PULLMAN, Wash. -- Two of the pillars of Oregon's identity, a strong running game and a threatening pass rush, were absent on the Palouse.
No. 12 Oregon entered Saturday with the Pac'12's second-best rushing attack and despite facing a defense of No. 25 Washington State that was allowing nearly 150 rushing yards per game and almost 200 rushing yards in Pac-12 play, the Ducks managed just 58 rushing yards on 24 carries, their least of the season and fewest in conference play since in over a decade, in a 34-20 loss at Martin Stadium.
"We pride ourselves on running the football and I think Wazzu just dialed it up really well and really keyed into our tight ends ... and really took them out of the game," left guard Shane Lemieux said. "Then their movement took us off our double teams so it was really hard to get to the linebackers and that was key to this game, was we had to get to the linebackers and we didn't do that."
Washington State's defensive front used its stems and stunts to perfection to hold CJ Verdell to 55 yards on 12 carries and Travis Dye to minus-four on three carries, all on one late series. Oregon's only other rushes were by Justin Herbert (seven carries for nine yards and a touchdown), a five-yard run by Dillon Mitchell and a loss of seven yards on a botched first offensive snap.
It was Oregon's least productive rushing performance in a Pac-12 game since running for just 43 yards in a 16-0 loss to UCLA on Nov. 24, 2007 and just the fourth time the Ducks ran for less than 100 yards in their last 95 conference games.
"We knew that it was going to be difficult because of their slants and their angles or stunts or whatnot," Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said. "Then there was a point in time in the game where we had to throw the ball. That took us out of kind of our plan and our schedule a little bit as well. But in the second half, we started hitting some, I think CJ hit a 10-yarder then he hit a 20-yarder, then we had a couple of negative plays down there in the red zone, the tight red zone. You'd like to keep running the ball but when you're behind by that much and you'd like to give yourself an opportunity with the way the clock was ticking. We threw ourselves off schedule."
Defensively, aside from a hurry, an unofficial statistic, on Gardner Minshew's first interception the Ducks failed to create any pressure on the Wazzu signal caller. Oregon entered the game ranked third in the Pac-12 in sacks (17), but Washington State simply did not allow any in part because of quick throws and in part because of its offensive line.
"They did a good job protecting him," Cristobal said. "Even though he gets the ball off. Bottom line, they did a nice job protecting him."
With time to throw, quickly or on long passes, Minshew (39 of 51) totaled 323 yards and four touchdowns.
"The toughest part was them throwing the ball as much as they did," said Ducks corner Deommodore Lenoir, who had two interceptions. "We hadn't faced that yet but we had to step up our game. ... It's kind of stressing, but just lets me know I need to bring my 'A' game."
-- James Crepea | jcrepea@oregonian.com | @JamesCrepea