Oregon football capitalizes on four Wisconsin turnovers to edge the Badgers in the Rose Bowl

PASADENA, CALIF. – Justin Herbert faked a handoff and went on the run of his life in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl.

Oregon's 6-6 senior quarterback stiff-armed Wisconsin linebacker Jack Sanborn at the line of scrimmage, then found his blockers and sprinted to the end zone.

The kid from Eugene who took over his beloved hometown team during its worst season of this century had just scored the decisive touchdown of the biggest win of his career.

A few minutes and a couple of big passes later, the Ducks celebrated amid confetti and roses at midfield.

"I wish it wasn't over," Herbert said. "This has been the best four years of my life. I've been honored to be a part of this team."

Herbert scored his third rushing touchdown of the 106th Rose Bowl on a 30-yard run with 7 minutes, 41 seconds to play Wednesday night, and No. 7 Oregon held off No. 11 Wisconsin 28-27 to win its third straight trip to Pasadena.

"We knew coming in that [Herbert] was athletic," Sanborn said. "We didn't have good angles and miscommunications. Something we have to be better at in a game like this. It's not the first game he ran with the ball."

But quarterback Jack Coan couldn't capitalize on his team's whopping advantages in time of possession (38:03-21:57) and total yards (322-204).

"There's a slim chance you could win, but it definitely puts you in a tough position when you have self-inflected penalties, special teams problems, turnovers," said Taylor, who likely is headed to the NFL. "When you're playing an elite team like Oregon, a great team like that, they'll capitalize on those mistakes."

Herbert passed for just 138 yards without a touchdown, and Oregon's 204 yards of offense were the fewest by any Rose Bowl team in 40 years.

While the offense sputtered, the Ducks (12-2) scored 21 points off the Badgers' four turnovers, including Brady Breeze's early 31-yard fumble return for a TD off a botched punt.

After Breeze forced another fumble in the fourth quarter, Herbert rambled through the Wisconsin defense for that 30-yard score on the next snap.

Herbert scored on runs of 4 and 5 yards in the first half.

Three years after coach Mark Helfrich was fired when the Ducks went 4-8 in Herbert's freshman season, Oregon capped a Pac-12 championship campaign with its fourth Rose Bowl victory in school history.

For the Badgers, the Big Ten runners-up, it was their fourth Rose Bowl loss in a row — the first three came in succession after the 2010-12 seasons.