EUGENE — Marcus Mariota showed no signs of stage fright in his debut for the Oregon Ducks.
The redshirt freshman quarterback made his first start in a real college football game Saturday night, passing for 200 yards and three touchdowns in No. 5 Oregon’s 57-34 season-opening victory over Arkansas State.
De’Anthony Thomas caught two passes for touchdowns and ran for another while collecting 119 yards in total offense as the Ducks built a 50-10 lead by halftime.
Kenjon Barner, taking over as starter after the departure of running back LaMichael James, ran for 66 yards and two Oregon scores.
The Ducks sat most of their starters after the break.
The loss spoiled coach Gus Malzahn’s first game as coach of the Red Wolves, who went 10-3 last season and won the Sun Belt Conference title.
Arkansas State senior quarterback Ryan Aplin passed for 304 yards and three touchdowns, including a 72-yard scoring pass to Julian Jones just before halftime.
Mariota replaced Darron Thomas, who decided to leave Oregon with a year of eligibility left.
Mariota was on the practice squad last season and was something of a mystery because Oregon closes practices, but he beat out Bryan Bennett for the starter’s job in fall camp.
The native Hawaiian had shown promise in the Ducks’ spring game with a touchdown pass and two scoring runs — including one touchdown rush of 82 yards.
Mariota is the first freshman to start at quarterback in an opener for Oregon since Danny O’Neil in 1991. He completed 18 of 22 passes.
The Ducks scored on their first drive of the game with Barner’s 4-yard dash, then added the two-point conversion to make it 8-0.
Barner, a senior, was James’ backup for the past two seasons. James, the school’s career leading rusher, left Oregon early for the NFL draft and was a second-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers.
Mariota connected with De’Anthony Thomas with a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 15-0.
Thomas made a splash last season when he set an Oregon freshman record with 18 touchdowns, rushing for seven, nine on receptions, and two on kickoff returns.
Before the first quarter was over, John Huff pulled down a 4-yard touchdown pass from Mariota and Barner added a 17-yard scoring run to make it 29-0.
Brian Davis kicked a 43-yard field goal for the Red Wolves early in the second quarter.
Thomas scored again on a 33-yard run to make it 43-3, and there was still 10:45 left in the half. True freshman Byron Marshall added a 3-yard touchdown run for the Ducks.
Aplin passed to Jones, who ran down the right side to close the gap a bit with 3:20 left in the half, before Davis opened the third quarter with a 29-yard field goal.
Aplin added a 6-yard touchdown pass to Josh Jarboe before the end of the quarter to make it 50-20.