SANTA CLARA, Calif. — He'd won nothing yet. No conference championship. No Heisman Trophy. No Johnny Unitas Award. No nothing. Maybe Marcus Mariota sped around Levi's Stadium in the second half like a guy whose feet barely touched turf because he was playing with a couple of empty pockets on Friday night. Oregon blistered Arizona 51-13 to win the Pac-12 championship. Mariota threw for 303 yards, and accounted for five touchdowns (three rushing, two passing). And while this wasn't as graceful as a ballet or as fluid as the symphony — the Ducks had 12 penalties and started the game by littering field goals all over the place — the victory ends up a booming statement by a program that badly needed to make one. The College Football Playoff selection committee gathered in Dallas and watched the conference title game as a group. They'll also watch Alabama play Missouri on Saturday in the SEC Championship. But as a prelude the committee watched one-loss UO untie the ugly knot Arizona put in the Ducks' schedule at Autzen Stadium in Week 5. Now, had the Ducks simply executed this task as if they were taking out the trash, it would have been fine. The UA demon would have been exorcized. The questions about that seven-point loss would have been answered. The past would have been the past. In fact, the Ducks started the game so tight, so sputtering, so inexplicably sloppy to start, that anyone who watched them began to wonder if they knew America was watching. Then, Mariota and his teammates got busy making a statement. No. 2 Oregon rolled out a convincing case for itself as the No. 1 team in America. Current top-ranked Alabama will have an opportunity to answer on Saturday. But with 640 yards of offense, and 31 first downs, and 51 blistering points on a neutral field, this was a back-alley whipping pulled center stage.

• published: 06 Dec 2014
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