Burnin' down the House.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Take a moment, now. Wipe the sleep from your eyes, and have a sip of coffee.

Yes, it really happened: Oregon went into the Big House and crushed the home team. That 39-7 pounding you celebrated Saturday is now a piece of history. And you're right. It was far from a perfect game by the Ducks, yet they still ran roughshod over mighty Michigan before the most fans Oregon has ever played in front of, 109,733 at Michigan Stadium.

"We didn't take advantage of everything, in all honesty," said UO coach Mike Bellotti, whose 2-0 Ducks seem all but certain of entering the top 25 after No. 22 Boise State's loss to Washington. "I think that we could have got on them worse."

If the performance had flaws, the script was perfect. The legs of Dennis Dixon helped soften the Michigan defense and allowed for some of the most exciting offense Oregon has played in years. The Ducks used variations of the Statue of Liberty play on two scoring drives, and had three touchdown passes of at least 46 yards.

That the offense finally lost a turnover and finally committed a penalty, the latter wiping out an early touchdown when momentum was still in question, could be overlooked.

"They followed the plan, they believe in everything we're coaching out there, and it's exciting," UO offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said. "Because I think we can get better."

There were big plays on defense, too - four more takeaways and four sacks. If the 159 rushing yards allowed by halftime kept alive the notion that Oregon is suspect against the run, the Ducks at least proved opportunistic.

They took the ball away, and made plays on third down. When the Wolverines were down by double digits and forced to throw with their backup quarterback, the UO secondary lived up to its sterling reputation.

Things might have been different had Michigan quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart not been injured, to be sure. Hart went for 124 yards in the first half. But the 3.3 yards per carry allowed by the Ducks were about half of what they surrendered a week earlier.

"We know the Big Ten and how they feel about the Pac-10 coming into their stadiums and playing," said UO defensive end Nick Reed, who stacked up Hart three times on runs of a yard or less. "They think we're a passing-type offense, and they were going to show our defense how to run the ball. ... I like to pass rush, that's kind of my thing, and I kind of put that as a secondary and played more on the run. I feel that's how a lot of people played it today."

Even the special teams were inconsistent, with two missed field goals. Still, Oregon nearly set a record for total offense in one of the nation's most storied college football stadiums, and quite easily could have set a record for margin of victory by an opponent.

It's hard to believe the Ducks actually trailed on this day. But they did, despite an interception that ended Michigan's opening drive. A false-start penalty on Jaison Williams erased a Jonathan Stewart touchdown and forced Oregon to kick a field goal. Adrian Arrington made an acrobatic touchdown grab in the back of the end zone four minutes later, and suddenly Michigan was looking nothing like the team that lost to former unknown Appalachian State a week prior.

And then, just like that, the Wolverines showed that yes, they were. Dixon found Brian Paysinger for an 85-yard touchdown, and the Ducks had the lead for good. In the second quarter, the Ducks used the Statue of Liberty - think Boise State's game-winning two-point conversion in last season's Fiesta Bowl - for a 14-yard run by Stewart, a drive he capped with his first touchdown of the season.

The Ducks pulled out the Statue of Liberty again to go up 25-7, but this time Dixon kept the ball, waited for the Wolverines to commit to the running back and then ran untouched for a score. A one-play drive - Dixon's 61-yard pass to Derrick Jones - made up Oregon's next possession.

By the time Williams made amends for the penalty and several drops with a 46-yard touchdown in the second half, it was easy to picture Kelly handing his playbook to an assistant because he had become bored at toying with the winningest program in college football history.

"It was a fun game to call," said Kelly, the first-year UO coordinator who brought the Statue of Liberty with him when he was hired from New Hampshire.

Throwing downfield is supposed to be difficult for a spread team because of protection issues. But it certainly wasn't for Oregon on Saturday. Dixon found gaping holes in Michigan's zone defenses, which brought an extra man down to stop the run, and he was more accurate than ever in throwing deep.

"It goes to having faith in your receivers," said Dixon, who suffered through the second half after pills he took for dehydration upset his stomach. "I saw something that I kind of exploited, looking off one side, and if that was J-Will on one side, I had someone else as far as Derrick Jones."

The risk at this point is overconfidence, and who saw that being a problem for this Oregon team, coming off a 7-6 season and with Michigan early on the schedule? Yet here the Ducks are, with one preseason game left against Fresno State (1-1) before entering conference play at Stanford.

"I think people weren't sure about what kind of team we are, and I'm still not sure they are," Bellotti said. "We have to build on this. We did some good things last year to start the season and didn't finish. We've got to stay hungry."

ON THE WEB

More UO football, including Xs and Os with Ken Woody, and a photo gallery at www.registerguard.com