TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Arizona met its third consecutive Top 10 foe on Saturday night, swinging away to the finish behind the strong, accurate arm of Nick Foles.
The Wildcats were no match, though, for No. 10 Oregon, losing 56-31 behind the rushing onslaught of LaMichael James, who gained a school-record 288 yards.
“We just need to develop some leadership,” Wildcats coach Mike Stoops said, “and we were overwhelmed over the three games.”
Next up is no cupcake, at Southern California.
“We need to come out and play a complete game, and we have to do it fast,” Arizona linebacker Paul Vassallo said.
James also broke the Oregon mark for career rushing touchdowns with two scores.
“We just couldn’t find a way to stop him,” Stoops said.
Oregon (3-1), the two-time defending Pac-10 champion, won its 13th consecutive conference game, blowing open a 35-3 lead and then holding off a Wildcats rally before pulling away again with its lightning-quick offense. Arizona has lost eight of nine dating to last season, with the lone victory over Northern Arizona in this season’s opener.
“I thought that the first half was very frustrating and humiliating in some ways,” Stoops said. “We were down, and didn’t play well, and when you get down early to a team like Oregon, it’s difficult to come back.”
All but the last of the Ducks’ seven touchdown drives lasted less than three minutes. Darron Thomas passed for two scores and ran for two more
Nick Foles – called “a special, special player” by Oregon coach Skip Kelly – completed 33 of 55 passes for 391 yards and three touchdowns for the Wildcats (1-3).
Oregon has the top-ranked offense in the Pac-12. Arizona’s defense is the worst statistically. So the results from the opening kickoff were predictable.
James, who also had a 51-yard punt return, averaged 12.2 yards per carry in his second consecutive and fifth career 200-yard rushing game. He broke Oregon’s single-game rushing record of 257 yards by Ontario Smith against Washington State in 2001.
James deflected the praise, though, like any good running back should, and he was beyond good on this night.
“I was just really thinking about the win,” he said. “Individual records don’t mean anything. It takes a team to get those records, and the offensive line did a great job. I feel like those guys should share the record with me, too.”
With his touchdown runs of 12 and 19 yards, the speedy back has 43 scoring runs, breaking Derek Loville’s school record of 42.
Kelly said defenses have a tough time with the Ducks’ triple running threat of James, Thomas and Kenjon Barner.
“We’re starting to find our rhythm,” he said. “We’ve still got some issues up front that we’ve got to clean up at times, but when our running back is running like that – it makes us a real tough team to defend from a running standpoint when the quarterback can hit it, Kenjon can hit it, and LaMichael can hit it.”
The Ducks amassed 516 yards, 415 on the ground.
“We knew, especially against Nick Foles, that this game never is in hand,” Kelly said. “We were aware that we were going to get a great shot from them in the second half, and I thought our offense responded well.”
With his team down 35-3, Foles led the Wildcats to three consecutive touchdowns. His 7-yard pass to David Roberts, and 2-point conversion toss to David Douglas, cut Oregon’s lead to 35-24 with 3:14 to go in the third quarter. Kelly had seen Foles do this in previous encounters.
But the Ducks simply zipped to another score. James had a 31-yard run, and Thomas went the final 5 yards for the touchdown.
Foles got Arizona to the Oregon 6 on the subsequent kickoff, but the drive stalled. On fourth down he was sacked.
The Ducks reeled off five of their trademark lightning-fast touchdown drives, in six possessions, to open a 35-9 lead at the half.
James led the way, rushing for 133 yards on 11 carries in the first two quarters.
Oregon’s first-half TD drives went 2:42 (8 plays, 80 yards), 2:19 (10 plays, 72 yards), 2:06 (8 plays, 80 yards), 2:02 (6 plays, 55 yards) and 1:37 (4 plays, 28 yards).
The stadium was almost full, and the student section was packed at kickoff, but about half of the students and a good share of the rest of the crowd was gone by halftime.
“I appreciate the loyal fans who stayed,” Arizona cornerback Trevin Wade said. “Those who stayed were still loud and supportive, which is great.”
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