Buffs Fall At Oregon, 44-10

EUGENE, Ore. – The Colorado Buffaloes entered Autzen Stadium Saturday looking to play the part of spoiler, but the No. 3 Oregon Ducks and Heisman Trophy candidate Marcus Mariota had other thoughts in mind.

In the end, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Buffaloes, 44-10, to keep their national championship hopes alive. Oregon improves to 10-1 with the win with just the Civil War game at Oregon State remaining while the Buffs fall to 2-9 on the season with Utah visiting Boulder to close out the season next Saturday.

The Buffs, starting backup QB Jordan Gehrke, struggled to produce much on the offensive end, finishing the game with season lows in plays (46) and yards (226), while the Ducks racked up 597 yards on 65 plays.

Gehrke finished the game after the first drive of the second half, completing 9-of-18 passes for 64 yards. Sefo Liufau replaced Gehrke and completed 7-of-14 passes for 41 yards and a TD to Donovan Lee, the Buffs only touchdown of the game.

Mariota completed 24-of-32 passes for 323 yards and 3 scores for the Ducks, and he also ran one score in from 46 yards in the first half. His four touchdowns on the day give him 43 on the season, a new Pac-12 record.

But the Buffs didn't waste any time showing they'd take some chances against the Ducks, opening the game with an on-sides kick. After the ball was kicked and batted around for what seemed like an eternity, Nelson Spruce recovered the ball all the way back where Oliver originally kicked it off at, the CU 35.

The Buffs were forced into a three-and-out, however, in that first drive and after a Darragh O'Neill 46-yard punt, the Ducks took over on their first possession at their 32-yard line.

That drive began with a 21-yard scamper from Devon Allen and ended with a 20-yard touchdown sprint by Royce Freeman as the Ducks drew first blood to take a 6-0 lead after the 2-point conversion attempt failed.

The Buffs then showed some life on their second drive of the game, with Gehrke hitting Tony Jones twice early in the drive for a first down. Phillip Lindsay replaced Jones at tailback and had two first downs of his own, the first an 18-yard reception from Gehrke that put the ball into Oregon territory and the second a 13-yard rush that put the ball into scoring position.

Will Oliver, who had connected on nine straight field goal attempts, one away from Mason Crosby's school record, was wide left on a 46-yard attempt.

The Buffs defense then stepped up and forced a punt after one first down on the next drive. The Buffs were pinned deep, however, the next drive stalled after three plays deep in CU territory, starting at their own 10-yardline.

After O'Neill punted 39 yards to the Oregon 46, the Ducks offense went into high gear as Marcus Mariota broke free and used his speed to run away from the pack for a 46-yard score after Marshall picked up 8 yards on the first two drives of the game. Matt Wogan's PAT made it 13-0 just before the end of the first quarter.

The Buffs got one play off before the end of that quarter, an incomplete pass, and then were forced into a 3-and-out as the second quarter got underway. Back to punt, O'Neill took the snap, waited as long as he could before any Ducks were close to him and booted a 62-yard punt with no chance of return, all the way down to the Oregon 6.

Oregon then embarked on one of its longest drives of the season, an 11-play, 94-yard march, converting two third downs, as Freeman found the end zone for the second time in the game, this time from 7-yards out to put the Ducks up 20-0 after Wogan's PAT.

The Buffs then responded with their longest drive of the half, a 9-play, 66-yard drive that ended with a Will Oliver 23-yard field goal for the Buffs first score, making it 20-3. The Buffs were aided by a pair of Oregon personal fouls, while Gehrke also found Donovan Lee on an 11-yard reception on the drive.

Oregon needed just 1:12 of the remaining 6:18 in the half to find the end zone for the fourth time, this one Mariota throwing his first touchdown of the game to Charles Nelson for 31 yards and after Wogan's PAT, it was 27-3 Oregon with 5:06 left in the half.

The Buffs had their third 3-and-out at the wrong time, taking two minutes off the clock and giving the Ducks another shot before halftime. Oregon used 2:28 of the remaining 3:10 to kick a 25-yard field goal to make the halftime score 30-3. Oregon was 1st-and-G from the CU 10 after a 29-yard Mariota to Darren Charrington pass, but the Buffs defense held.

The Buffs got the ball to open the second half and looked like they'd have a drive going, picking up 46 yards on 8 plays before behind held short on a 4th-and-2. Gehrke scrambled and looked like he extended the ball far enough for a first down, but first stepped out of bounds a yard short. Gehrke did his Spruce on the drive, giving him 100 catches on the season, the first CU player and just sixth in Pac-12 history to reach that plateau.

Oregon looked to be making quick work of its first second-half score, as Freeman ran 27 yards on the drive's first play, and a few plays later Mariota hit Dwayne Stanford for 23 yards to the Buffs 2. The Buffs then put together a goal line stand. Mariota fell down on first down for a loss of 4, picked up 3 on second down and Freeman lost a yard on third down, stopped by Addison Gillam. Mariota was the incomplete out of the back of the end zone on fourth down.

Sophomore Sefo Liufau came into the game for the first time and after Jones picked up a first down out to the 16, it looked promising. Liufau was pressured on first down and then threw two more incompletions on second and third to bring out O'Neill for the punt.

Oregon started its second drive of the second half with 6:00 left in the third quarter and Mariota went to the air, completing 6-of-6 passes for 59 yards, the last 15 yards to Evan Baylis to make the score 37-3 after Wogan's PAT with 3:53 left in the third quarter. Baylis, tight end from Grandview High School in Centennial, Colo., scored his first career touchdown against the Buffs.

The Buffs responded with their first touchdown drive of the game. Lindsay returned the kick to the CU 30 and then the Buffs got 15 more yards after an Oregon penalty. An amazing catch by Kyle Slavin, Liufau's first completion of the game, put the Buffs into Oregon territory and then on the next play Christian Powell broke free for 39 yards down the left sideline to the Ducks 5. Two plays later, Liufau found Donovan Lee in the end zone and Oliver's PAT made it 37-10 Ducks with 1:54 left in the third quarter.

Mariota found Nelson for a 14-yard touchdown as the Ducks again responded quickly, driving 65 yards in just five plays, using all but the remaining 15 seconds of the third quarter.

On the next drive, Liufau found Spruce for the first time of the game, Spruce's second catch, for a first down out to the CU 35 to end the quarter. The drive then stalled and O'Neill had hit second 60-plus yard punt of the game, this one a 61-yarder that pinned the Ducks at their 5 yard line.

After allowing Mariota to have one final snap at Autzen Stadium, the Ducks picked up a few first downs before their drive stalled, and an Ian Wheeler 51-yard punt pinned the Buffs deep at their 13 yard line with 10:48 left in the game.

On the first play of the next drive, Liufau hit Slavin for what appeared to be a 44-yard gain into Oregon territory, but a holding penalty on Stephane Nembot negated it. Three straight runs by Tony Jones, picking up 10 yards, ended that drive.

The Ducks' Johnathan Loyd returned the next O'Neill punt for a touchdown, but it was called back by with a holding penalty and the Buffs held the Ducks to a 3-and-out for the first time, getting the ball back with 6:37 left.

The next Buffs drive was kept alive with a roughing the passer penalty on Oregon, but the Buffs couldn't capitalize as O'Neill's eighth punt went for 41 yards again pinned the Ducks inside its 20 with Oregon taking over at its 19 yard line with 4:33 remaining.

The Ducks would then run the clock out, leaving Autzen Stadium for the final time of the season with National Championship dreams remaining intact.

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Team Stats

Jordan Gehrke

Sefo Liufau

Players Mentioned

Jordan Gehrke

Addison Gillam

Tony Jones

Donovan Lee

Phillip Lindsay

Sefo Liufau

Will Oliver

Christian Powell

Kyle Slavin

Players Mentioned

Jordan Gehrke

Addison Gillam

Tony Jones

Donovan Lee

Phillip Lindsay

Sefo Liufau

Will Oliver

Christian Powell

Kyle Slavin