Nov 2, 2002
Eugene, Ore. - Oregon's Jason Fife threw three touchdown passes and ran foranother score Saturday as No. 19 Oregon bounced back from two straight defeatswith a 41-14 win over Stanford.
The Ducks, coming off home losses to Arizona State and Southern California,beat Stanford for just the second time in six tries at Autzen Stadium.
The Cardinal handed Oregon its only loss last season en route to its secondconsecutive Pac-10 title and a No. 2 national ranking.
With the exception of Jason Siegel's field goal with 1:20 left, the Ducks(7-2, 3-2 Pac-10) did all their scoring in the first half - building a 38-7lead by halftime.
Fife opened the scoring with a 1-yard pass to backup tight end Tim Day, thefirst TD of his college career, capping an 11-play, 70-yard drive.
Fife also connected with starting tight end George Wrighster on Oregon'ssecond drive, a 5-yard touchdown pass that Wrighster grabbed with one hand ashe ran toward the corner of the end zone.
The junior quarterback finished with 20 completions on 36 attempts for 254yards and a third TD, a 1-yard pass to fullback Matt Floberg near the end ofthe first half that made it 35-7 Oregon.
Fife also threw one interception on third down deep in his own end zone with13:50 left in the second quarter, picked off by Stanford strong safetyOshiomogho Atogwe and returned 17 yards to set up the first Cardinal touchdownof the game on a 10-yard run by Kenneth Tolon.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kyle Matter drove the Cardinal (2-6, 1-4) 27yards in 5 plays on the scoring drive.
Backup quarterback Ryan Eklund completed the scoring for Stanford when heused up 10-plus minutes and 21 plays on a drive that ended with a 2-yard pass to6-foot-7 receiver Teyo Johnson at the back of the end zone.
Matter was 9-of-19 passing for 71 yards for Stanford. Eklund, who's also6-foot-7, was 3-of-9 for 21 yards and one interception.
Oregon also scored on a 1-yard run by Wrighster, who took a rare turn in thebackfield, and a 1-yard keeper by Fife, both late in the first half. Siegeladded a 32-yard field goal to close the half.
Stanford upset the Ducks 49-42 last year.
By WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press Writer