O’Neil’s Scoring Passes Lift Ducks Over Sun Devils

Oregon’s Danny O’Neil threw his fourth touchdown pass with four minutes left in the game Saturday night to lift the Ducks to a 45-36 victory over Arizona State and send the Sun Devils to their third straight defeat.

Oregon (4-2) won its first Pacific 10 Conference game in three tries. O’Neil, who was 25 for 41 for 364 yards passing, completed a 14-yard scoring toss to Willy Tate to cap a 47-yard drive that began after John Taumoepeau recovered Mario Bates’ fumble.

Until then, the Sun Devils (2-4, 0-3) had scored 12 consecutive points to help whittle a 31-10 halftime deficit to 38-36.

Sun Devil freshman Jake Plummer, who threw two touchdown passes in his first start, drove Arizona State into Oregon territory, but the Ducks took over on downs with 1:28 left.

Plummer’s scoring passes went to tight ends--20 yards to Steve Bush in the first quarter and 12 yards to Matt Nelson in the fourth quarter.

Bates scored on a five-yard run for the Sun Devils, and Jon Baker kicked 41-, 31- and 45-yard field goals.