No. 7 Oregon had enough offense to outlast No. 15 USC for a 42-27 Big Ten victory on Saturday afternoon in Eugene, Ore., as the Ducks overcame the most penalty yards against them in two years to stay on track for a College Football Playoff spot.
Oregon (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) got a pair of touchdown catches from tight end Kenyon Sadiq, intercepted USC quarterback Jayden Maiava twice and held Trojans star wide receiver Makai Lemon to 34 receiving yards — though Lemon had two touchdown catches.
The Ducks’ Dante Moore completed 22 of 30 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Maiava finished 25 of 43 for 306 yards with three touchdowns for the Trojans (8-3, 6-2).
Both teams scored touchdowns on trick plays. Lemon threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Tanook Hines in the second quarter to tie the game at 14. Ducks linebacker Bryce Boettcher responded with a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:52 to go until halftime to give Oregon a 28-14 lead at the break.
Boettcher, a Eugene native, defensive starter and a key player on Oregon’s baseball team, played in his final regular-season game at Autzen Stadium.
Points were plentiful as Oregon penalties helped USC sustain drives. Early in the fourth quarter, back-to-back pass interference calls against the Ducks helped USC’s touchdown drive. Maiava found Lake McRee for a nine-yard touchdown pass to make it 35-27 with 11:32 left to play.
But Oregon responded, as it did much of the afternoon after the Trojans tied the game or got within one score. Moore engineered an 11-play, 79-yard drive that ended in Noah Whittington’s nine-yard touchdown run with 5:30 to play.
Whittington carried 19 times for 104 yards as Oregon defeated USC for the sixth time in the past seven meetings. The Ducks ended the day with 11 penalties for 130 yards.
USC got the ball down 42-27 and converted a fourth-and-8 to stay alive as Maiava was chased out of the pocket and completed a deep ball to Ja’Kobi Lane for 32 yards. But when the Trojans faced another fourth down on the same drive, the Ducks got the stop they needed to seal victory when Maiava threw behind Lemon incomplete.
Hines had six catches for 141 yards for USC. The Trojans were held to 52 rushing yards as a team.
