Boxscore

EUGENE, Ore. – LaMichael James ran for a career-high 227 yards and fifth-ranked Oregon scored on its first three possessions on their way to a 69-0 victory over Portland State on Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

The Ducks (3-0) rolled up 668 yards of total offense, including a school-record 528 yards rushing. James ran for a pair of touchdowns and starting quarterback Darron Thomas threw for 140 yards and four scores.

Portland State finished the day with 140 yards of offense and fell to 1-2 on the year. Both losses have come to FBS opponents in the Pac-10 Conference.

Just over one minute in, Oregon was on the scoreboard when James raced up the middle untouched for a 66-yard touchdown on third-and-1.

On their next trip down the field, the Ducks went for it on fourth-and-5 from the PSU 47-yard line and came away with a touchdown when Thomas hooked up with Jeff Maehl.

On the ensuing possession, Vikings' running back Cory McCaffrey fumbled on an attempted reverse play and Oregon recovered the ball at the PSU seven-yard line. Two plays later, Thomas found Maehl in the right corner of the end zone, and after Rob Beard's extra-point, the Ducks were up 21-0 just 10:15 into the contest.

The Vikings' best chance to score came late in the first quarter. A botched handoff between Thomas and James led to a fumble that was picked up by Vikings' linebacker Ryan Rau and returned 14 yards to the Oregon 22.

On second-and-9, Connor Kavanaugh hit Julius Thomas for an apparent 21-yard touchdown. But, the officials blew the whistle right after Kavanaugh threw the ball as Oregon had jumped offsides and made contact with a PSU lineman. Back-to-back sacks pushed PSU back to the 34-yard line, where Zach Brown missed a 52-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Kavanaugh finished the game 8 of 21 for 18 yards before giving way to Tygue Howland in the fourth quarter. Howland went 4 of 11 for 48 yards, with all four completions going to Thomas.

The Vikings tallied 74 yards on the ground, with McCaffrey gaining 28 on 12 carries and Shaughn Sanford rushing for 26 on six touches.

Defensively, Rau and DeShawn Shead both had nine tackles for the Vikings, while Jack Forbes added seven more, including 2.5 for loss.

A bright spot for the Vikings was the play of their punt coverage team. Oregon entered the afternoon having returned three punts for touchdowns through the first two games of the season and led the nation averaging 43.6 yards. But, the Vikings held Oregon to just 9.7 yards on seven returns Saturday.

In addition to James' 227 yards, all of which came in the first half, Andres Reed carried the ball 12 times for 95 yards for Oregon. Maehl led the Ducks with three receptions for 82 yards.

The Vikings have a bye next weekend before opening up Big Sky Conference play at home on Saturday, Oct. 2, against Idaho State. Kickoff is set for 5:05 p.m., at Hillsboro Stadium.

NOTES: The sellout crowd of 58,086 was the second-largest ever for a PSU game, trailing only the 61,082 that watched the Vikings play at California in 2006 ... Manoa Latu picked off a pass for the Vikings and Jack Forbes had a fumble recovery ... the Vikings fell to 0-4 all-time against Oregon and 2-26 against FBS opponents ... the 69 points scored by Oregon was the third-most ever given up by the Vikings and the worst loss in PSU history ... Portland State was shut out for the first time since a 14-0 loss at Montana State on Oct. 7, 2006 ... PSU's defense registered nine tackles for loss ... Brown has made 21 of his last 25 field goals, with all four misses coming from longer than 50 yards. He is now 7 of 9 this season, including 1 of 3 from beyond 50 yards.