Oregon Ducks receivers have big games in win over Oregon State Beavers

The No. 11 Oregon football team didn't have a player with a 100-yard receiving game in its first 11 games of the season.

Now Devon Williams is the first player in school history with multiple 100-yard receiving games against Oregon State.

Williams had six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown. Kris Hutson had his second straight strong outing with a career-high seven catches for 82 yards and his first career touchdown in the Ducks' 38-29 win over Oregon State on Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

Orchestrating it all was quarterback Anthony Brown, who was 23-of-28 passing for 275 yards with the two touchdowns and no interceptions. Brown ran for 83 yards on 14 carries to complement Travis Dye's 99 rushing yards as the Ducks rolled up 506 yards of total offense.

"Kris is a guy who is super, super, super competitive and I like to talk noise to him in practice because when he gets on edge, Kris is one of the best receivers on this team," Oregon safety Verone McKinley III said. "Devon is just consistent. He's been locked in and doing a great job and our tight ends did a great job as well."

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Triple whammy of injuries

Oregon suffered a triple wide receiver whammy prior to its 38-7 loss to Utah last week.

The Ducks lost Johnny Johnson III to a lower leg injury during a 38-24 win over Washington State at Autzen Stadium on Nov. 13.

Then Mycah Pittman decided to transfer from the program, and Jaylon Redd was lost for the season with an injury in practice before the Ducks left Eugene for Salt Lake City.

Those three receivers had a combined 20 starts this season. Johnson and Redd, both seniors, had a combined 77 career starts. Johnson is also 10th and Redd 12th on Oregon's career receptions list.

"It's just next man up," Williams said. "We've got players that can play right now. We just need to give them the encouragement that they needed and for myself as well.

"The chemistry between me and AB is extremely important because Johnny is out, Mycah Pittman is out, Redd, he's out, so the chemistry there had to be tighter than ever before."

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Elevating their games

Hutson started the first four games of the season and returned to the starting lineup in last week's loss to Utah. True freshman Dont'e Thornton made his first career start at Utah, and true freshman Troy Franklin started over Thornton on Saturday.

Hutson and Williams were two of the few bright spots at Utah. Hutson had four catches for 96 yards and a 50-yard reception, and Williams had five receptions for 81 yards and Oregon's only touchdown.

"They have elevated their game tremendously and that was important," Brown said. "They've been playing really well."

Williams had a 60-yard touchdown reception and four receptions for 101 yards in last year's 41-38 loss to Oregon State.

Williams, who entered Saturday's game leading the Ducks in receptions (28) and receiving yards (430), caught all six passes he was targeted on, including a 50-yard touchdown pass from Brown on a scramble play in the first quarter that extended Oregon's lead to 14-0.

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"AB has made a lot of great passes," Williams said, "but that was a great ball he threw and it was just vital to the team because he needed it, I needed it and our team needed it and that was the best part of that."

Hutson was particularly effective on Oregon's scoring drive that extended the Ducks' lead to 31-9 early in the fourth quarter when he had receptions of 12 and 25 yards before catching a 7-yard touchdown pass from Brown.

"Having my touchdown is OK, but I'm worried about the win more than anything. It was a great team win on a big rivalry like this today," Hutson said.

Hutson made a big play that helped seal the win in the fourth quarter after the Beavers pulled within 31-21 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining.

Hutson's 20-yard reception on third-and-8 from the Oregon 27-yard line gave the Ducks a much-needed first down when the Beavers could have seized momentum with a stop of the Ducks after getting back in the game.

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Instead, Hutson's big play kept the drive alive that clinched the win when Dye ran for a 1-yard touchdown and 38-21 lead with 3:14 remaining.

“Losing those three (Pittman, Redd and Johnson) is a big loss but we've got to have people step up," Hutson said. "Everybody is kind of everywhere now. We're just trying to keep it together. We know that we have to pass the ball to finish guys off, finish teams off."

Contact Ashley Conklin at aconklin@registerguard.com or 541-338-2337, and follow him on Twitter @Ashleyrgsports

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon Ducks receivers have big games in win over Oregon State Beavers