RELATED: Everything Dan Lanning said after Oregon's win over WSU

After accumulating his fourth loss so far as Oregon’s head coach, the question about how this team would bounce back after a loss showed up again for Dan Lanning. None of the three Ducks losses last season were consecutive, so how would this year’s team respond?

Saturday, we found out in what ended up as a 38-24 victory for the Ducks (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) at Autzen Stadium. Washington State came to town hoping for its own bounce-back performance after an abysmal beatdown against Arizona last week. The once-ranked Cougs were given the challenging task of figuring out Oregon’s high-powered offense. The Huskies struggled to do so last week but figured it out on crucial fourth-down tries.

The failed attempts from last week may cause some sort of change in play calling. The 3-point loss very well could have been avoided had just one of those three attempts been converted.

The Ducks were given two early chances to continue with the aggressive playcalling. Fourth-and-longs in enemy territory. Instead, the field goal unit made its way onto the field both times, converting on one of the tries.

The Ducks had another chance early in the second quarter. Facing fourth-and-10, the offense stayed on the field, only to fool the defense with a rare Bo Nix punt.

The safer option on paper looked like the best idea, but the Cougars were able to erase the terrible field position and scored the game’s first touchdown. At this point, it seemed like that was the final wake-up call for Oregon.

After temporarily looking like there wouldn’t be any Duck touchdowns in the first half, they closed the final 6 minutes with two.

And they didn’t stop there. Running back Bucky Irving added two more in the third quarter while the Cougars had to keep settling for field goals until it couldn’t anymore.

The Ducks' defense held strong when needed, only giving up one touchdown to the dangerous Cameron Ward. The Cougars added a few field goals to keep things relatively close, but the end zone was off limits.

Washington State (4-3, 1-3) never got back for six points after scoring early into the second quarter. Oregon on the other hand, scored plenty in what turned out to be an important bounce-back game.

“Well, it was a battle, I still don’t feel like we’ve played a full game at this point how we finished in the fourth," Lanning said. "I thought there were some big momentum swings, some big fourth-down stops, some big runs for our offense and a lot of battling down the field. What I feel is our team plays for each other and you really saw that today the way those guys competed. Washington State had a good plan they came in and they executed, and their quarterback is a special player but so is ours and I think that showed up today.”

First Quarter

4:37, Washington State: Dean Janikowski 36-yard field goal, 3-0 Washington State

1:40, Oregon: Camden Lewis 26-yard field goal, 3-3 Oregon

Second Quarter

9:22, Washington State: Nakia Watson 4-yard run (Dean Janikowski PAT), 10-3 Washington State

5:57, Oregon: Bucky Irving 2-yard run (Camden Lewis PAT), 10-10 Oregon

1:46, Oregon: Bo Nix 2-yard run (Camden Lewis PAT), 17-10 Oregon

0:01, Washington State: Dean Janikowski 36-yard field goal, 17-13 Oregon

Third Quarter

10:13, Oregon: Bo Nix 42-yard pass to Bucky Irving (Camden Lewis PAT), 24-13 Oregon

6:05, Washington State: Dean Janikowski 50-yard field goal, 24-16 Oregon

3:56, Oregon: Bucky Irving 43-yard run (Camden Lewis PAT), 31-16 Oregon

Fourth Quarter

8:53, Oregon: Bo Nix 17-yard pass to Tez Johnson (Camden Lewis PAT), 38-16 Oregon

0:52, Washington State: Cam Ward 16-yard pass to Isaiah Hamilton (Dean Janikowski PAT), 38-24 Oregon

With the fourth quarter already ticking down, Washington State had the ball in Oregon territory, down by 15. The Cougars tried to pick up a fourth-and-long but were met with a six-man pass rush that ultimately affected the accuracy on the pass attempt. The Ducks took the ball back at midfield and marched down with ease, eventually increasing the lead even more and leaving the Cougars with little time for a comeback attempt.

Despite leaving the game with an injury in the fourth quarter, Bucky Irving carried the offense Saturday. He finished the game with 3 total touchdowns, two of which went for over 40 yards, and notched 171total yards of offense.

The running game for each team told a much larger story. The Cougars struggled to move the ball on the ground, finishing with just 57 rushing yards, while Oregon ended with just shy of 250.

“I would say his heart is pounding out of his chest, this dude is so passionate, he cares so much for his teammates and never goes down on first contact," Lanning said. "Really selfless player, and I think that really shows up when you see this guy play on the field.”

Oregon’s leading tackler for this one was Evan Williams and it wasn’t really close. The Fresno State transfer tallied 14 total tackles and picked up one of the Ducks’ six sacks. The 14 tackles Saturday give him 38 on the year, which ranks second on the team.

The first passing touchdown of the game for Bo Nix was a bit different than what Oregon fans have become accustomed to. Though the play gained 42 yards, the ball didn’t travel out of Nix’s hand very far. Bucky Irving was the simple check-down on a play where most of the other wideouts were covered. Nix found the open Irving who outpaced everyone on the field en route to the big score. The touchdown brought the lead to 11 and gave the Autzen Stadium crowd all it needed to keep the noise level at an all-time high.

The Ducks won the game because they didn’t let the emotions from last week’s game carry over. It would be easy for a team to get discouraged after a loss like the one suffered in Seattle. Even though it was a slow start at home, Oregon figured things out and got back into its usual rhythm. Drives were finished with 6 points and the defense stepped up big-time against one of the better passing offenses in the conference.

Passing

Bo Nix: 18-25, 293 yards, 2 TD’s

Rushing

Bucky Irving: 15 carries, 129 yards, 2 TD’s

Jordan James: 13 carries, 103 yards

Gary Bryant Jr.: 1 carry, 15 yards

Bo Nix: 2 carries, 4 yards, 1 TD

Receiving

Tez Johnson: 6 receptions, 94 yards, 1 TD

Troy Franklin: 4 receptions, 79 yards

Terrance Ferguson: 3 receptions, 53 yards

Bucky Irving: 3 receptions, 51 yards, 1 TD

Traeshon Holden: 1 reception, 9 yards

Patrick Herbert: 1 reception, 7 yards