EUGENE —

It was hard to tell which team was which in the early portions of the not highly anticipated Oregon-Wyoming matchup on a sun-splashed Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

That team driving the ball methodically down the field, converting five of its first six third downs, and taking an early 7-0 lead? Yeah, that was Wyoming.

The unheralded Cowboys outgained the No. 2-ranked Ducks in the first quarter, 143 yards to 128.

But before this becomes another column about how the Ducks will have to play better in future games, and how their defense looked shaky at times, consider this: The game still was over before halftime.

After a slow start, Oregon cruised to a 48-14 victory and improved to 3-0.

So, was there a hangover from the Ducks’ enormous victory over Michigan State last week? Probably so. These are 18- to 21-year-old kids, after all, and the Autzen energy for a game that started at 11 a.m. was about half that of the previous week.

“We were a little sluggish in the beginning in every phase,” said Oregon coach Mark Helfrich. “It was a bit of a hangover situation.”

But it didn’t matter. Oregon found its rhythm in the second quarter and finally shook free of the pesky Cowboys by rolling to a 27-7 lead by halftime.

With the game tied 7-7, Byron Marshall patiently waited for a wall of blockers and hit the hole at just the right time to scurry nearly untouched into the end zone and give Oregon a 13-7 lead with 10:45 left in the second quarter.

But what about Oregon’s defense, which gave up 283 yards of offense in the first half? Well, the defense still made several big plays, including Erick Dargan’s two interceptions in the second quarter that both led to touchdowns.

“We had to get back to playing to our standards and bringing our energy,” said Dargan, a senior free safety.

After Dargan’s first interception, Mariota decided to run on a broken pass play. He dove and flipped spectacularly into the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown to give Oregon some breathing room with a 20-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

“I figured I was close enough to the goal line that I would try jumping,” Mariota said.

But coaches and teammates were holding their breath in fear that the star quarterback would get injured on such a play.

“(Helfrich) told me right after I got to the sidelines to never do that again,” Mariota said with a smile.

Said wide receiver Keanon Lowe, who was blocking on the play: “I’d rather see him run out of bounds at the 2 (-yard line). That being said, it was an awesome play.”

Dargan’s second interception was also highlight-reel worthy, as he tipped the ball to himself to halt yet another drive by the Cowboys deep into Duck territory.

“That’s been exactly how he practices,” Helfrich said of Dargan’s interceptions. “He’s had a ton of picks in practice. He had a couple huge, huge field-flipping plays today.”

On Oregon’s ensuing possession following the second Dargan pick, Mariota had a 24-yard run, then found Devon Allen for a 16-yard touchdown pass and a 27-7 lead with 1:34 left in the first half.

The game was over at that point. So say what you will about slow starts and porous defenses, by halftime, the outcome was no longer in doubt.

And the Ducks poured it on in the second half, as that “shaky” defense came up with yet another big play when linebacker Torrodney Prevot sacked Wyoming quarterback Colby Kirkegaard and forced a fumble that was recovered by Oregon’s Christian French.

Then former Oregon basketball point guard Johnathan Loyd even got in on the onslaught, catching his first career touchdown pass, a 5-yarder from Mariota, for a 41-7 lead early in the third quarter.

“Once I realized where I was on the field, emotions took over and I just started screaming,” said Loyd, who sported an Oregon basketball T-shirt in the postgame media room.

Mariota, who was 19-of-23 passing for 221 yards and spread the ball around to seven different receivers, then got to rest most of the second half, replaced by Jeff Lockie midway through the third quarter.

Fans were certainly not as jacked for this game as they were for Michigan State, and the outcome was about as expected, but Wyoming might have been a better team than most thought. The Cowboys came into the game with the best scoring defense in the Mountain West Conference, allowing just 12.5 points per game.

And after a slow start, the Ducks put up 48 on the Cowboys. Are there things to improve on? Certainly.

“Our guys did a decent job of shaking the hangover, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be for the long term,” Helfrich said.

But Oregon appears perfectly prepared for its Pac-12 opener next Saturday night at Washington State.

—Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com