page_title: 2014 Oregon Ducks football team
section_title: South Dakota
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 Oregon Ducks football team / Regular season / Game summaries / South Dakota
caption_attribution_description: English: Marcus Mariota runs the ball during the first quarter against South Dakota in 2014.
context_page_description: The 2014 Oregon Ducks football team represented the University of Oregon in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was led by second-year head coach Mark Helfrich and played their home games at Autzen Stadium for the 48th straight year. They are a member of the Pac-12 Conference in the North Division.
  The Oregon Ducks finished the season with 13–2 overall and 8–1 in Pac–12 play. The Ducks won the Pac-12 North Division for the second time since the division's creation in 2011, advancing to the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, where they defeated the Arizona Wildcats 51–13. The Ducks played in the inaugural College Football Playoff, netting a berth in the 2014 Rose Bowl semifinal game, where they defeated the Florida State Seminoles 59–20, advancing to the 2014 College Football Playoff National Championship game facing the Ohio State Buckeyes. This was Oregon's second-ever national championship game appearance. They were defeated in the National Championship by Ohio State by a score of 42–20. The Ducks finished the season as consensus national runners-up behind the national champion Buckeyes and ahead of Peach Bowl victors TCU.
context_section_description: In their home opener the Ducks defeated the South Dakota Coyotes 62–13 in their first ever meeting. To open the game the Ducks won the coin toss, elected to receive and marched down the field on a four-play, 74-yard drive lasting 94 seconds, which ended in a 62-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to Dwyane Stanford, followed by a successful two-point conversion run in by Taylor Alie. This touchdown was Mariota's 78th overall as a Duck, beating Joey Harrington for most career combined touchdowns. The Coyotes responded with a 4 and a half-minute drive which ended in a 47-yard field goal from Miles Bergner. On the next Oregon drive, the Ducks went 63 yards in three plays lasting just over a minute, culminating in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to Byron Marshall. A two-point conversion was attempted, but nullified due to an illegal formation penalty caused by too many players on the line of scrimmage, putting the game at 14–3. South Dakota was forced to punt on the next possession; the punt was downed at the Oregon 1-yard line, and pushed back an additional 6 yards due to an illegal blocking penalty. The Ducks responded with a 9-play, 97-yard drive finished off with true freshman Royce Freeman scoring his first touchdown as an Oregon Duck.
  South Dakota retained possession from the end of the first quarter into the beginning of the second and would finish their drive with a punt, downed at the Oregon 29-yard line. Oregon couldn't get things going on their first possession of the second quarter and had a 3 and out on a negative running play from Thomas Tyner, two incomplete passes and a punt which was returned to the 50-yard line. South Dakota fought back and put together an 8 play, 42-yard drive culminating in a 25-yard field goal, putting the game at 21–6 with 9:26 left in the half. The Ducks returned the ensuing kick-off to their own 42 yard line and were in the end-zone 5 plays later after a 26-yard run from Freeman. Oregon then forced the Coyotes to punt, taking possession at their own 46 yard line. Byron Marshall started the drive off by breaking free on a 53-yard run, only to drop the ball in celebration on the 1 yard line, the ball went into the end-zone and then out of bounds, causing a touch-back, giving the Coyotes the ball at their own 20 yard line. Oregon's defense then forced the Coyotes to fumble, which Oregon defensive back Dior Mathis recovered. Oregon turned the fumble into points 5 plays later with a touchdown pass from Mariota to Marshall to put the game at 35–6. South Dakota's next drive would be their only drive resulting in a touchdown, they drove the ball 75-yards in 6 plays, finishing with a 3-yard run from Trevor Bouma. The Ducks then recorded the final scoring drive of the first half, going 76-yard on 10 plays, finishing with a 1-yard run from Mariota, only to have the point after attempt fail due to a bad snap. The teams went into the locker rooms at halftime with score at 41–13.
  Ahead by 28 points and moving the ball at will, the Ducks played many of their backups in the second half. South Dakota was shut out for the entire second half, with Oregon's second string putting together three touchdown drives: a 50-yard punt return by Charles Nelson, a 4-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Lockie to Pharaoh Brown and 9-yard run from Kenny Bassett. While they did not score, South Dakota did close out the fourth quarter with a 69-yard, 17-play drive lasting just over 9 minutes that at one point was on the Oregon 2-yard line, but ended in a turnover on downs, leaving the final score at 62–13.
  In the game, Mariota passed for three touchdowns and 267 yards, leaving him tied with Darron Thomas for career passing touchdowns (66) and 22 yards away from breaking Bill Musgrave's record for career total offense (8,140 yards).
caption: Marcus Mariota runs the ball.
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