Oregon soars to win over California, 59-41

Marcus Mariota threw five touchdown passes and No. 6 Oregon showed off its quick-striking ability in a 59-41 victory over California on Friday night at Santa Clara, Calif.

The Ducks (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) fell behind early twice by a touchdown, but they wasted little time taking control against the Golden Bears (4-4, 3-3). Oregon’s first five touchdown drives were accomplished in under three minutes.

The most electrifying touchdown of the night, however, was a 58-yard punt return by Charles Nelson that gave the Ducks a 31-14 lead in the second quarter. Nelson, a freshman wide receiver, avoided numerous tackles and somehow broke out of a crowd near the 20-yard line for his second punt return for a touchdown this season.

Royce Freeman added two rushing touchdowns for Oregon and had more than 100 yards on the ground.

The only negative for the Ducks was Mariota’s first interception of the season, which came on a tipped ball near the goal line in the second quarter.

Cal’s Jared Goff threw two touchdown passes and backup quarterback Luke Rubenzer ran for two scores, but the Bears couldn’t match Oregon’s firepower.

at Boise State 55, Brigham Young 30: Grant Hedrick threw for a career-high 410 yards and had four touchdowns passes for the Broncos.

Hedrick completed 24 of 31 with one interception and also ran for a touchdown in the Broncos’ highest-scoring game of the season.

Boise State (6-2) had the highest point total against BYU since Tulsa handed the Cougars a 55-47 loss in 2003. BYU (4-4) has lost four in a row for the first time since 2010.

at Cincinnati 34, South Florida 17: Gunner Kiel threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score before hurting his ribs again and the Bearcats (4-3, 2-1 American Athletic) took advantage of the many mistakes by the Bulls (3-5, 2-2) and got their second consecutive lopsided win.