback Joey Harrington was a perfect 3-for-3, good for 66 yards and a touchdown to Tucker _ who got his first career score. Nevada (0-3) held its own briefly in the first quarter, when quarterback David Neill picked apart the Oregon pass defense. He connected with Trevor Insley on passes of 23, 14, 13 and nine yards in a 50-yard drive over 12 plays that ended with a Nevada field goal to trail 7-3 at 5:08 into the game. But the Wolf Pack (0-3) lost Neill early to a concussion, possibly suffered when he tackled Oregon linebacker Peter Sirmon after an interception late in the first quarter. Neill had thrown for 116 yards before he left, completing 8 of 23, six to Insley. Insley had gone into the game the leading pass receiver in the nation for catches and yards receiving, with 30 receptions and 388 yards. He ended with 14 receptions for 212 yards against the Ducks to lead all receivers. Nevada did not score again after Neill capped a 73-yard, 10-play drive with a 1-yard dive to Chris Lemon that made it 14-10 with 5:16 to play in the first quarter. "They outplayed us the entire football game," said Nevada coach Jeff Tisdel. "Losing David Neill was an unfortunate situation for us, but they deserved the win."
| ALSO SEE College Football Scoreboard Nevada Clubhouse Oregon Clubhouse |