A very disjointed - sloppy in the words of LaMichael James - first half left the Ducks in a position they hadn't expected - nor had any reason to expect - to be in, leading Washington 18-6 but having spent the first 30 minutes chasing their tails.

No one - not even the Huskies - were thinking upset as the teams headed to recess. Washington probably wasn't going to score 18 points on the night, so the "W" was secure, but the dash and flash we've seen from Oregon against every other opponent missed the 12:30 pm start.

The first quarter was scoreless but Oregon began to move the ball effectively for the first time late in the period. Starting from their own seven, Rob Beard's 29-yard three-pointer got the Ducks on the board after a 79-yard drive two minutes into the second.

Washington answered when Eric Folk split the uprights from 52 yards a few minutes later but Oregon put two quick strikes together to take a 18-3 lead. On the first, after LaMichael James bulled in from the one for the touchdown the Ducks converted the two point attempt when holder Nate Costa pulled up the snap and executed a perfect draw play, handing the ball off to kicker Beard.

The flash of trickeration seemed to inspire. On Oregon's next possession, quarterback Darron Thomas found Jeff Maehl with a quick hit for 17 yards, then tucked the ball and beat the defense to the corner, scoring from 34 out.

Folk hit again for three - this from 27 - to end the half.

Seemingly poised to explode on Washington with the first possession after the half, Oregon instead coughed up the ball on their own 17. Given the short field, backup quarterback Keith Price - starting in place of the injured Jake Locker - wasted no time, connecting with receiver D'Andre Goodwin for the score on the first play. The extra point cut Oregon's lead to five, 18-13.

Enough is enough, fielding the kick off at his own 14-yard line Josh Huff bolted through the Husky coverage for 80 yards, getting tripped up six yards short of the goal line. Thomas found Jeff Maehl in the front corner of the endzone one play later and the Oregon lead was back to a respectable 25-13.

The only answer the Huskies could find was Folk when he hit for three more from 47 before Oregon put the game away.

Thomas connected with Maehl and Lavasier Tunei twice each, then gave the ball to James for the last 14-yards pushing Oregon's advantage to 32-16.

Thomas scored again on a seven-yard keeper as the third quarter ended and in the fourth, James and Kenjon Barner - in his first action since his frightful injury at Washington State - shredded a tired Washington defense for two more touchdowns.

James cashed in from the one after a 69 yard punt return by Cliff Harris set the table. 

Taking a hand-off right, Barner found a seam and blasted 30 yards untouched for the exclamation point on Oregon's seventh consecutive win over their Seattle rivals.

Despite their early foibles, the Ducks stat sheet was as gaudy as ever - 522 total yards, 279 on the ground with Thomas throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown with 24 completions in 33 attempts. His twelve carries added 89 yards to the rushing total. James scored three touchdowns with 121 yards on 26 carries.

Two turnovers and 10 penalties for 139 yards - with many more lost to plays or return yardage called back - may leave some room for quibbling but with Oregon now a perfect 9-0 and leading the conference, there is more to be pleased about than not.

"I told our guys at halftime as screwed up as it was I was excited to be in the position we were in to see how we could handle it," said head coach Chip Kelly. "I thought they handled it great."

"Our pace and our tempo on both sides of the ball wore them down a little bit. It was really just a matter of our depth coming through in the second half."

" . but they did play hard and that's a credit to (Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian), I think Sark's doing a great job."

"Every team is going to come out and give us their best shot," said Thomas. "We got a good team, we just have to come out, clean it up - do a better job."

Putting a damper on the post game atmosphere was what appeared to be a serious injury to back-up quarterback Nate Costa. Holding on a field goal attempt, Costa fielded a bobbled snap and appeared to injure his knee as he was tackled along the Washington sideline.

An extended absence appears likely, meaning either Bryan Bennett - whom the Ducks hoped to red shirt - or Daryle Dawkins will become the back up to Thomas.

The ninth straight win is the best in program history and with three remaining games and tie-breaker in hand over Stanford, the Ducks essentially hold a two game advantage in the conference race with a game at California next on the schedule.

"Berkeley is a tough place to play," said Kelly. "We will see what we can do."