TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State's defense provided a two-touchdown head start, then the Sun Devils' offense kicked into high gear for the first time this season.
The result was a 59-14 rout of the defenseless Ducks of Oregon on Saturday.
Jamar Williams and Chris McKenzie intercepted Oregon's first two passes, Williams returning his 50 yards for a touchdown and McKenzie going 23 yards to the Oregon six to set up another score.
"It seems like the whole year we've been in a little daze, but we're out of it right now," Williams said. "We came here to play today and this big win was what we needed."
Andrew Walter, who threw for a Pac-10-record 566 yards at Oregon last year, completed 18 of 28 for 316 yards with no interceptions and three second-half touchdowns as the Sun Devils snapped a three-game losing streak.
"I've been saying for three weeks that we were close," Walter said. "We finally put it together."
Walter was 10-for-14 for 215 yards in Arizona State's 38-point second half, when the Sun Devils scored on every possession. He didn't play in the game's final 8{ minutes.
Loren Wade scored on a 56-yard run, Arizona State's longest rushing play in two years, and Hakim Hill had TD runs of six and two yards. The Sun Devils (3-3, 1-2 Pac-10) handed Oregon (4-3, 1-2) its third consecutive defeat since the Ducks' home win over Michigan.
"We're just kind of flabbergasted that we got beat like that," the Ducks' Kellen Clemens said. "We're trying to stay as positive as we can."
In its Pac-10 losses to Washington State and Arizona State, Oregon has been outscored 114-30.
"We didn't show up at all," Jason Fife said, "and Arizona State took advantage of it and played a great game."
Jason Fife, who replaced Clemens at quarterback for Oregon after the two quick interceptions, was 7-for-19 for 101 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 66 yards in eight carries, including a one-yard TD run.
Fife's 16-yard scoring pass to Tim Day cut the lead to 24-14 with 9:33 left in the third quarter, but the Sun Devils scored touchdowns on all five of their remaining possessions.
Three came on Walter's TD passes of 3, 5 and 10 yards. Wade scored on his 56-yard run the first play of the fourth quarter, then ASU's reserves mounted the final drive, Cornell Canidate scoring on a 1-yard run with 26 seconds to play.
Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter said he wrestled with whether to go for the score or take a knee to end it.
"That was a very delicate situation and I apologized to Mike (Bellotti) after the game," Koetter said. "We weren't trying to run it up. If we would have been, we would have been throwing the ball more, and we didn't have any starters in there."
It was a matchup of two teams that had high expectations but had fallen on hard times. Both were nationally ranked earlier in the season.
"I'm sure both teams were a little nervous about what was going to happen if they fell behind because of recent history the last three or four weeks," Koetter said. "We needed a confidence boost. We needed a game to come out and play like we knew we could play."
The Sun Devils scored twice in a 39-second span in the game's first 2 minutes, 17 seconds. On the game's third play, Jamar Williams stepped in front of intended receiver Demetrius Williams and intercepted Clemens' pass at midfield. He dodged two defenders at the 10 and scored to make it 7-0 with 13:38 to play.
Three plays later, McKenzie picked off Clemens' second pass and returned it 23 yards to the six to set up Hill's first TD run and it was 14-0 with 12:43 still to go in the first quarter.
"I thought we were moving the football, but you can't spot an equal team 14 points at their place," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said.
Hill capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive with a two-yard run that put ASU up 21-0 with 2:38 left in the first half.
Oregon, meanwhile, finally completed its first pass of the game with 2:20 left in the half during a seven-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that ended with Fife's 1-yard run that made it 21-7 with 49 seconds to play.
Arizona State got its longest pass play of the season when Walter threw 49 yards to Matt Miller to set up Jesse Ainsworth's 43-yard field goal early in the third quarter.
other Oregon Ducks NCAA college football DVDs
other Arizona State Sun Devils NCAA college football DVDs
NFL football DVDs /
NCAA college football DVDs /
NBA basketball DVDs /
Major League Baseball DVDs /
NFL Europe DVDs /
XFL football DVDs /
Super Bowl DVDs /
NFL draft DVDs /
Canadian football CFL DVDs /
USFL football DVDs /
Arena football AFL DVDs /
World Leage WLAF football DVDs /
Japanese baseball DVDs /
NCAA college basketball DVDs /
NHL hockey DVDs /
Olympics hockey DVDs /
other DVDs /
contact
the sale of sports telecasts is illegal and not condoned