The only wounded duck around on Saturday night, after Utah's third straight football loss, was the
Champion Air charter plane that was supposed to wing the Utes home, where they could pick out their buckshot and start checking their films to see how this one got away from them.The plane was still in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and it needed to be fixed, and it would probably take five or six hours to get to Eugene. That's not what the Utes, who had checked out of their hotel rooms before the game, wanted to hear an hour after the Oregon Ducks had shot them down 31-13 at Autzen Field.
Utah coach Ron McBride was just finishing up his comments to the media when special teams coach Sean McNabb pulled him aside to tell him the plane was elsewhere.
McBride was actually in surprisingly good spirits even after that bomb. His team had competed hard on offense, something that hasn't happened in a couple of weeks.
The defense had trouble containing Oregon, but Utah's is not the only defense that has been blind-sided by the Ducks. They averaged 400.3 total-offense yards and 29.3 points per game in their first six, four of those games against Pac-10 teams and three of them against that league's top teams - UCLA, Washington State and Stanford.
"If you don't play well and get beat, that's not acceptable," said McBride, thinking of Utah's last two losses against teams it should have beaten. The Utes were underdogs in this one, even though Oregon had the longer losing streak, but they gave an effort and improved in some places. "I was a lot more down last week," McBride said.
In fact, he told the Utes, "I don't mind being in this situation (3-4 overall, 2-2 in the WAC). It's a test. You see what you're made of. That's what life is about."
"We competed this week," said Ute running back Juan Johnson, who started and had his second-best career rushing day with 190 yards on 32 carries and Utah's only touchdown of the game to put the visitors up 7-3. "You don't like to lose, but if you played hard, it makes it better."
Johnson stepped through enormous holes created by a patchwork line that started two freshmen (center Steve Mc-Kane, in his second outing; left guard Sam White, in his debut). "It all starts with them," Johnson said of the line. "I had some huge holes."
Johnson gained 92 yards in the first quarter, breaking off 22- and 28-yarders.
Most of his runs came on traps and plays between the tackles that went straight upfield, or nearly so. "That's maybe a little more what we're like," said McBride, noting that Utah made changes in its offensive plan for this game.
Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, who missed most of the last two games with an ankle sprain, carried five times for 35 yards in a backup role. Receiver Daniel Jones missed his second game with an ankle sprain.
So why were the Utes that far behind at the end?
"If it wasn't one thing, it was another," said Ute quarterback Jonathan Crosswhite, noting that the Utes, after making first downs on three of their first five third-down situations, finished 9-for-20 in the game, 0-for-3 on fourth downs.
Meanwhile, Oregon's offensive game was impressively structured to take advantage wherever Utah was weak. Duck tight end Blake Spence, breaking out of a three-year backup role this season in a big way, was 20 yards shy of the Oregon single-game receiving-yardage record. He bettered Utah's best weapon (Johnson) with six catches worth 214 yards and a TD.
Asked how Spence got open time after time, Ute linebacker Phil Glover said, "I have no idea. We let up a lot of big plays."
McBride said Utah changed free safeties because Kimball Chris-tianson, a freshman, was concerned about his twin brother, Howard, who was injured this week and couldn't play. "Twins feel everything the other one does," McBride said. Veteran DBs made mistakes, too.
It may have been more that Oregon called a masterful game."We thought going in that (we could use) deep crossing routes by our tight ends," said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti. "Utah had some openings in their coverage on the drop-back and in the play-action. It worked out very well. In fact, I think we should have gone to it a little bit more."
Bellotti said the Ducks were trying to get Spence the record yardage on the game's final drive but couldn't do it.
Spence's best play was the games's first play from scrimmage - a 56-yard reception from Eric Maas, who quarterbacked all the way instead of alternating as usual with Akili Smith because Smith was out with a shoulder injury. Spence broke straight upfield and angled right, and a Ute defender slipped before Christianson could run the Duck tight end down at the Ute 17. From there, Utah's defense held and forced a 30-yard field goal instead of giving up a touchdown.
OK, regroup.
Oregon started its second possession with a Ute 15-yard face-masking penalty on a punt return, and, on first down from the Oregon 40, Spence was suddenly wide open underneath the coverage for a 37-yard reception. This time, Utah held for three plays and forced a 34-yard field goal attempt that went wide left.
Utah took over and, minutes later, Johnson scored standing up - giving Utah its first lead (7-3) since its first drive at Fresno State three weeks earlier.
Spence started Oregon's third possession with a 25-yard reception, but that drive ended in a punt.
Then four big penalties against the Utes had a hand in two Oregon touchdown drives. Utah quarterback Jonathan Crosswhite - who grew up nearby and dreamed all his life of being a Duck QB - was sacked and the Utes were called for a 15-yard face-mask penalty, killing that drive. On third-and-7, Oregon tried a bomb, which fell incomplete, but Ryan Akina was called for roughing the passer. McBride said Maas pulled Akina into him by the facemask.
Two plays later, on second-and-10, Maas threw long down the left sideline. Utah's Teneil Etheridge had to catch up to the receiver but nearly intercepted. He was called for pass interference. Five more plays, and Oregon was up for good, 10-7. Roughing-the-passer on a third-and-7 incompletion kept Oregon's next drive alive for a second TD and 17-7 lead.
"Foolish penalties break your back," said Glover. "Whether they were good or bad (calls) doesn't matter. You've got to be able to work through them."
Ute kicker Tommy Truhe made 42- and 31-yard field goals on Utah's last two drives of the half to leave things at 17-13, but Spence capped a second-half drive with a 39-yard TD reception, and a Cross-white interception led to a second third-quarter TD for Oregon, the final scoring of the game.
"We kind of came out (for the second half) a little bit softer than I thought we would," said Cross-white, who completed 21 of 42 passes for 196 yards, with two interceptions and no TDs.