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Offense was the name of the game when Washington State and Oregon collided on October 27, 1984, at Eugene, Ore. The visiting Cougars compiled 663 yards in total offense, and the Ducks gained 478 yards overall. The Pacific-10 Conference teams combined for 91 points.

Of the total of 58 passes attempted in the game, only one was intercepted. And Washington State made eight yards per offensive play, Oregon 6.2. Cries of "Defense, Defense" were few and far between at Autzen Stadium. It was in this setting that one of major-college football's most prized records - the individual rushing-yardage mark - fell.

Washington State's Rueben Mayes, who the week before had made five touchdowns against Stanford, went on a 357-yard rushing rampage against Oregon and thus surpassed - by one yard - the single-game mark established six years earlier by Eddie Lee Ivery of Georgia Tech.

Mayes carried the ball nine times in the first quarter, netting 41 yards, and then emerged as a threat to Ivery's mark with an 11-carry, 156-yard second period. The Cougars' standout carried the ball only seven times in the third quarter but gained 73 yards, giving him 270 yards entering the final period. Mayes rushed 12 times in the fourth quarter for 87 yards, breaking Ivery's record on his last carry (a four-yard gain that came about a minute from the finish). Mayes, who toted the ball 39 times overall, averaged 9.2 yards per attempt in the game (won by Washington State, 50-41).