EUGENE —

This was only a matter of time.

Oregon’s bent, battered and beleaguered defense finally broke completely in the second half on Thursday night at Autzen Stadium, as Arizona piled up 221 yards and 21 points in the third quarter. The Ducks simply could not get stops, and they inexplicably left receivers uncovered on several plays that resulted in big gains for the Wildcats.

Marcus Mariota’s moment for magic was fleeting, as five plays into a possible game-tying drive he was sacked and stripped of the ball by Arizona’s Scooby Wright III.

The 31-24 loss to the Wildcats puts a serious crimp in Oregon’s national title hopes, and it is every bit as deflating as the 42-16 loss to Arizona in Tucson last season.

Everybody was waiting to see how Oregon would respond after an uneven performance against Washington State on Sept. 20.

The No. 2 Ducks did not seem to respond at all in the early going of a matchup of two Pac-12 unbeatens.

Seemingly every aspect of the team was out of sync, including Mariota.

Even Superman has bad moments, but you know how the movie ends. Mariota and the Ducks overcame a sluggish first quarter to hang on for the win.

Only this was an alternate ending.

With the game tied 24-24, Oregon let Arizona convert on a third-and-20 play. Then, after Tony Washington sacked Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon, he made a little bow to the sideline and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. That gave the Wildcats a first-and-goal from the 8, and they would score to take the 31-24 lead a few plays later.

A ticky-tack call against Washington? Probably.

But Oregon had this coming, and the Ducks cannot blame the officials. A porous defense and an injury-plagued offensive line — which gave up five sacks Thursday night — finally proved Oregon’s undoing.

“There’s a bunch of hurt guys in (the locker room) right now,” Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said afterward. “We had them stopped there at the end.”

In the first quarter, Mariota threw into double coverage on several occasions, and he even pitched an ill-advised lateral after running for 7 yards on one play. He completed just 2 of his first 7 passes, throwing the same number of incompletions by midway through the first quarter as he threw all game against Washington State.

On defense, the Ducks continued to give up huge chunks of yards and miss tackle after tackle, just like they did in their shaky 38-31 victory over Washington State, when they gave up 436 passing yards. The Oregon defense entered the Arizona game ranked a dismal 95th nationally in total yards allowed.

The Ducks desperately needed a big play to start the second quarter. Since Mariota was having trouble throwing the ball, why not have him catch it?

Early in the second period, Mariota pitched the ball to running back Royce Freeman, who threw back across the field to a streaking Mariota. The quarterback-turned-receiver lowered his shoulder like a tight end and bowled into an Arizona defender and into the end zone.

The 26-yard touchdown gave the Ducks a 7-3 lead and seemed to light a fire under the team. But it was one of very few highlights for Oregon on this night.

Oregon held Solomon to just 70 yards passing in the first half and forced two turnovers, and the Wildcats were just 2 of 8 on third-down conversions in the first half.

But the floodgates opened in the third quarter, as the Ducks left several Arizona receivers wide open, including running back Nick Wilson, who caught a pass with no Duck within 20 yards of him on a 34-yard touchdown reception that gave the Wildcats a 24-14 lead late in the third quarter.

Smatterings of boos from the Autzen Stadium crowd could be heard throughout the second half, and they were not always directed at the officials.

The schedule does not get any easier for Oregon in this competitive Pac-12 Conference, as the Ducks must now regroup for a trip to UCLA next week.

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