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Oregon Ducks offensive lineman Hamani Stevens (54), waves at the crowd as he goes to the locker room with an injury against the University of Washington Huskies, Oct 18, 2014, at Autzen Stadium, in Eugene. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian Oregon Ducks play University of Washington Huskies

EUGENE -- The sight of Oregon left guard Hamani Stevens hopping off the field on his left leg like a pogo stick was the last thing anyone affiliated with the Ducks wanted to see on Saturday.

With an offensive line that has been decimated by injuries, the Ducks had, for once, at least half a game of stability. Jake Fisher made his triumphant return against UCLA the week before and things we're firing smoothly again against the Huskies when Stevens' right ankle was wrenched by a defensive lineman. The fans inside Autzen Stadium held their collective breath as Stevens lay in a heap on the turf. Most expected the worst, it's been that type of season for the line, and that included Stevens.

"Yeah, the way it felt, at one time, I thought it was really serious," the redshirt senior said. "Usually how that happens is more of a severe injury, but it was just a bad ankle sprain. I'll still be able to play through it."

When Stevens returned on Oregon's next drive a rush of relief came through the Oregon sidelines. Marcus Mariota, who was sacked 12 times in the two games Fisher was out, might have been the happiest to see the experienced lineman return.

"When Hamani went down it's obviously tough to see a teammate go down," Mariota said. "But when he got up and kind of limped off and got under his own power and felt like he should be OK, it wasn't much of a worry there."

The trouble for Stevens, though, was his return came on his own 1-yard line. With Oregon backed up against the end zone, Stevens returned to help the Ducks orchestrate a 99-yard touchdown drive – a series of plays that many on the team called the backbreaker in Oregon's 45-20 win over Washington.

For his first play back, the Ducks ran a run to the right. Royce Freeman picked up five yards and Stevens knew everything would be all right.

"It's kind of crazy, the beginning of that drive we started on the 1-yard line," he said. "And I was like, 'Oh, this is going to be a long drive.'"

What it really amounted to was a long day for the Huskies. Oregon put up 554 yards of total offense, Mariota was only brought down twice and Freeman broke the 100-yard barrier for the second consecutive week. Behind his 169 yards and four touchdowns, the Ducks smacked the Huskies around for an 11th straight season.

The Ducks have done their best to downplay the significance of losing a single player on the line, but Fisher's return has directly coincided with the offensive rebound. There was a moment of deja vu with Stevens, but with his return to the game, more teammates were focused on the way he jumped to the sidelines as opposed to the actual injury.

"People gave me a lot of compliments of how I was able to get off the field," Stevens laughed.

-- Tyson Alger | @tysonalger