Ducks trounce Bulls 56-21 in Brut Sun Bowl
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008No Dennis Dixon, no problem for Oregon. Justin Roper filled in just fine under center and oh yeah, Oregon still had Jonathan Stewart in the backfield. Just ask South Florida what he means the Ducks.
Oregon blitzed South Florida 56-21 in the Brut Sun Bowl on Monday afternoon. It was a clash between two teams at different points of the 2007 college football season that were ranked No.2 in the country. On this day, Oregon showed why at one stretch there were one of best teams in the country.
Oregon proved that they weren’t just a flash-in-the-pan or a one-trick-pony. Dennis Dixon already had a reputation as one of the most gifted players in the country. Running back Jonathan Stewart made one in matter of quarters.
Steward set a Brut Sun Bowl record with 251 rushing yards and one score on 23 carries and redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Roper threw for four touchdowns in Oregon’s romp. With Oregon scoring 28 straight points in the third quarter, the rout was in full effect and the Ducks never looked back.
Oregon won for the first time since losing starting quarterback Dennis Dixon to a knee injury in November and snapped a four-game bowl losing streak, winning for the first time since their 2001 Fiesta Bowl victory over Colorado 38-16.
Roper was the spark that started the barrage of scoring for the Ducks in the third quarter. He tossed two scores for Oregon, a 14-yard pass to Jaison Williams and a 15-yard pass to Ed Dickson. Walter Thurmond intercepted Matt Grothe’s pass and took it to the house from 25 yards out and Roper tossed his third touchdown of the quarter, an eight-yard pass to Stewart.
Matt Grothe was 18-of-35 for 197 yards, one touchdown and two picks on the day for South Florida. Defensively, the Bulls weren’t very good this afternoon. It came down to predominantly two things for the South Florida defense: their inability to contain Jonathan Stewart on the ground and the freshman Roper played effective, mistake-free football. The Bulls had zero answers for either player and their five turnovers provided extra ammunition for an already potent offense.
In all, Oregon set or tied four Sun Bowl records on the day: most points scored (56), 4 touchdown passes ( Roper tied with Matt Moore), 251 rushing yards (Jonathan Stewart) and 28 points scored in the third quarter. A banner day for the Ducks and an awful day to close out 2007 for the Bulls. Both teams finished 2007 with identical records at 9-4.