Oregon’s New QB Is on Mark

Ryan Perry-Smith, starting for injured Tony Graziani, completed 27 of 46 passes for 395 yards and two touchdowns as Oregon defeated Colorado State, 35-28, on Saturday at Eugene, Ore.

Tight end Josh Wilcox caught the Ducks’ touchdown passes, a 12-yarder to put Oregon (3-0) ahead, 28-7, eight seconds before halftime and a 25-yarder for the Ducks’ lone second-half score with 4:41 remaining. In all, Wilcox had 10 catches for 180 yards, his biggest day since he caught 11 for 135 yards against Penn State in the Rose Bowl two seasons ago.

The 395 yards passing for Perry-Smith, a fifth-year senior in his second start, ranks fifth on Oregon’s all-time list. The Ducks had 586 total yards, 427 passing. That’s the most passing yards for Oregon in a regular-season game since 1990.

The Ducks’ 33 first downs tied a school record set against Utah in 1970.

Colorado State (1-2) trailed, 28-7, at halftime but rallied to within seven twice, the last time at 35-28 on Moses Moreno’s 85-yard touchdown pass to Geoff Turner with 5:45 to play.

The Rams would have gotten the ball back for one final try with 1:01 remaining, but Colorado State was called for a personal foul on the Ducks’ punt, giving Oregon an automatic first down. The Ducks then ran out the clock deep in Rams’ territory.

No. 18 Arizona State 52, North Texas 7--Keith Poole caught three touchdown passes and also scored on a 39-yard reverse as the Sun Devils scored 24 points in the third quarter at Tempe, Ariz.

Arizona State (2-0) led only 21-7 at halftime and didn’t put the Eagles (1-1) away until scoring three times in a 1:43 span late in the third quarter.

North Texas, in its second season of competing at the Division I-A level and facing Arizona State for the first time in 40 years, was limited to 130 yards total offense--85 in the first half.

Arizona 41, Illinois 0--Redshirt freshman quarterback Keith Smith, in his first start, threw a touchdown pass in the first quarter and ran 73 yards for another score in the fourth quarter at Tucson.

Smith gave the Wildcats (2-1) a 20-0 lead, and the defense added three TDs on interception returns off Illini backup Mark Hoekstra, who had five passes intercepted.

Chester Burnett returned one interception 33 yards for a score, and Mikal Smith returned another 86 yards--fifth-longest in Arizona history--with 6:08 remaining. Dennis Northcutt had a 63-yard scoring return with 52 seconds left.

The Illini, whose offense has failed to score a touchdown in 16 quarters, is 0-3.

Stanford 25, San Jose State 2--Adam Salina scored three touchdowns and the Cardinal came within a safety of its first shutout in 22 years at Stanford, Calif.

Salina scored twice on two-yard runs and caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Chad Hutchinson for Stanford (1-1), which forced four turnovers and sacked San Jose State’s Carl Dean six times.

Kadar Hamilton added a safety by blocking a punt out of the end zone and Kevin Miller had a 24-yard field goal for Stanford.

San Jose (0-3) averted a shutout by getting a safety early in the fourth quarter when Hutchinson was forced to fall on a fumble in the end zone. Stanford has not had a shutout since a 17-0 victory at Oregon on Nov. 16, 1974.