Oregon raises its hopes of winning out

EUGENE, Ore. -- Quarterback Dennis Dixon made enough nifty moves Saturday to help Oregon beat Arizona State and keep the Ducks in the race for the Rose Bowl and maybe more.

The important question after a 35-23 win at Autzen Stadium, though, was: How many moves does Team Eugene have left?

Oregon (8-1) rather easily dispatched of previously undefeated Arizona State (8-1) in a matchup of top-five opponents in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

No. 5 Oregon’s win over No. 4 Arizona State, coupled with No. 2 Boston College’s late-night loss to Florida State, made this a night for Ducks to go dancing.

With less than a month left before the final BCS standings are released, here’s what we know: If Oregon wins out against Arizona, UCLA and Oregon State, the Ducks will win the Pacific 10 Conference championship and play in no worse a bowl than the Rose.

Oregon also inched a few pegs closer to a possible BCS title-game appearance.

Victories against top-10 opponents USC and Arizona State in consecutive weeks have allowed Oregon to all but overcome a home defeat to California on Sept. 29.

Saturday’s sellout crowd at Autzen sensed what was at stake and seemed almost as interested in the out-of-town scores as the in-town numbers.

The crowd even cheered when the public announcer reported Michigan had defeated Michigan State, knowing that makes Oregon’s blowout win at Michigan in September look more impressive.

“Our crowd is very knowledgeable,” Coach Mike Bellotti said afterward. “They know when to cheer, and when to be quiet, and what teams to root for.”

Oregon started the day with four teams ranked ahead of it in the BCS standings.

No. 1 Ohio State trailed Wisconsin in the third quarter before rallying to win.

Oregon fans buzzed when it was announced No. 3 Louisiana State was trailing Alabama, and later groaned when it was learned LSU had rallied to win.

Boston College was still playing Florida State when the Oregon game ended, but Ducks fans were able to cheer an early score that had Boston College trailing.

Later, when Florida State secured the win with a late interception, a few Oregon partisans let out yelps in the press box.

Oregon’s good day had just gotten better; the Ducks were now going to wake up no worse than third in today’s BCS standings. And Dixon might have emerged as the leader in the Heisman Trophy race.

Oregon players were too busy playing a game to worry about all the larger implications, but there would be time for that later.

“You can’t help but watch it,” Ducks left guard Josh Tschirgi said. “Just as long as you’re not counting on other people to do your work for you. The nice thing is it’s within our control.”

Well, at least the Pac-10 race is.

Oregon jumped to a 21-3 second-quarter lead on Arizona State, but that really hasn’t meant much to the Sun Devils this year.

Arizona State had trailed three schools this year by double digits after the first quarter, only to rally to win each time.

Not this time.

Arizona State cut the lead to 21-16 early in the second half on Thomas Weber’s 50-yard field goal, but on Oregon’s next possession tailback Jonathan Stewart ran over two defenders on his way to a 33-yard touchdown. Dixon later connected with Drew Davis on a 19-yard scoring pass on the last play of the third quarter.

“We had a rough time defending their offense,” Arizona State safety Troy Nolan said. “We gave up a lot of big plays, and that’s what hurt us.”

The Ducks got a scare with 13:01 left when Dixon limped off the field after being hit on his left knee after a run.

Worried?

“Well, I mean, yeah,” Stewart said of his teammate. “A lot of thoughts went through my head.”

Dixon did not return to the game, but the injury was not believed to be serious.

Bellotti said Dixon was kept out for precautionary reasons.

Dixon, after the game, said he was fine. He finished with 189 yards passing and 57 yards rushing.

“I did want to come back in,” he said, “but I didn’t want to stress it or jeopardize anything.”

Fortunately for the Dixon and the Ducks, Oregon has an off week before a Nov. 15 game at Arizona.

No one in Eugene between now and then should book passage to the Jan. 7 BCS title game.

Oregon has been through this decimal dash once before, and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

In 2001, the fourth year of the BCS, Oregon finished No. 2 in the writers’ and coaches’ polls yet did not play in the national title game because it finished fourth in the BCS standings behind Miami, Nebraska and Colorado.

The BCS computers penalized Oregon that year for too many close wins.

In response, BCS operators were ordered to remove margin of victory from their formulas or else take their polls and go home -- and some did.

Oregon, for now, can bank only on this: Three more wins and it goes to Pasadena, with a chance to make a longer trip.

“We know if we win out,” Bellotti said, “we’ll have a chance to go to a couple of neat places.”

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