"It seemed like every time we sat down, we got right back up because the defense kept them down or turned the ball over," running back Jonathan Stewart said.

Oregon (5-1, 2-1 Pacific-10) defeated the Cougars 53-7 on Saturday. Quarterback Dennis Dixon threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, and the defense sacked Washington State quarterback Alex Brink six times, forced him to fumble for a turnover and intercepted him twice.

Oregon defensive end Nick Reed had nine tackles, six unassisted, and 3› sacks.

"We talked last week about shutting people out," linebacker Kwame Agyeman said. "If we want to be a championship team, a championship defense, we need to shut people out. This is what you can expect from now on."

With the victory, and a couple of key upsets Saturday, the Ducks moved up two spots in the AP Poll to No. 7 — the highest ranked team from the Pac-10.

California, which had defeated the Ducks at Autzen Stadium on Sept. 29 and was ranked at No. 2, dropped to No. 10 following their 31-28 loss to Oregon State. USC fell three spots to No. 13 with a difficult 20-13 victory over Arizona. Arizona State beat Washington 44-20 to remain undefeated and move up two spots to No. 12.

"We feel like we're on a roll, like we have something special this year," Agyeman said.

Dixon completed 21 of 28 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored on a 1-yard keeper. Jaison Williams had four catches for 108 yards and a score.

But the victory was costly.

Receiver Cameron Colvin broke his ankle early in the game, and running back Jeremiah Johnson — half of Oregon's dangerous rushing tandem with Stewart — injured his right knee after scoring two touchdowns.

Colvin is out for the rest of the season and it appeared Johnson's knee injury was serious.

The Cougars (2-5, 0-4) were without receiver Brandon Gibson, who suited up but did not play. Gibson was leading the Pac-10 with 6.5 catches and 94.5 yards per game.

Brink, who grew up in Eugene and led Sheldon High to a state title but wasn't recruited by the Ducks, completed 15 of 33 passes for 251 yards. He had never appeared on-field at Autzen.

"It's frustrating for me on a person level because I definitely wanted to come home and play better in Eugene, but that's not the most important thing," Brink said. "The most important thing for me is that as a team we got a loss, and now we're even farther away from our chances of going to a bowl game. We need to regroup as a team and stay together."

Washington State has a bye week before hosting UCLA.

Oregon, ranked No. 10 in the BCS standings, heads to Washington Saturday for a rivalry game against the Huskies (2-4, 0-3).