EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon stars LaMichael James and Darron Thomas returned from injury but true freshman De’Anthony Thomas sparked the No. 7 Ducks with two second-half touchdowns in a 43-28 victory over Washington State on Saturday.
Darron Thomas, who missed a game because of a knee injury, returned to start against the Cougars but threw two interceptions in the first half and was replaced by backup Bryan Bennett in the second.
Washington State (3-5, 1-4 Pacific-12) lost its fourth consecutive. The Cougars hung tough with Oregon for much of the game and trailed only 15-10 at halftime.
Lavasier Tuinei caught two touchdown passes for Oregon (7-1, 5-0), which has won 21 consecutive games at Autzen Stadium.
De’Anthony Thomas, a running back from Los Angeles, has 11 touchdowns this season,an Oregon record for a true freshman. His second score of the game was a 93-yard kickoff return.
James missed two games after dislocating his right elbow in a victory over California on Oct. 6. Wearing a brace, James ran for 53 yards against the Cougars.
In other games involving Pacific-12 teams, Brock Osweiler threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns, Cameron Marshall added three rushing touchdowns and No. 21 Arizona State (6-2, 4-1) avoided a letdown with a 48-14 victory over Colorado (1-8, 0-5). ... Freshman safety Tevin McDonald made the first three interceptions of his college career, Derrick Coleman scored three touchdowns and host UCLA (4-4, 3-2) beat California (4-4, 1-4)31-14. ... John White ran for a career-high 205 yards, Jon Hays threw two touchdown passes and Utah’s defense forced four turnovers as the Utes (4-4, 1-4) beat Oregon State (2-6, 2-3) 27-8.
WESTERN ATHLETIC Cameron leads La. Tech
RUSTON, La. - Colby Cameron threw two touchdowns in the second quarter to help Louisiana Tech rally and beat San Jose State 38-28 on Saturday.
Colby, who finished with 237 yards on 17-of-27 passing, connected with Quinton Patton on a 90-yard pass that gave Louisiana Tech (4-4, 3-1) a 17-14 lead midway through the second quarter.
Matt Faulkner led San Jose State (3-5, 2-2), throwing for 327 yards and three touchdowns on 33-of-49 passing but was intercepted four times.
In other games involving Western Athletic Conference teams, Kenton Chun’s 35-yard field goal with 32 seconds to play gave Hawaii (5-3, 3-1) a 16-14 victory over Idaho (1-7, 0-4). Trey Farquhar missed a 53-yard field-goal try with 8 seconds left for the Vandals. ... Lampford Mark ran for 185 yards and 1 touchdown on just 8 carries to lead Nevada (5-3, 3-0) to a 48-34 victory over New Mexico State (3-5, 1-3).
Sports, Pages 40 on 10/30/2011