EUGENE, Ore. — Rudy Carpenter found himself in a familiar position Saturday.

He entered a football game with Arizona State trailing and having to rally. Oregon's first three possessions ended in touchdowns and early in the second quarter, Arizona State was behind 2.

Just one week earlier, the Arizona State quarterback engineered a comeback from a 20-7 second-quarter deficit in a 31-20 win against California. This, though, marked Arizona State's toughest challenge yet in a matchup of the No. 4 Sun Devils and No. 5 Ducks in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

Carpenter, who was an efficient 10 for 12 for 143 yards in the first half, answered Oregon's challenge by bringing Arizona State within eight, 21-13, at halftime on consecutive scoring drives.

The Westlake High graduate led a second-half opening drive that resulted in a 50-yard Thomas Weber field goal. Then the Arizona State offense, relying heavily on the run game and mixing in the pass game, went absent.

A 33-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Stewart and a 19-yard touchdown reception by Drew Davis gave the Ducks a 35-16 lead at the end of the third quarter and left Arizona State in need of another comeback.

This time, the Sun Devils offense faltered.

Carpenter, on a miscommunication with a receiver, threw an interception to Walter Thurmond III in the back of the Oregon end zone.

The 6-foot-2, 199-pound Carpenter brought Arizona State within 12 points on an 11-yard touchdown pass to Brent Miller, but with Arizona State driving with less than four minutes remaining, wide receiver Tyrice Thompson fumbled away a 45-yard catch and Oregon recovered at the 22-yard line.

The 35-23 loss at Autzen Stadium shattered Arizona State's perfect record and left the 8-1 Sun Devils looking ahead to next Saturday's visit to UCLA.

"Obviously, we're down," Carpenter said. "Guys aren't happy. We wanted to have a magical season this year and guys got to understand we still can. We've only lost one to one of the best teams in the country so we just got to comeback next week."

Carpenter finished 22 of 36 for 379 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Arizona State, held to a field goal on the first two possessions of the game, moved into Oregon territory on its next drive on a 31-yard pass from Carpenter to Thompson. Two plays later, Arizona State, facing third-and-two, gained a first down on Carpenter's sideline dive past a hard-charging Patrick Chung.

On the next play, Carpenter eluded Oregon's pass rush, and flung the ball to Michael Jones for a 26-yard touchdown pass.

Oregon went four-and-out. Arizona State, starting at its 47, gained 12 yards on a Keegan Herring run and Carpenter, showing his mobility, scrambled for 12 more. Carpenter completed a 12-yard pass to Chris McGaha to set up a 34-yard field goal by Weber that cut the deficit to eight.

Questions surrounded Carpenter's availability for Saturday following a collision with teammate Haring in the third quarter of the Cal game. The impact left Carpenter with a sprained thumb on his throwing hand.

He played the rest of the Cal game and refrained from throwing in practice until Wednesday with a glove.

"It was all right," Carpenter said after Saturday's loss. "Obviously not 100 percent, but it's not an excuse. We didn't capitalize on opportunities."