The Heisman campaign for Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota took a major hit last night, along with the school's chances of getting an invite to college football's first postseason playoff. Judging by Mariota's attitude after the game, he already knew that.
No. 2 Oregon lost to unranked Arizona 31-24 Thursday night. It was the second consecutive season in which the Wildcats stunned the Ducks with an upset victory.
Arizona was a 24-point underdog coming into this matchup. Mariota credited the Wildcats with a great performance.
"They're undefeated," Mariota told media after the game. "It's obviously a testament to our conference. If you're not prepared each week, if you're not ready to play, you'll lose."
Ducks offensive coordinator told reporters that Mariota was not fully healthy after he was sacked seven times in Oregon's 38-31 win over Washington State on Sept. 20. Mariota finished last night's game with decent numbers - 20-of-32 for 276 yards and two touchdowns - but it wasn't enough.
Arizona true freshman Nick Wilson rushed for a pair of touchdowns and added one receiving score to help Arizona (5-0 and 2-0 in the Pac-12) start with five consecutive wins for the first time in 16 years.
With 2:54 to go in the fourth quarter, Terris Jones-Grigsby crashed through the goal line for a tie-breaking touchdown. The Wildcats sealed their victory with a strip-sack of Mariota on the next series. It was his first turnover of the season.
"It was a good play by him, honestly," Mariota said.
Since 2007, an unranked Arizona team has upset a top-five ranked Oregon three times.
"They're probably having a good time in Tucson, Arizona, right now," Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez said. "Last year it was really heartwarming because it was the seniors' last home game and it was improbable, of course. This one, I don't know if anybody picked us. I don't know how many people were talking about us, but I bet you most of them weren't thinking this was going to happen, not on the road."
"I thought we played hard, for the most part. We came out ready to play; we didn't play cleanly enough or smart enough," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said.
The Ducks (4-2, 1-1) are now in serious danger of missing out on the postseason playoffs. Last season, the No.5 Ducks lost to Arizona in a 42-16 blowout loss, ending Oregon's chances for a national championship bid.
Oregon will play UCLA next Saturday, and Arizona will host USC.
