Washington State Stuns Oregon

When Washington State saw Oregon start to panic early, the Cougars knew they had the Ducks.

Matt Kegel threw three touchdown passes and steadily guided the No. 21 Cougars, who took advantage of seven first-half turnovers to beat the 10th-ranked Ducks, 55-16, Saturday at Eugene, Ore.

Oregon grabbed national attention last week with its 31-27 victory over Michigan but was done in by mistakes. The Ducks, who fell to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference, had nine turnovers and two punts blocked.

“I could see it in their eyes,” Washington State safety Jeremy Bohannon said. “They could see they were playing a tough opponent. We tried to turn the intimidation factor around on them.”

Washington State (4-1, 1-0), the defending Pac-10 champion, went to the air and appeared to confuse the Ducks -- who had successfully stopped Michigan’s vaunted rushing game.

Kegel completed 13 of 33 passes for 242 yards for the Cougars, who also got a pair of scoring runs from Jermaine Green. The Cougars’ only loss this season came on Sept. 6, when they blew a 19-0 lead and lost, 29-26, in overtime at Notre Dame.

Washington State struck first with Kegel’s 41-yard touchdown pass to Sammy Moore midway through the first quarter.

Drew Dunning had a 41-yard field goal to make it 10-0, and the Ducks rotated in quarterback Jason Fife to spell starter Kellen Clemens.

But Fife’s first pass was intercepted by Bohannon, and on the Cougars’ first play from scrimmage Kegel hit Devard Darling with a 38-yard scoring pass to make it 17-0.

It was the first interception thrown by an Oregon quarterback this season, and one of seven by the Ducks in the game.

*

No. 18 Washington 28, Stanford 17 -- Cody Pickett threw two touchdown passes to Reggie Williams and Rich Alexis ran for 128 yards and a score to lead the Huskies (3-1, 1-0) over the Cardinal (2-1, 0-1) in the conference opener at Seattle.

Stanford hasn’t won in Seattle since 1975, but had a chance to change that, taking over at its 25 down by four with 2:54 left.

Derrick Johnson sealed Washington’s victory by intercepting freshman quarterback Trent Edwards’ pass and returning it 36 yards for a touchdown.

Jimmy Newell intercepted another pass on Stanford’s final series.

Pickett completed 20 of 33 passes for 231 yards, but fumbled twice. Williams had 10 receptions for 138 yards.

*

No. 19 Texas Christian 13, Arizona 10 -- Nick Browne kicked a 33-yard field goal in overtime after missing from 36 and 25 yards in regulation as the Horned Frogs (4-0) avoided an upset against the Wildcats (1-4) at Tucson.

TCU’s lone touchdown came on a 98-yard pass play from Brandon Hassell to Reggie Harrell with 2:44 left in the first half. It was the second-longest play in school history and the longest ever given up by Arizona.

The Wildcats, coming off a 59-7 loss to Purdue, had the ball first in the overtime, but Jeremy Modkins intercepted Kris Heavner’s pass on the second play. The Horned Frogs ran the ball three times to set up the winning kick.

TCU freshman Robert Merrill gained 148 yards in 31 carries.

*

Oregon State 45, Arizona State 17 -- Derek Anderson threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Beavers (4-1) ended a seven-game losing streak against the Sun Devils (2-2) in the conference opener for both teams at Corvallis, Ore.

Oregon State took a 24-7 halftime lead. Anderson threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Farley with 4:11 left before halftime and added a 28-yard touchdown pass to James Newson less than two minutes later.

Anderson was 15 for 29 for 246 yards with three interceptions.

Arizona State quarterback Andrew Walter completed 17 of 42 passes for 228 yards and was intercepted three times.