EUGENE -- As Oregon began its bye two weeks ago, the team's doctors, coach and quarterback gathered around the latest X-ray.
For the first time in more than a month, Justin Herbert's collarbone, whose fracture on Sept. 30 simultaneously put a crack in Oregon's season, finally appeared healed. But Taggart wanted to be convinced, beyond doubt, about the health of the quarterback he's dubbed Oregon's "franchise." Herbert got another X-ray two days before UO faced Arizona.
After a 48-28 win Saturday at Autzen Stadium, there is no second opinion necessary.
"Justin's back," a smiling Taggart said as he sat down for a press conference, letting out a cathartic sigh.
In his first game in seven weeks, UO's homegrown sophomore star threw for 235 yards, a touchdown and an interception. His mere threat to throw downfield opened up the offense and rejuvenated the Ducks (6-5, 3-5 Pac-12), who enter next week's 121st Civil War guaranteed a bowl berth and armed with some of their September swagger.
Herbert called his five-game absence frustrating, as he could only mentor backup Braxton Burmeister while watching UO's offense become predictable.
"It was a tough situation, but I think Braxton handled it really well," said Herbert, who added that at the time of the initial fracture in September, he didn't believe it was as serious as it turned out to be.
Herbert was nervous about getting hit for the first time, but he wasn't touched when he escaped a blitz on a first quarter drop-back and slipped out of the pocket for a 40-yard touchdown run down the sideline of Arizona (7-4, 5-3), beating defensive back Tony Fields to the pylon.
The Autzen crowd, which had gone quiet when Herbert scrambled earlier in the game and took a hit near his collarbone, erupted.
"It was a little surprising," he said.
His threat to pass downfield, an aspect of the offense that had disappeared in his absence, later helped running backs Freeman and Tony Brooks-James, who rushed for 135 and 124 yards, respectively, on 19 carries apiece. Fellow backs Kani Benoit and Taj Griffin did not play due to injury.
"We were back to getting explosive plays that this offense thrives on," Taggart said. "Those explosive plays really help our rushing attack. Get a nice pass play downfield and follow it up with run with a nice tempo, it always helps our team. That's kind of the way it was earlier this year. It was good to have Herbert back."
His return was part of a larger team effort that, despite a mountain of penalties called on UO, stopped one of the nation's hottest teams since the October emergence of quarterback Khalil Tate, a Heisman Trophy candidate as unpleasant to tackle as a Saguaro.
Oregon trailed 21-14 with 9:08 remaining in the second quarter, then scored 34 of the game's next 42 points behind Royce Freeman's four rushing touchdowns. UO recorded its most yards of offense (588) since its third game and accomplished a feat that no other Pac-12 defense can claim this season -- holding Tate to fewer than 100 rushing yards.
"We didn't block them well, we didn't read them well, and they did a good job," Arizona's Rich Rodriguez said.
Coordinator Jim Leavitt employed a blitzer off the edge on most plays whose sole job was to contain or hit Tate, and it worked. He had 32 rushing yards, 129 fewer than his season average, and was outrushed by Herbert.
"I didn't think anybody thought that would happen before the game," center Jake Hanson said, before looking at Herbert, who was sitting next to him, as if to confess. "Sorry."
Scout-team quarterback Demetri Burch, whose job was mimicking Tate in practice, received the game ball.
Said safety Ugochukwu Amadi, whose second-quarter interception was his team-leading third this season: "I believe Burch gave us a better look than Tate did tonight."
Tate's largest contribution of the night, arguably, was giving Oregon's defense more motivation than it needed when he stepped on defensive tackle Henry Mondeaux's belly in the first half, sending linebacker Troy Dye into a rage.
This was after a week of talk about Arizona's "beef" with Oregon, due to UO flipping four recruits in its 2016 class. That spilled over into the game. Chippy play had already forced referees to separate players at least twice. Later, a pick-six interception by Arizona's Dane Cruikshank was waved off after he was called for taunting, wagging a finger at a would-be tackler.
The Ducks responded by limiting the nation's third-highest scoring offense to its fewest points since Sept. 22 and its lowest yards-per-play average of the season.
Mondeaux believed the step wasn't intentional and didn't go after Tate in his comments. But he conceded "it got a reaction out of us obviously."
"When it comes to my teammates and my defensive brothers, I'm going to stand up for those dudes no matter what," said Dye, whose 11 tackles were a team high. "I'm ready to go to war, I'm ready to go to battle, it doesn't matter who you are. I'm ready to step in your face if you try to disrespect one of my guys."
After his four-touchdown night, Freeman broke his tie with LaMichael James for the most touchdowns in school history, with 62, and passed LaDainian Tomlinson for 10th all-time in NCAA rushing yards. (Kicker Aidan Schneider also moved atop the UO record books, tying Jared Siegel for most all-time with 49 field goals.)
Freeman hadn't scored since Sept. 23 but ended his drought in a big way. He's now one rushing touchdown behind the Pac-12 career record of 59 owned by Oregon State's Ken Simonton.
"It was kind of frustrating, trying to get into the end zone and help my team however possible," Freeman said. "It just felt really good to break through today."
He might as well have been speaking for the whole team.
Taggart was ebullient, slapping hands with recruits while jogging off the field in a pair of self-lacing Nikes (retail price $720).
Once he got into the locker room after the postseason-clinching win, he turned to uber-donor Phil Knight with just one question: "Does Nike make bowling shoes?"
-- Andrew Greif
agreif@oregonian.com
@andrewgreif