Oregon Takes Advantage of Iowa’s Mistakes, 40-18
Oregon’s football players believed their last two losses were gifts to the opposition. On Saturday, the Ducks were on the receiving end.
Oregon’s Ricky Whittle rushed for three touchdowns in the first half and the Ducks took advantage of repeated mistakes by Iowa to defeat the Hawkeyes, 40-18, in the first visit by a Big Ten team to Eugene since 1980.
“We made far too many mistakes, especially early in the game,” Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said.
The Ducks (2-2) outscored Iowa, 20-0, in the second quarter to take a 27-12 halftime lead, then had long touchdown drives on their first two possessions of the second half.
The young Hawkeyes (2-2), coming off a 61-21 loss to Penn State, had a 421-279 advantage in yardage but their turnovers, penalties and dropped passes helped Oregon end a five-game losing streak against Division I-A opponents.
“I was excited about playing the Big Ten,” Oregon’s Dino Philyaw said. “As far as I’m concerned, the Pac-10 is still the best conference, no matter what anybody says.”
Oregon took some heat after successive mistake-filled losses to Hawaii and Utah. But the Ducks had no turnovers against the Hawkeyes.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
