Ducks stumble when offense stalls.

Byline: ROB MOSELEY The Register-Guard

The UO defense took the blame for the Ducks' loss to Arizona State last week, when the Sun Devils scored 35 second-half points for a come-from-behind win.

For the second straight game Saturday, Oregon led at halftime only to lose in the end, but this time the UO offense accepted some of the blame. While Southern California was scoring 20 points in the decisive third quarter Saturday, the Ducks were shut out on their way to a 44-33 loss to the Trojans at Autzen Stadium.

Even in the first half, the Ducks had to settle for a field goal on four drives. Oregon finally broke through with 14 points in the fourth quarter, but that was against USC's reserves, and didn't happen until the Ducks were behind 44-19.

"We just weren't executing, and that's what we have to do when you have a defense that's kind of struggling," receiver Keenan Howry said. "That's what happened last week, and it happened this week.

"We did some positive things, but we can't wait until the fourth quarter to do that."

The Trojans racked up 274 yards in the third quarter, while the Ducks countered with just 9 on four possessions that totaled 16 plays. Oregon went three-and-out on two of those possessions, and quarterback Jason Fife threw an interception to end another.

"You lose two straight, you've got to be doing something wrong," Fife said. "I think it's the fact we didn't play all four quarters."

That Oregon would fall so flat in the third quarter was unapparent in the locker room at halftime, UO coach Mike Bellotti said.

"There was good spirit in the locker room, good feeling and understanding that this was our opportunity, and we need to make a statement," Bellotti said. "We just didn't do it."

After running for 62 yards on 13 first-half carries, Onterrio Smith gained just 13 yards on five carries in the third quarter, bettering Oregon's team output due to 8 yards lost on a sack. Needing 25 yards to extend his streak of consecutive games with 100 yards rushing, Smith got only one more carry as the Ducks took to the air in an effort to score quickly.

"It ain't about the yardage, it's about the team effort, and today we felt short as a team," Smith said.

"Our offense is about running the football, everybody knows that," he added later. "When we get down, it's hard to get the running game going. When we got down three touchdowns, that took our running game away."

And without balance, the offense was in trouble.

"If we don't have a running game, we can't play-action, we can't boot - we can't set up our offense," center Dan Weaver said.

In the end, Oregon's offense was left looking for answers, and not finding many.

"I don't know what's going on offensively," Howry said. "We're just not executing very well. You can't go out there and not execute, especially when the defense is struggling."

CAPTION(S):

Quarterback Jason Fife (center) and the Duck offense had little to smile about Saturday.