Swogger Shows Swagger in Victory

Josh Swogger showed off his arm a week ago in a rout of Idaho. On Saturday, he showed the mettle of a born leader.

The sophomore quarterback, ignoring a partially torn tendon in his knee, rallied Washington State twice with fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Jason Hill and the Cougars opened conference play with a 20-19 victory over Arizona on Saturday at Tucson.

“We played the full 60 minutes today,” Swogger said. “That’s how you have to play every game in the Pac-10.”

The Wildcats (1-3) forced five fumbles and recovered four to nearly make up for their weak offense but gave the game away when Gilbert Harris fumbled with 1:15 left while they were trying to protect a 19-14 lead.

The play before, Harris had run six yards for a first down.

“I did think we were done when Arizona got the first down,” Washington State Coach Bill Doba said. “I knew we only had one timeout left, and I was trying to figure out if we had a chance. While I was trying to figure it out, we got the ball back.”

Little-used freshman safety Husain Abdullah recovered on the Arizona 28, and Swogger covered the distance in three plays, connecting with Hill for a 15-yard touchdown with 53 seconds to go. Swogger’s pass for a two-point conversion was knocked down, but time ran out with the Wildcats deep in their own territory.

“It’s seriously like a killer instinct,” Swogger said.

Jerome Harrison scored the first touchdown for Washington State (3-1) on a two-yard run.

Kris Heavner threw 47- and 23-yard scoring passes for Arizona, the second lifting the Wildcats to a 19-14 lead with 3:52 to play.

“This was obviously a tough loss,” Arizona Coach Mike Stoops said. “We came up with a couple of great plays, but we couldn’t finish it.”

Oregon 48, Idaho 10 -- Terrence Whitehead ran for 115 yards and scored two touchdowns at Eugene, Ore., to lift the Ducks (1-2) over the Vandals (0-4), who were mourning the death of cornerback Eric McMillan.

Idaho struggled all week with the loss of McMillan, who was shot last Sunday in Moscow, Idaho, and died Monday.

Oregon, coming off a 31-7 loss at No. 2 Oklahoma, quickly jumped ahead and built a 34-3 lead late in the first half, topped by Kenny Washington’s two-yard scoring run.

Oregon starter Kellen Clemens completed 11 of 19 passes for 157 yards and three scores, two to tight end Tim Day.

Arizona State 27, Oregon State 14 -- Jamar Williams intercepted two passes and Jordan Hill recovered two fumbles to lead the Sun Devils (4-0, 1-0) over the Beavers (1-3, 0-1) at Tempe, Ariz.

Arizona State’s Emmanuel Franklin saved an Oregon State touchdown by knocking the ball loose from Joe Newton, then recovering the ball for a touchback -- a play that turned the game around late in the first half.

Hakim Hill, playing with a broken bone in his right forearm, scored on a three-yard run and Andrew Walter threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Zach Miller for the Sun Devils, who are off to their best start since going 11-0 in the 1996 regular season.