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(6) Arizona State at (4) Oregon
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6:45 p.m. ET, ESPN/FSN Arizona
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Autzen Stadium (capacity: 54,000)
Eugene, Ore.
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Breaking down Saturday's key Pac-10 showdown.
Three things you should care about
 | Jonathan Stewart ran for 142 yards on just 12 carries in Oregon's 48-13 win over Arizona State last year. Al Tielemans/SI |
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Have questions or feedback? E-mail Cory McCartney.
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1. Dennis Dixon is the Ducks' posterboy, but Jonathan Stewart has been doing the heavy lifting. Dixon, the slick quarterback, has been a revelation in leading Chip Kelly's offense and has put his name near (or at) the top of many Heisman lists. But the key to the Ducks is Stewart, who has recently had to pick up the pace like never before. Through the first six games, Stewart was carrying the ball an average of 16.5 times, sharing time with Jeremiah Johnson. But since Johnson was lost to a season-ending knee injury, Stewart has toted the rock 57 times in the past two games for a total of 354 yards. On the season, he has 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns and his 6.69 yards per carry is tops among FBS' 13 1,000-yard rushers. The Sun Devils have been stout against the run, ranking ninth in the country (89.3 yards per game) and have only allowed one back to hit the 100-yard mark this season (Oregon State's Yvenson Bernard). But if the Ducks are going to dictate the pace -- like they have for so much of the season -- they need Stewart to once again get rolling early.
2. Arizona State has thrived with its back against the wall. The Sun Devils have followed an all-too-familiar script in five of their victories, bouncing back from 14-0 vs. Colorado and 19-0 against Oregon State, trailing Washington State three different times, rebounding from a four-point halftime deficit to Washington (by outscoring UW 31-3 after the break) and trailing Cal by 13 points before outscoring the Bears 17-0 in the second half. In all, the Sun Devils have outscored the opposition 153-29 after halftime. Arizona State is likely to follow suit against the high-powered Ducks, who have gotten on the board first in every game this season. But will Oregon, which is averaging 43.8 points a game (third in the country) and 25 in the first half, put the Sun Devils in an insurmountable hole?
3. Autzen Stadium indeed brings the noise. Oregon's record crowd of 59,277 against USC last weekend still leaves the Ducks' pond ranked 47th among Division I-A stadiums, but nowhere else will ear plugs come in more handy than in Eugene. In the win over the Trojans, the crowd registered 127.2 decibels -- louder than a jet taking off -- setting a national record for recorded crowd noise. But Autzen is more than just a raucous atmosphere; it's also a nightmare for the opposition. Coined "the place where great teams go to die," Oregon has a 42-6 record in Autzen Stadium since 1997 -- but for those scoring at home, two of those losses came against the Sun Devils (in 2002 and '04).
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