For the second straight week, an Oregon victory was highlighted by an injury to an offensive leader.
Junior quarterback Darron Thomas left the game early in the third quarter with a knee injury, but the No. 9 Ducks (5-1, 3-0 Pac-12), who were already without the nation’s leading rusher, junior running back LaMichael James, defeated the No. 18 ASU Sun Devils (5-2, 3-1) 41-27.
“Darron’s our leader,” junior running back Kenjon Barner said. “You lose your leader; you got to look to each other. You got to pull together as a team (and) that’s what we were able to do.”
After a brief visit to the locker room, Thomas returned to the field and told Oregon coach Chip Kelly he wanted to return to the game, but the coach was confident in freshman quarterback Bryan Bennett and elected to keep his starter out for “precautionary reasons.”
Bennett’s impact was felt on the ground as he rushed for 65 yards on five carries, while leading the Ducks to 20 second half points.
“Bryan Bennett going out there and playing like he did is not a surprise to me,” Kelly said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in Brian and I think our players do too. We’re real confident in him if he has to continue to play for us.”
Kelly said he was impressed with Bennett’s poise because this was the first time the freshman had played while the game was still in question.
“I just had to go back to what we practiced all week, keep my mind in it and let my teammates know we were ready to go and nothing was going to change,” Bennett said. “It was a lot of fun to actually get out there and play some valuable minutes. I just tried to just keep myself calm and go out there and do what I have been taught to do.”
UO got off to a bit of a slow start as Barner fumbled on the first possession and the Ducks went three-and-out on their second, but the team was able to gain composure and focus on the task at hand.
“I came out a little too jittery and let my nerves get the best of me,” Barner said. “Once the game got going, I let the game come to me instead of forcing it. I got into a groove (and) I was able to get things going.”
Barner may not be the Heisman Trophy candidate that James is, but his coach and teammates had full confidence in him and were not surprised by his 171-rushing-yard performance.
“Kenjon stepped up big for us. I think he really wanted to try to put the team on his back. He did really well today,” Bennett said.
“I’ve seen Kenjon,” Kelly said. “We’re just fortunate that we’ve got some depth at the running back spot. I think Kenjon would start on a lot of teams in this country. Kenjon is a talented running back. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”
The depth Kelly mentioned was evident as the UO offense rushed for 327 total yards and 146 in the third quarter, despite not being at full strength.
All five of Oregon’s touchdown drives took less than a minute and 50 seconds.
Turnovers, injuries, rain and various other obstacles attempted to derail the Ducks on Saturday, but UO recorded their 20th straight home victory in front of an Autzen Stadium-record crowd of 60,055.
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
