For the high flying Oregon Ducks offense, the last two weeks have featured sluggish first halfs. In their first two conference games against Arizona and Washington State, the Ducks scored a combined 36 points in the first half of the games.
On Saturday night, they scored 35 in the first half.
Slow starts? What slow starts?
The Ducks (6-0, 3-0 in Pac 12 North) took advantage of two turnovers by the Huskies (3-2, 1-1 in Pac 12 North) to help build their 35-7 halftime lead to help Oregon cruise to a 52-21 victory at home.
Marcus Mariota threw four touchdown passes, two to tight end Colt Lyerla, and Kenjon Barner rushed for 122 yards on six carries.
Washington's running back Bishop Sankee went over 100 yards as well, ripping off 25 carries for 104 yards and two touchdowns. But the rest of the offense did not fare so well.
Quarterback Keith Price threw two interceptions and only completed 19 of 31 passes for 147 yards. The two interceptions by Price were two of the five turnovers that the Huskies committed. The Huskies also committed eight penalties for 102 yards, which never helps the cause when you are trying to come back from a large deficit.
The Ducks only have two home games the rest of the regular season, so if they are going to maintain their perch in the Pac-12 and BCS title game races, they will have to face tricky road games going forward in the second half of the season.
The Huskies managed to split against the two preseason front runners for the North Division title, with a game remaining against upstart Oregon State later this month in Seattle.
Oregon travels to Tempe to face Arizona State on Thursday, October 18. Washington hosts USC next Saturday night.
