EUGENE, Ore. — With all the buzz surrounding Saturday's game against USC, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore did his best all week to keep the Ducks focused.
Moore threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns as No. 6 Oregon likely dashed No. 16 Southern California's hopes of making the College Football Playoff with a 42-27 victory Saturday.
Kenyon Sadiq had six catches for 72 yards and two scores, and Noah Whittington ran for 104 yards and another touchdown for the Ducks (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten, No. 7 CFP), who improved their chances of not only making the playoff but also hosting a game.
The rankings, the stakes, senior day at Autzen Stadium and ESPN's “College GameDay” on hand — it all brought added attention to the game.
“At the end of the day, I kind of just kept telling the team it was going to be an emotional game, because it was senior night, but also you can't let emotions take over because with the emotions come negativity. So it's been a lot within this game,” Moore said. “But I feel like we pushed out ourselves Monday through Friday to get the result we wanted.”
Jayden Maiava threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns, including a pair to Makai Lemon, who also threw a touchdown pass for USC (8-3, 6-2, No. 15 CFP).
USC hasn’t won in Eugene since 2011 and the Trojans have lost four straight to the Ducks overall. Once again, the Trojans fell short on the road against a ranked opponent, with previous losses this season to Illinois and Notre Dame.
“We're disappointed, didn't play our best. We had some penalties that we haven't been having that showed up and definitely hurt us,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “We were gutsy, made a lot of plays, but in the end we were just a couple of plays short.”
USC scored on the first series of the game on Maiava's 8-yard pass to Lemon, who sprinted just inside the pylon for the touchdown. Lemon was ranked second in the nation with an average of 109 yards receiving per game coming in.
The Ducks answered on the next drive with freshman Jordon Davison's 11-yard touchdown run, then extended the lead on Sadiq's 8-yard TD catch deep in the end zone.
USC tied it at 14 early in the second quarter when Maiava tossed the ball backward to Lemon, who hurled it downfield to Tanook Hines for a 24-yard touchdown. Lemon became the first Trojans receiver to throw a TD pass since Tyler Vaughns against Arizona State in 2018.
Malik Benson ran 85 yards to score on a punt return to put Oregon back in front.
Late in the first half, Atticus Sappington's 44-yard field-goal attempt for Oregon hit the goal post, but USC was flagged for a penalty on the play. The Ducks were given a first down, which led to Bryce Boettcher's 1-yard touchdown dive that put Oregon in front 28-14 at the break.
The Trojans closed the gap midway through the third quarter on Maiava's 4-yard scoring pass to Lemon. But before the period was over, Moore connected with Sadiq again on a 28-yard touchdown.
The Trojans, aided by back-to-back pass interference calls against the Ducks, got within 35-27 on Maiava's 9-yard touchdown pass to Lake McRee, but the 2-point conversion try failed.
Oregon came back on the next drive with Whittington's 9-yard dash into the end zone that sealed it.
“We know they were going to throw some punches, right?” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said about the back-and-forth nature of the game. “That's an explosive offense. They hit some big plays on us. I was really pleased with the guys being able to hit the reset button and saying, `Let's go again.'”
The Ducks remained without receivers Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr. because of injuries. The Trojans were also short-handed without injured safeties Kamari Ramsey and Bishop Fitzgerald, and tackle Elijah Page.
The takeaway
With a loss to Indiana this season, there was no margin for error for the Ducks. Lose to USC, and Oregon was likely out of the playoff — and its slim chances at a second straight Big Ten title would also vanish. But the Ducks still need to beat Washington next weekend in Seattle.
For USC, Riley stressed it wasn't over: “We've got a game next week. We've won a bunch of good games this year. The ones we haven't won, we've been right there. We've got a great opportunity to go get win No. 9 this week and that's where our focus is.”
Up next
Southern California hosts crosstown rival UCLA on Saturday.
Oregon visits rival Washington next Saturday in Seattle.
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