Oregon's best shot too hot for 'Dogs to handle.

Byline: Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

Earlier this week, Fresno State head coach Pat Hill was lamenting the end of what has become a fierce rivalry with Oregon.

He still feels that way. Really.

Hill, who is in his 11th season at Fresno State, would like to see the UO football series renewed, even after the Ducks hung a staggering 52-21 defeat on the Bulldogs.

Before the beatdown at Autzen Stadium on Saturday, the two schools had met five times dating back to 1997, and while Oregon won each of those games, two went into overtime, and none was decided by less than a touchdown.

That wasn't the case Saturday.

`Up until today, we've had some great games,' Hill said. `I wish we were playing some more. Hopefully, we can reschedule and get some more games going, but today, the better team definitely won. We got handled in all phases and that doesn't happen to Fresno State very often.'

The Bulldogs (1-2) thought they were ready for Oregon's potent combination of size and speed.

But it soon became apparent that they couldn't stop the Ducks' rushing attack, and they had precious little success moving the football.

They didn't help themselves with seven penalties and two costly turnovers in the first period. A fumble was scooped up and returned 25 yards for a touchdown by Oregon's Walter Thurmond III, an interception gave the Ducks first down at the FSU 13-yard line, and a personal foul on third down kept a UO drive alive - the Ducks scored two plays later - instead of forcing a punt.

It all added up to an insurmountable 42-14 deficit by halftime.

`When you dig a hole against a good football team, it's tough to come back, and we dug ourselves a big hole,' Hill said. `That doesn't change the outcome of the game, but it might change the final score. We ran into a very hot team today. It's the best Oregon team I've seen. If they keep this pace up, they'll be a real contender in their conference.'

At one point early in the second period, after Oregon tailback Jonathan Stewart had torched the Bulldog defense for an 88-yard touchdown run, boosting the Ducks' margin to 35-6, Hill brought his entire team together on the Fresno State sideline for a few choice words.

`Things were going south in a hurry,' Hill said. `Sometimes you have to do that. We were down bad, and I just wanted to make sure we kept fighting and battling, and treat the game as if it was 0-0. From that point on, we didn't give up a whole lot of scores.'

Fresno State came into the game without the services of its two starting guards, but the Bulldogs refused to make excuses.

They gave the UO defense credit for completely shutting down a FSU ground game that finished with 60 yards rushing in 36 attempts.

They also refused to buy into any notion of a `hangover' from last week's disheartening 47-45 loss in triple overtime at Texas A&M.

`The Ducks did a great job of bringing the fast tempo to us,' said Jason Shirley, a 6-foot-5, 330-pound nose tackle making his first appearance of the season after a two-game suspension. `We weren't ready for it. We were fresh for this game, we just didn't execute.'

Other than the final score, the biggest disappointment for the Bulldogs was the loss of defensive end Jason Roberts to a broken leg suffered early in the third period.