Utes Shock No. 19 Oregon, 17-13

Friday, October 3

Salt Lake City, Utah

8:00 PM MDT

University of Utah

Oregon

10/3/2003 12:00 AM | Football

Oct. 3, 2003

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By DOUG ALDEN
AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - Alex Smith passed for a career-best 340 yards and two touchdowns as Utah beat a ranked opponent for the first time in four years by upsetting No. 19 Oregon 17-13 Friday night.

Smith completed 25 of 38 passes as the Utes (4-1) handed the Ducks (4-2) their second straight loss after beating then No. 3 Michigan.

Oregon, which had nine turnovers last week in a 55-16 loss to Washington State, had just two on Friday but the Ducks were shut out in the second half. Oregon had a final chance after stopping Utah on a fourth-and-goal from inside the 1 with 31.3 seconds left, but didn't have enough time to move the ball the length of the field. The game ended on an 18-yard completion from Kellen Clemens to Demetrius Williams at the Oregon 34.

The Utes lingered for several minutes as the crowd of 44,676 continued to cheer. It was Utah's first win over a ranked opponent since beating Brigham Young - also ranked 19th - 20-17 in 1999.

Utah coach Urban Meyer had promised to open up Utah's offense after running conservative game plans in Smith's first two starts for Brett Elliott, who broke his wrist in a loss to Texas A&M on Sept. 6.

Utah had 466 yards of offense, the Utes' highest total since gaining 415 in the A&M game. Paris Warren, who transferred from Oregon after the 2001 season, had 10 catches for 54 yards and ran five times for 32 yards against his former team.

Steve Savoy caught his first career touchdown pass and had six catches for 176 yards for the Utes.

Smith's previous best was a 17-of-22 for 158 yards performance last week in a 28-21 win over Colorado State.

The Ducks shut down the Utes for most of the third quarter and pinned them on their 7-yard line with a punt late in the quarter, but Utah marched down the field for their first lead.

Smith converted on a third down with a 7-yard pass to Warren, then hit Savoy on a 50-yard pass play that set up Utah at the Oregon 25. On third-and-7 from the 9, Smith hit Moa on a slant for a touchdown that gave Utah its first lead with 13:07 left to play.

Oregon fumbled on its next possession and failed to convert on fourth down later in the quarter as the Utes held on for the win.

The Ducks had taken an early lead, catching the Utes by surprise with a fake punt from their own 48 early in the second quarter, then on first down Clemens hit Samie Parker in stride through double coverage at the Utah 2. Clemens took it in two plays later for a 10-3 lead.

Oregon scored again quickly after Steven Moore stripped the ball from Utah receiver Travis LaTendresse and the Ducks recovered at the 30, setting up Jared Siegel's 40-yard field goal to make it 13-3 with 11:13 left in the half.

Utah answered with a 69-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Savoy, who had a step on Moore and outran him down the right sideline to cut the lead to 13-10.

Utah was inside the Oregon 20 three times in the first half, but got just one field goal and two missed attempts out of the drives.