Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota wasn't going to go through an entire season without turning the ball over, so his two lost fumbles against Washington State do not mean some sort of dramatic collapse is coming.
What is dramatic is that Mariota accounted for 26 touchdowns before gifting the ball over to the opposition, bolstering his Heisman Trophy credentials in a 62-38 win over the Cougars on Saturday.
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Mariota was 23-of-32 passing for 327 yards and two touchdowns, adding 67 rushing yards with a 57-yard touchdown run for his ninth consecutive game with both passing and rushing scores.
Mariota still hasn't thrown an interception this season or in his last nine games dating back to the 17-14 overtime loss to Stanford last November that cost the Ducks a spot in the BCS championship game. In that span, Mariota has completed 62 percent of his passes for 2,357 yards and 22 touchdowns.
And even though UO was without running back De'Anthony Thomas (ankle) for the third straight week, they still got 291 rushing yards and five touchdowns from sophomore Byron Marshall and freshman Thomas Tyner.
Mariota and UO face UCLA and its fine outside linebacker Anthony Barr next week. Combined with those turnovers, that should definitely keep UO engaged and not looking ahead to its chance for revenge against the Cardinal on Nov. 7.
Follow Dan Greenspan on Twitter @DanGreenspan.
