No. 2 Oregon overcame 89 pass attempts by Washington State’s Connor Halliday to beat the Cougars, 62-38, on Saturday night in Eugene.
The two teams combined for 1,275 yards of total offense, with Oregon piling up 719 yards on its own.
WSU actually gave the Ducks a battle early on, closing to within 34-24 at the half. But Oregon scored 28 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters to put the game out of reach.
Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota had another great game, throwing for 327 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 67 yards and a score. Tailback Byron Marshall rushed for a career-high 192 yards and three scores, while freshman Thomas Tyner broke loose for 99 yards and two scores on seven carries.
Much of the second half was logged keeping track of the ever-increasing pass attempts by Halliday. The junior broke the FBS record of 83 attempts set by one Drew Brees in 1998. He completed 58 of those passes for 557 yards and four touchdowns, but he also had four costly interceptions, one of which was returned for a score.
Oregon has now scored at least 50 points in six of its seven games this season. The Ducks will hit the tough part of their schedule next, with UCLA and Stanford coming up. If they can get by that gauntlet, they could end up making their second trip to the BCS title game in the last four years.
