Cam Ward lined up in the shadow of his own goalpost and, seven plays later, had the Washington State Cougars up 10-3 on the ninth-ranked Oregon Ducks inside Autzen Stadium.

The first quarter featured dueling field goals from the Cougs and Ducks. After lining up the fourth drive of the game at their own 3, the Cougs had chunk plays of 20, 47, and 16 yards to set up a short touchdown run from Nakia Watson.

A pass to Lincoln Victor on second-and-4 from the Wazzu 9 picked up 20 yards and got the Cougs in motion. On the next play, Ward evaded pressure and fired deep to Kyle Williams for 47 yards.

An on-the-move Ward fired right over the shoulder to Williams and the receiver did the rest.

On a third-and-6, Ward stood in with a defender bearing down on him and fired side-arm to Cooper Mathers for 16 yards and a fresh set of downs.

Watson scored on the very next play.

Throughout the week, Oregon defenders said Ward was perhaps the most annoying quarterback to face. He showed why on the first touchdown drive of the day. Ward can drop his arm and fire off passes from different angles, he gets the ball out blisteringly fast when he needs to, and he runs to set up scramble drill shot plays.

The Cougars took a 10-3 lead on the Ducks with the score. Oregon responded on its next drive with a touchdown to tie the game.

The two are battling on ABC.