Musgrave Throws and Aztecs Forget to Duck, 42-21

Bill Musgrave passed for 443 yards and three touchdowns Saturday as Oregon rolled past San Diego State, 42-21, in a nonconference game.

Tony Hargain scored three times for the Ducks and caught 10 passes for 206 yards as Oregon took a 21-7 first-half lead, then held off a third-quarter rally before pulling away in the final quarter.

“I get to the point that I expect so much of Bill that I get mad if he makes mistakes,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said. “But he had a great game and did some tremendous things out there.”

Musgrave also ran for a touchdown. He completed a career-high 31 passes in 46 attempts and did not have a pass intercepted. His passing yardage was the second highest in Oregon history to his 489-yard effort against BYU last season.

“Musgrave is Ty Detmer (of BYU) reincarnated, with his accuracy,” Aztec Coach Al Luginbill said. “We did not make a play against the pass the whole day, which is shocking to me.”

Musgrave’s offensive show moved him ahead of Dan Fouts into the No. 2 spot on Oregon’s career passing yardage and total offense lists.

At various points, Musgrave completed six, nine and five consecutive passes.

“They played a lot of (man-to-man) defense,” Musgrave said. “That fits us well because we have a lot of quick receivers.”

Hargain’s receiving yardage also is No. 2 on the Oregon all-time list.

Musgrave threw a pair of six-yard scoring passes to Hargain in the first half, then directed a five-play, 80-yard scoring drive to start the second half. A 69-yard pass play from Musgrave to Hargain set up Musgrave’s three-yard touchdown run that boosted the Ducks’ lead to 28-7.

The Ducks gained nearly 200 more yards than the Aztecs--576-387. But Oregon lost three fumbles and 83 yards on seven penalties--which in part explains why, as the third quarter neared completion, the Aztecs still had a chance to win.

Dan McGwire, younger brother of Oakland Athletics slugger Mark McGwire, led a San Diego State rally.

The 6-foot-8 quarterback threw 22 yards to Jim Hanawalt for one touchdown, then scored on a one-yard dive on fourth down to slice Oregon’s lead to 28-21 with 4:45 left in the third quarter.

But Oregon, aided by a pair of Aztec penalties, went 85 yards in 11 plays to score on its next possession.

Hargain scored on a two-yard end-around play as the third quarter ended. The next time the Ducks had the ball, Musgrave connected with Jeff Thomason on a 37-yard pass play.

McGwire completed 20 of 40 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns.

“Obviously, it was a comedy of errors,” Luginbill said after his team was penalized 10 times for 93 yards. “I don’t think if we would have gone out and written a script, we could have had more bad things happen to us. But that was our fault.

“Our inability to execute and play the game the way it was meant to be played has to be altered. It’s that simple. You can’t play good football teams and allow the things to happen that we allowed to happen.

“I’m extremely disappointed with our critical errors in the football game. We have worked so hard, and obviously have a long way to go. But we won’t stop working, we won’t change our philosophy. This football team will be a good football team. I want it to get to the point where it doesn’t beat itself.”