Marcus Mariota throws for five touchdowns as Oregon beats Cal
Oregon QB Marcus Mariota threw for 326 yards and five touchdowns as Oregon beat Cal 59-41 at Levi's Stadium on Friday night.
Cal's defense entered the game 120th in scoring defense and simply couldn't stop Oregon, even as it forced Mariota into his first interception of the year.
The interception happened with Oregon driving for a touchdown with less than two minutes to go in the second quarter and a 31-28 lead. The ball was deflected before it got to Mariota's intended receiver and Stefan McClure came down with it in the end zone.
On its previous possession, Cal had pulled to within a field goal of the Ducks. Best case, Cal could take the lead before halftime after the interception. Or it could tie with a field goal. The Bears did neither.
Cal went three-and-out and gave the ball back to Mariota and the Oregon offense. Oregon scored three plays later as Mariota threw a 24-yard touchdown to Dwayne Stanford with 48 seconds left in the half. Any thoughts of an upset were quickly extinguished.
Thanks to Oregon's inability to completely hold down Cal's potent offense, there was another small glimmer of hope for Cal in the fourth quarter as the Bears forced Oregon to punt with nine minutes to go while trailing 52-35. However, Bryce Treggs fumbled the punt and Oregon recovered.
A play later, Mariota had his fifth touchdown of the night, hitting TE Pharoah Brown for a 21-yard TD over the top of the Cal defense.
Mariota now has 24 passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns this season through Oregon's first eight games. It's his second five-touchdown game of the season. And you know who else has two five-TD games? Mariota's main competitor for the Heisman Trophy, Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott.
Prescott has 22 total touchdowns through six games and his team plays at Kentucky on Saturday. If both his and Mariota's team keep winning, one of the deciding factors in the fight for the Heisman could be the number of trips to the end zone.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
