Dixon hits one out of park for Oregon

An adventure this summer into professional baseball didn’t hurt Dennis Dixon.

Dixon ran for 141 yards, including an 80-yard scoring dash, to lead Oregon to a 48-27 victory over Houston on Saturday at Eugene, Ore.

He also completed nine of 15 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns in a wild game that included three touchdowns in less than a minute.

Dixon’s commitment to the team was questioned by some when he left for the summer to play baseball in the Atlanta Braves organization.

“His decision-making and choices were, for the most part, very good,” Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti said.

Anthony Alridge had 22 carries for 205 yards and a touchdown for the Cougars. Alridge also caught three passes for 88 yards and a score.

With the score tied at 20-20, the Cougars appeared to be on the verge of taking the lead, but Case Keenum’s pass into the end zone for Perry McDaniel was intercepted by Oregon’s Patrick Chung.

The Ducks, who ended last season with four losses, then went ahead when Dixon found Brian Paysinger with a 24-yard pass. Forty seconds later, they added another with Dixon’s six-yard pass to Jaison Williams.

The Cougars answered with Keenum’s screen pass to Alridge, who ran 86 yards to score.

“It was perfect. We tried to run it earlier and we didn’t execute like we wanted to,” Alridge said. “Coach made a good call and came back with it.”

Not to be outdone, Dixon ran a keeper 80 yards for a touchdown on the next play, making it 41-27, Oregon. There were three TDs in the space of 58 seconds, and four in a frame of 1:38.

At No. 7 Wisconsin 42, Washington State 21 -- New starting quarterback Tyler Donovan threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to help the Badgers shake off a mediocre defensive performance at Madison, Wis.

With Washington State focused on stopping running back P.J. Hill, the Badgers turned to Donovan, a fifth-year senior.

Wisconsin trailed 14-7 late in the first quarter but scored 21 points in a row before halftime.

Cougars’ quarterback Alex Brink completed 17 of 27 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown.

At Brigham Young 20, Arizona 7 -- Max Hall passed for 288 yards and two touchdowns at Provo, Utah, in his college debut and the Cougars won a season opener for the first time under Coach Bronco Mendenhall.

BYU ended last season with 10 straight wins and extended the streak to 11 by nearly shutting out the Wildcats, who didn’t score until 53 seconds remained in the game.

At Arizona State 45, San Jose State 3 -- Ryan Torain rushed for 123 yards and three touchdowns in 17 carries and Rudy Carpenter completed 14 of 20 passes for 197 yards and two scores to lead the Sun Devils at Tempe in Coach Dennis Erickson’s debut.