Oregon’s Trail a Lonely Road

Arizona State’s defense provided a two-touchdown head start, then the Sun Devil offense kicked into high gear for the first time this season.

The result was a 59-14 rout of the defenseless Ducks of Oregon on Saturday.

Jamar Williams and Chris McKenzie intercepted Oregon’s first two passes, Williams returning his 50 yards for a touchdown and McKenzie going 23 yards to the Oregon six-yard line to set up another score.

“It seems like the whole year we’ve been in a little daze, but we’re out of it right now,” Williams said. “We came here to play today and this big win was what we needed.”

Andrew Walter, who threw for a Pacific 10 Conference record 566 yards at Oregon last year, completed 18 of 28 passes for 316 yards with no interceptions and three second-half touchdowns as the Sun Devils ended a three-game losing streak.

“I’ve been saying for three weeks that we were close,” Walter said. “We finally put it together.”

Walter was 10 for 14 for 215 yards in Arizona State’s 38-point second half, when the Sun Devils scored on every possession. He didn’t play in the last 8 1/2 minutes.

Loren Wade scored on a 56-yard run, Arizona State’s longest rushing play in two years, and Hakim Hill had TD runs of six and two yards. The Sun Devils, 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-10, handed Oregon (4-3, 1-2) its third consecutive defeat since the Ducks’ home win over Michigan.

“We’re just kind of flabbergasted that we got beat like that,” Oregon’s Kellen Clemens said. “We’re trying to stay as positive as we can.”

In its Pac-10 losses to Washington State and Arizona State, Oregon has been outscored 114-30.

“We didn’t show up at all,” Jason Fife said, “and Arizona State took advantage of it and played a great game.”

Fife, who replaced Clemens at quarterback for Oregon after the two quick interceptions, was seven for 19 for 101 yards.

“We needed a game to come out and play like we knew we could play,” Sun Devil Coach Dirk Koetter said.