Utah and McCoy Look Like the Real Thing, 34-16 : Nonconference: Utes stay unbeaten as quarterback passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns against Oregon.

There’s an unbeaten major college football team in Utah, and it’s not Brigham Young.

Utah’s Mike McCoy won his duel with Oregon quarterback Danny O’Neil on Saturday, completing 28 of 39 passes for 309 yards and two touchdowns to help Utah (3-0) to a 34-16 victory over the Ducks.

“I think this is really going to let a lot of teams know, not just in our conference but nationally, that we’re for real,” McCoy said.

Kareem Leary intercepted two of O’Neil’s passes late in the second quarter after the Ducks (1-2) had taken a 10-7 lead, returning the second 38 yards for a touchdown to put Utah ahead at halftime, 21-10.

“The quarterback kind of gave that one away,” Leary said. “He kind of let me know it wascoming.

“I was going to bat it down because I thought I couldn’t go ahead and make the play on the ball. At the last second, I just said, ‘Go ahead and do the things that you’re blessed to do.’ Once I got it, I knew I was going to the end zone. Nobody was going to catch me.”

Leary returned his first interception 39 yards to the Oregon 43.

Utah’s drive stalled on the Oregon nine, but holder Jason Jones ran up the middle on a fake field goal for a touchdown to give Utah the lead for good, 14-10, with 2:25 to play in the half.

Earlier, Oregon used a pair of trick plays, including one in which O’Neil caught a 14-yard pass, to drive to the Utah 19. But fullback Palou Malepeai fumbled and the Utes’ Luther Ellis recovered.

“It’s a simple play that we’ve run for four years,” said O’Neil, who completed 19 of 39 passes for 164 yards. “It’s one of those things that you can’t believe happened. Those kinds of mistakes are killing us.”

Oregon took the second-half kickoff and scored at the end of a seven-play, 68-yard drive. Dino Philyaw got his second touchdown on a 16-yard run to cut Utah’s lead to 21-16.

McCoy put the game away with touchdown passes of 25 yards to Deron Claiborne with 1:03 to play in the third quarter and six yards to Rob Hamilton with 5:29 remaining in the game.