Dawgs give UO another licking.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

SEATTLE - What a rout this Oregon season has become.

The latest misadventure was a 42-10 loss to Washington on Saturday night, but what should the TBS national audience and the 72,450 in Husky Stadium have expected? These are the Ducks, and their five Pac-10 games have been decided by an average of 38 points.

This was actually the closest conference game for Oregon (2-3 in league, 5-4 overall), though it hardly seemed that as the Huskies (3-2, 5-4) came back from a 10-0 deficit in the first quarter and outscored the Ducks 35-0 in the second half.

`We played very poorly,' UO coach Mike Bellotti said. `We turned the ball over, we gave them the big plays, we broke ourselves down. It was very horrible.'

Though it was Washington's largest margin of victory over the Ducks since a 38-3 win in 1986, it could have been worse. The Huskies showed mercy by letting the game end with the football at the UO 3-yard line, with players on the Washington bench even signaling to the reserves on the field to stay in the huddle.

Really, the Dawgs called themselves off, though they appeared eager to rush to midfield to mock Oregon in general and free safety Keith Lewis in particular in response to his pronouncement earlier in the week that the Ducks would celebrate on the W after they won, just as the Huskies did last year on the O at Autzen Stadium.

Yeah, sure.

`They take a lot of pride in the games that they have won, so to beat them two years in a row, to really beat them, is special, real special,' UW coach Keith Gilbertson said. `It's great for our guys.'

It simply became no contest in the second half, and that was with Washington quarterback Cody Pickett watching first from the sidelines and then from the dressing room due to a possible concussion.

Not that he was needed. The Huskies outrushed the Ducks 261 yards to 73, with a pair of freshmen - Shelton Sampson (six carries, 131 yards) and Kenny James (18 for 104) - each going over 100 yards. Each of them also had a season-long run, 56 yards by James to set up a touchdown and 77 by Sampson for one of his three touchdowns.

Casey Paus handed off very nicely to both, thank you, in place of Pickett and also completed 5-of-8 passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns as Washington, on its way to 475 yards of total offense, outgained the Ducks 388-174 in the second half.

Oregon's offense had its best success early and largely on the basis of two plays, both of which were set up by broken coverage in the Washington secondary.

On the game's opening possession, UO freshman Kyle Weatherspoon was left uncovered by the UW secondary on third down, and Clemens hooked up for a 32-yard gain and a first down at the UW 23-yard line. Four plays later, Jared Siegel kicked a 36-yard field goal, his first field goal since the loss at Utah on Oct. 3.

Two possessions later, it was again Clemens finding a receiver on third down, this time Demetrius Williams for an 85-yard touchdown. But that was it for Oregon's scoring, and pretty much it for threats.

`I was disappointed we didn't throw more catchable passes,' Bellotti said. `I don't know if it was the (weather) or just the pressure of Washington.'

Washington's first-half scoring drive lasted 17 plays and 7 1/2 minutes before Sampson ran in from a yard out to pull the Huskies within 10-7, and then the Huskies were explosive in the second half with five plays that covered 27 or more yards.

The drive that put Washington ahead for good traveled 80 yards in only five plays after the second-half kickoff, ending with Sampson's 8-yard run for his second touchdown.

The Huskies added a field goal and a Paus touchdown pass to Charles Frederick to finish a three-play drive for a 22-10 lead after three quarters, and then Washington piled on 20 points in the fourth quarter, a period in which Oregon has now been outscored 101-21 this season.

Williams took a quick slant from Paus - on third-and-29, no less - and ran through the UO secondary for a 63-yard touchdown. Greg Carothers grabbed a Clemens fumble out of midair and raced 55 yards to the end zone as the Huskies took a 36-10 lead with 11 minutes left.

Then it was Sampson, finishing off his three-touchdown evening, with a 77-yard romp through the UO defense and a 42-10 advantage.

CAPTION(S):

Terrence Whitehead is stuffed by Washington defenders during the second half. Whitehead was held to 54 yards rushing in the 42-10 loss.