KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona's Jason Johnson reaches for an extra yard on a run Saturday night during the Wildcats' 31-14 loss to Oregon in both teams' Pac-10 opener. Johnson finished the game with 302 yards and two touchdowns.

Even with the Wildcats missing several key players due to injuries, Arizona was able to play with the No. 8 team in the country ÷ for a half.

UA had the lead twice in the first half and put a little scare into the No. 8 Oregon Ducks (5-0, 1-0 Pacific 10 Conference), but when all was said and done, the Wildcats' injuries and Oregon's depth took over in the 31-14 loss Saturday night in Arizona Stadium.

"We showed that we can stand toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the conference," senior quarterback Jason Johnson said. "We are so close and hopefully some day, very soon to now, we can really turn that corner and never look back."

UA fell to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference in front of a student section that was nearly filled ÷ for the first tme this season ÷ and the rest of the 47,356 people at Arizona Stadium.

The Wildcats were missing many key players, including junior running back Clarence Farmer, who will miss the rest of the season after he had surgery to repair cartilage damage in his knee Saturday morning. Also, defensive starters including senior linebacker Lance Briggs (ankle), freshman cornerback Darrell Brooks (back), and junior cornerback Michael Jolivette (knee) all did not play. Plus, safety Clay Hardt sat out most of the second half with an ankle injury.

"We are just trying to get our defense patched together," wide receiver Bobby Wade said. "There are no excuses for a loss, but you have to take that stuff into consideration."

This was the Wildcat's 12th Pac-10 loss in their last 14 games and seventh-straight at home.

"We are disappointed, but we are not discouraged," head coach John Mackovic said. "We didn't play well enough to win, but we will."

Notes: ·Wade caught a career-high 12 passes, which extends his consecutive games with a catch to 36 · UA's defense held the Ducks to three-and-out on their first possession. That marked the first time all year that Oregon has not scored on their first possession · Briggs dressed and warmed up but was unable to play · Oregon, who moved up to No. 7 in the latest AP rankings, extended its conference-high winning streak to 10 games. Currently, that is the nation's second longest winning streak behind Miami at 27 games · True freshman Ryan O'Hara was the backup quarterback for the game. Usual backup redshirt freshman Nic Costa was hurt earlier in the week. According to Mackovic, O'Hara would have played if something had happen to Johnson · Junior kicker Bobby Gill handled the extra point duties over usual starter, senior Sean Keel · Farmer will be out the rest of the year due to cartilage damage in his knee and will be unable to receive a medical redshirt. He played in four games this year and the maximum games played in to receive consideration for a medical redshirt is three, according to Mackovic

Running the ball was again a problem for the Wildcats. With the absence of Farmer, the rushing duties were placed solely on redshirt freshman Mike Bell.

Bell made his first start and averaged just 2.6 yards per carry, finishing with 54 yards on 21 carries.

"I think Mike did a nice job, but I think it is really difficult when you are a first-year player," Mackovic said.

On the other sideline, Oregon's Onterrio Smith tallied a school-record fifth-straight 100-yard rushing game. Smith finished the game with 145 yards on 28 carries and two touchdowns.

Arizona got on the board first as it opened up the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Bell on its first possession. It was Bell's first collegiate receiving score and Johnson's 25th career passing touchdown.

Oregon responded quickly with a nine-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off by a 2-yard Smith touchdown.

Toward the end of the first quarter, UA came up with an answer of its own with a Johnson-to-Wade touchdown strike from 16 yards out and the Wildcats led after the first quarter, 14-7.

In the next three quarters, the Ducks scored 24 unanswered points, including another Smith touchdown and a 53-yard field goal by kicker Jared Siegel that ended the first half with Arizona trailing, 17-14.

The second half was a completely different story.

"We just weren't able to substance anything offensively (in the second half)," Mackovic said. "They did make some plays, but we were in a position to answer some of those scores, but offensively we didn't do it."

Wade ended the game with a career-high 12 catches to lead the Wildcats offensive attack and Johnson added 302 passing yards with two touchdowns, but he did throw one interception in a key situation.

Halfway through the third quarter, Arizona trailed 17-14 from Oregon's 47-yard line when Johnson misfired on a long pass to Wade that was intercepted by Oregon safety Keith Lewis.

Oregon capitalized on the UA mistake and added seven points to its lead when Duck quarterback Jason Fife found receiver Keenan Howry for a 33-yard touchdown pass.

That play, and the rest of the third quarter made the difference in the game.

The Ducks outgained the Wildcats 172-63 in the third quarter alone and scored their final points of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter.