Washington vs. Oregon: Score and Twitter Reaction

The Oregon Ducks have been a second-half team all season long, but they changed that Saturday night with a dominant first half en route to a 45-20 thrashing of Washington at Autzen Stadium.

Ducks running back Royce Freeman paved the way, rushing for four touchdowns—three in the first half—on 29 carries for 169 yards. Quarterback Marcus Mariota was efficient, going 24-of-33 for 336 yards and two scores through the air.

SportsCenter tweeted the result:

Washington took the initial lead at 3-0, but it didn't last long. Oregon scored 28 unanswered points after the first quarter, and the Huskies' two touchdowns on the day didn't come until garbage time when the Ducks' victory was all but in the bag.

Here's the final scoreline:

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Washington	6	0	7	7	20
Oregon	7	21	7	10	45

Oregon extended its win streak over Washington to 11 games with the victory, and USA Today's Paul Myerberg noted the statistical difference in those contests:

"

During its 11-game W streak against Washington, Oregon has beaten the Huskies by an average score of 43.5-18.4.

— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) October 19, 2014"

Coming into this game, Oregon hoped to continue the success up front on offense it found a week before against UCLA—allowing no sacks. The return of left tackle Jake Fisher on Mariota's blind side was a big reason why.

"Jake, he’s the type of guy that there’s not a lot of communication that needs to be said," offensive lineman Hroniss Grasu told Daily Emerald's Justin Wise. “Not a lot of verbal communication needs to be done. We know what’s going to happen next. We always anticipate the next call and we’re always on the same page.”

That was evident very early on in Saturday's game.

USA TODAY Sports

The Huskies struck first on a 33-yard field goal from Cameron Van Winkle, but Oregon was quick to take the lead for good right after. A seven-play, 81-yard drive went 44 yards on the ground, 37 of which came on a Freeman touchdown run to make things 7-3.

Fisher's impact on the offense was obvious, as 750 The Game's Fletcher Johnson observed:

Washington continued to find success moving the ball on the very next drive, taking it down the field and kicking another field goal. But the Ducks were set on touchdowns, and they didn't mind going on long drives to get them.

A 17-play, 81-yard drive ended with Freeman breaking into the end zone on 4th-and-goal from three yards out, and after a Washington punt, the Ducks went down the field again. This time, it was a 12-play, 99-yard drive that started on their own 1-yard line.

But as ESPN's Kevin Pelton said, flipping the field position does little to stifle Oregon:

With a 21-6 lead achieved primarily through ground-and-pound success, Oregon's running dominance was on display early, as SB Nation's Dan Rubenstein noticed:

"

If Oregon’s running inside, they’re very close to P12 unbeatable. Defense needs to consistently get pressure still, but an encouraging sign.

— Dan Rubenstein (@DanRubenstein) October 19, 2014"

Although Oregon was taking control of the game at 21-6, ESPN's David Lombardi admitted it could have been an even bigger hole for Washington:

It indeed did get worse for the Huskies soon after. Taking a stranglehold of the game, Oregon intercepted a pass from Washington's Cyler Miles and scored on a 23-yard toss from Mariota to Byron Marshall two plays later.

The Huskies' deficit had grown to 22 points by the time the first-half bell sounded. But despite running the ball so well, Oregon's offensive line continued to get banged up as Hamani Stevens limped off.

Bleacher Report's Ben Kercheval responded accordingly:

Without another key offensive lineman, Oregon's offense didn't seem to miss a beat. Freeman ran it on six of the Ducks' nine plays to open up the second half, putting Mariota in position to set up the highlight of the day in the passing game.

That came via an insane catch from Dwayne Stanford on a 16-yard touchdown that made it 35-6, and Sporting News captured Stanford high-pointing the ball:

"

Oregon’s Dewayne Stanford probably just made the catch of the night. http://t.co/GRyBjksHWR pic.twitter.com/Kaki1dfZp5

— Sporting News (@sportingnews) October 19, 2014"

It was like seeing Oregon's offense continue rolling in the second half woke up Washington's offense. Quieted for much of the contest, the Huskies drove down the field and made it 35-13 on a Miles touchdown pass to Deontae Cooper.

The Huskies would add a second touchdown in the fourth quarter before it was all said and done, but they stood no chance with the Ducks matching every touchdown they scored. Freeman scored his fourth touchdown of the day early in the fourth to make it 42-13, before Washington's Troy Williams ran it in from seven yards out with 5:22 left.

An Oregon chip-shot field goal with 1:20 remaining seemed to do nothing but add to the scoreline, but the fans receiving some free food won't complain, per The Seattle Times' Percy Allen:

After seeing its hopes of an undefeated season vanish against Arizona on Oct. 2, the Ducks have now looked solid in back-to-back weeks coming off a 42-30 victory over UCLA. What's more, only two ranked foes—No. 23 Stanford and No. 20 Utah—remain on the schedule.

Up next for Oregon is a week of short rest. A trip to face California on Friday looms, and the Ducks will be set on making sure they don't have a repeat performance of the Thursday night debacle against Arizona. 

Washington could have gotten into a tie for the top of the Pac-12 North with a win, but instead it drops to 1-2 in conference play and 5-2 on the year. A meeting against No. 17 Arizona State is coming next week, and another loss would mark the Huskies' third defeat in four games after starting 4-0.