Oregon in Rose Bowl driver’s seat

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It was definitely fright night in Eugene on Halloween night for the USC Trojans as the Oregon Ducks whooped on the Trojans beating them 47-20. And those 47 points were the most allowed by the Trojans in 1996.

Oregon was faster and flat-out executed better than USC. Jeremiah Masoli could get to the corner faster than the Trojans. He had the defense on their heels as they didn’t know what he was going to do with the ball.

If it wasn’t Masoli, it was LaMichael James burning up yards. James put up a career best 183 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown. As a whole, Oregon’s running game was able to rack up 391 yards against a Trojans team that was fifth best in the nation allowing only 79.9 rush yards per game.

Oregon compiled a total of 613 yards on the evening; the most ever allowed during Pete Carroll’s tenure at USC.

I’m wondering — does Matt Barkley still think Autzen Stadium and its fans won’t compare to Ohio State or anywhere else? His team was flagged for six false start penalties while the noise was deafening inside Autzen.

With this win the Ducks clearly control their own destiny in heading to the Rose Bowl. They’re sitting alone at the top of the Pac-10 conference with their 5-0 conference record and 7-1 overall.

But, the Ducks aren’t out of the woods yet.

Of their four remaining game, the Ducks still face Stanford (No. 3 in the Pac-10) coming up next weekend in Palo Alto, as well as Arizona (No. 2 in the Pac-10) down in Tucson. The Civil War game against Oregon State will take place at Autzen.