Any breakdown of Duck stats has to include punter Jackson Rice and his long snapper Drew Howell. On Saturday they had 11 punts, several in the shadow of his own goal, all flawless. Twice he got the Ducks out of the hole with boomers. Five times he pinned ASU inside the 20.
In fact, for his Oregon career, Rice has a TOTAL of two touchbacks. For this season he has average 43.6 yds per punt, and 42.2 net. On a night the offense sputtered and the defense struggled, Rice's (and freshman long snapper Howell's) consistency is a huge weapon. Here's another revealing statistic: for the season, the Ducks have returned 15 punts for 305 yards and 3 tds. Rice and the punt coverage team have limited opponents to 5 returns, net four yards. That is a lot of field position, and 21 points. Wow.
Casey Matthews is off to a tremendous start at middle linebacker. He's asserted himself as a defensive playmaker with tremendous instincts. Consider his stat line through four games: 16 tackles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries, and 2.5 tackles per loss. His linebacker mates are following his lead. Spencer Paysinger had 8 tackles against ASU and a fumble recovery, Lokombo a fumble recovery for a td on a great hustle play, playing to the whistle and letting the referees sort it out.
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