Grading the Ducks, Washington State at Oregon

With the ten-point quizzes out of the way, the Ducks take their midterms in November.

photo left: Three weeks running Bryan Bennett has provided the spark in an Oregon win with his mobility, poise and playmaking verve. With a big game in a hostile stadium, will an experienced but banged-up Darron Thomas solidify his hold on the Ducks' starting quarterback job? (photo by Jim Rider, presswire.com)

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Is this the next great Oregon running back?

This Oregon prep sensation and national talent as a track and field sprinter may become the heir to the tradition established by J-Stew, LMJ and DAT.

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With a great recruiting visit, Randy Uzoma could be the Fishduck catch of the day

Randy Uzoma, smart, fast and talented, could be a perfect fit in the Oregon offense of the future (photo courtesy conagaparkhs.org).

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Keys to the game, Washington State at Oregon

One day, Oregon will lose again in Autzen Stadium. But it won't happen tomorrow.

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Life without Cliff means young dbs get the isolation camera

Meanwhile, as the coaches sort out the police report and Cliff Harris' future, the Ducks have a game to win to get to 7-1 and the crux of their season.


It's a great test for the young secondary with the Washington State Cougars having the 10th-best passing attack in the NCAA, averaging 313 yards per game. Jeff Tuel's doubtful with myriad injuries (leg and collarbone) so senior Marshall Lobbestael again takes over at quarterback. The Cougar offense hasn't stalled under Lobbestael; he's thrown for over 1700 yards, with 15 touchdown and just 5 interceptions, a very healthy ratio. He's been sacked 14 times but stays cool in the pocket, completing 64% of his passes.

photo left: Troy Hill, Terrance Mitchell and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will have a opportunity to grow up in a hurry facing Marquess Wilson and a capable Wazzu passing attack. (espnnorthwest.com photo)

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Cliff Harris' Oregon career at the crossroads, and this time we hope he lets someone else drive

Until June 16th of this year, Duck fans counted on Cliff Harris to be one of the strengths of Oregon's drive for another successful season. Even then, everybody hoped Cliffy would go back to being Cliffy, the dynamic, wonderfully gifted athlete with the flair for the memorable quote or the highlight film moment.


As a sophomore he set a school record with four punt returns for touchdown. He led the team and the conference in interceptions and pass breakups, returning a pick of Tennessee's Matt Simms for a back-breaking 76-yard touchdown. When the Oregon offense couldn't get anything going against the Cal strategy of crash the zone read, fake injuries and hold receivers, Kash elevated the entire team with a 64-yard punt return for a score. He picked Andrew Luck twice. He blanketed the Trojans and baited Matt Barkley into an interception.

Photo right: Cliff Harris, brilliant, electric, enigmatic, and a colossal screw-up, soars for a pass breakup against Tennessee last season. Can he harness his ability and find the maturity to succeed, as a player and a person? (photo courtesy footballsfuture.com)

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Grading the Ducks: Oregon at Colorado

Beating Colorado was never the issue. The only question was by how much and how well. The Ducks needed a game where they got out of Boulder without falling between a rock and a hard place: no injuries, good focus, using their deep and continuing to develop as a team. A 45-2 win accomplished all of those goals.


Chip Kelly's team was lightning efficient, striking for four quick touchdowns on their first four possessions. Bryan Bennett never blinked. He took to the opening assignment like it was another week at Crespi High, prepared for the situation, in command, with adept feet and vision and a passing arm that found its rhythm as the game went on. Misfiring early on a couple of long throws, before walk-on Dustin Haines took over Bennett tossed pretty strikes to David Paulson, for a 31-yard touchdown, and a 31-yard catch-and-run to Lavasier Tuinei that hit LT in stride running down to the one, falling short of the end zone by one skinny buttcheek, laying out over a defender with maximum effort.

Photo left: this Bleacher Report file photo from 2009 illustrates what great defense should look like, and the Webfoots displayed plenty of the same kind of swarming intensity in Colorado. Can they dial it up again for Washington State?

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Keys to the game: assorted quack, smack and facts for Oregon at Colorado

The keys to the game are different for this one. An Oregon loss is so unlikely, given the dismal state of the Colorado football program, which is a walking MASH unit at 1-6, that this game is more about what the Ducks achieve and accomplish to push forward in their season.


The old coaching cliche is true, this mile-high massacre is Oregon's only opportunity to play football and get better this week. As Chip notes, you get thirteen chances a year to strap it up and play. Execution is a habit. Excellence is learned, and earned.

photo left: Bryan Bennett showed poise and athletic ability leading a comeback off the bench last Saturday against ASU, scampering on five carries for 65 yards, but what is his role this afternoon? (Jim Rider, US Presswire photo)

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The future isn't written: that's why college football is so compelling.

Every season has its rhythm and plot lines, its unexpected twists and turns, moments of glory and disbelief. There's the seemingly overwhelming adversity and miracles of belief. There is triumph, pleasure and disappointment. Few seasons are perfect, but perfection is always an elusive possibility. The Ducks came damn close a couple of times. And they've shot themselves in the foot more than once.


If you follow a team closely enough and lovingly enough, you'll experience the lows of a disaster in grello helmets, losing by 30 to Brigham Young in a lackluster bowl game, an underachieving team dogging it the desert after an underachieving and injury-riddled season, leaving their games in the casinos and gentlemen's clubs a few days before kickoff. Coach made embarrassing excuses, questioned how poorly the opponent would have played in the PAC-10. He vacillated between one quarterback and another. Johnathan Stewart was bottled up, hemmed in on the ground, just 7 carries for paltry 21 yards. After beating Oklahoma and starting 4-0, the Ducks finished 7-6. 2006 was a bad, crazy year.

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Keys to the game: ASU at Oregon

When the grousing, predicting and supposing is done, the Ducks kick it off and play football. They'll be in silver and black today, an unintended tribute to Al Davis, perhaps, but fitting in that Chip Kelly and his coaches share Davis' celebrated affection with speed. The NFL's longtime mad genius used to say "Just Win, Baby" while the Ducks say "Win The Day."

Every team in any competitive field, whether football or the battle for corporate supremacy, looks for a rallying cry that means something and a formula that isn't empty hype.

photo left: The Ducks, in silver in black tonight, create an unavoidable echo of one of the NFL's most storied franchises and their recently departed mastermind. Before he lapsed into self-parody, Al Davis was as thorough, innovative and successful as Chip Kelly (Getty images photo).

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If you're not worried, you're not paying attention

This is Dennis Erickson's best team since 2007, when they won ten games and cracked the Top Ten for a while. Oregon beat them that year, but it cost them Dennis Dixon's knee. The ending of that game was the beginning of sadness for the Ducks, a dream laying in ruins by a twist in the turf.


Football seasons don't always follow the form chart, or become the neat row of dominations and crafted x's and o's we'd like them to be. A lot could go wrong tomorrow. The Sun Devils are good. They're 18th in the country, 5-1, with their only loss to #16 Illinois in Champaign. They clubbed USC by three touchdowns, and their tailback Cameron Marshall busted loose for 141 yards on the Trojans.

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Friday run-through: news, notes on ASU at Oregon

The Vegas line on this game is Oregon -14.5, which means the Ducks have to win by more than two touchdowns without LaMichael James. They might do it, but it's crazy to bet more than a sixpack on that point spread.



Key matchup: Oregon's secondary versus the ASU wideouts. The Sun Devils' potent offense has scored 38 points a game this year, and six of the receivers have double-digit receptions. Gerrell Robinson and Mike Willie are both 6-4 and fast, and Aaron Pflugrad (an ex-Duck) runs precise routes and has good hands. Brock Osweiler accounts for 2/3 of the ASU offense through the air, and they mix bubble screen, the zone read running game and effective shots downfield.

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My mock Heisman ballot--who's on yours?

Each week I fill out a mock Heisman ballot for the website College Football Zealots. These are my selections this week, with commentary on each one:


photo left: Luck has all the tangibles and intangibles you could ever want in a college football player. He's a leader and a winner, smart, tough, and fundamentally sound. Unless and until the Cardinal lose 2-3 games, he's the solid choice for the sport's most prestigious individual award (everyjoe.com photo).

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Oregon recruiting: update on the Ducks' new verbal commit, T.J. Daniel

J. Daniel may not be your typical 4 or 5 star Oregon recruit, but his upside is through the roof.


He stands at 6'7 240 pounds, and if you look at his body type, he looks as though he hasn't fully grown into it yet. He gained 20 pounds in the offseason this year, which shows this kid has the work ethic worthy of an Oregon football player.

photo left: With his rangy body and athleticism, T.J. Daniel might remind Duck fans of The Preying Mantis, Dion Jordan (scout.com photo).

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Fabian Moreau update, and other Oregon

"What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve"


                ---Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich

Fabian Moreau continues to think of Oregon as his dream school, and with the results he's producing in Broward County, Florida football, he's doing everything he can to achieve his dream. Young Moreau patterns his game after LaMichael James, and he watched Thursday's victory over Cal with interest. Noting the great performances by James and freshman De'Anthony Thomas, he said, "Yes sir, great game by both of them. I feel like I would fit in the offense pretty well! I love the way they spread the ball around and the fast tempo is exciting . Go ducks!"

But Fabian has been doing some LMJ and Black Momba work of his own. Call him the "Florida Coral Snake" after these numbers:

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Grading the Ducks: Cal at Oregon

Each week at The Duck Stops Here we identify our keys to game. Here's a look at Oregon's grades in game 5.

Give LaMichael James a chance to be great


James had a Heisman-worthy game with 30 carries for 239 yards, and the fat kids living the dream paved the way for long runs of 53, 47 and 30 yards. James was at his electric, creative, explosive, tough-running best in this game, and in particular the receivers and tight ends did a great job of blocking at the second level for both him and Kenjon Barner, who also broke loose with a 68-yard touchdown run, true freshman tight end Colt Lyerla with a key downfield block on that play.

photo left: A superlative season that has included a 90-yard touchdown run suffered a major setback Thursday as LaMicheal James dislocated his elbow. Now the entire team has to respond to replace his enormous contribution. (Corvallis Gazette-Times photo.)

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Keys to the game: Cal at Oregon

Like the whirligig of time, the chess game between coaches has its revenges. Don't expect Cal or Oregon to go purely with what worked and didn't work last year. There will be wrinkles to the wrinkles on both sides, but the principles of sound and successful football remain the same. Take care of the football. Win the individual matchups. As ESPN's Trevor Matich put it, win the confrontations of speed in space.


Last year Cal committed hard to stoppng LaMichael James, giving their front seven one simple assignment: cut off the tailback, be athletic and fly to the football. They did, with enormous success. They held Oregon to their lowest point total of the season, just 2.9 yards a carry on the ground, and a paltry 151 yards through the air. In Berkeley, paced by a brilliant scheme and three star players who are now in the NFL, they frustrated and dominated the Ducks, but only for three quarters. In the fourth quarter Chip Kelly gathered his offense around them and told them to go on the drive of their lives. And they did, holding the football for the last 9:25 of the game, 18 beautifully-executed and determined plays, taking a knee at the Cal 12 to end the game. One touchdown each by Cliff Harris and Jeff Maehl, and all the rest was a triumph of will on a miserable night.

photo left: Jeff Tedford once wore the genius label as an over-achieving mastermind who raised the profile of Cal football. Since then, several late season collapses have tarnished that image. But he always saves his best work for the Ducks. (espn.com photo.)

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How good is Cal? How dangerous is this game?

If the Ducks want to win another conference championship, they have to be mentally prepared for one simple fact: every team on the schedule wants to beat Oregon more than any other team on their schedule, with the possible exception of their traditional rival. In a lot of the cases the traditional rival comes second.

Around the league, the Ducks are cocky and arrogant and privileged. They're the fancy Nike school with the multi-million dollar lockerroom and the sexy cheerleaders. They've administered a lot of embarrassing beatdowns in the last three years, danced in a lot of end zones, and everyone from Aaron Pflugrad to Zach Maynard wants a piece of the Ducks. They want to knock off the school that grabs the headlines and the ESPN facetime. They want to shut up the fast-talking coach. And they want to win a conference title of their own.

photo right: Cal would like nothing better than to administer a stiffarm to Oregon's league title hopes on national TV. (sfgate.com photo)

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Battles won on Rich Brooks Field, and elsewhere

Call Chip Kelly The Granite Fox. Like Rommel before him he has a gift for commanding men, for onslaughts and misdirections, for stratagems that bedevil and mesmerize a superior force. Rommel took 3-star men and materials and extended a war until he ran out of gasoline and had to haul tanks to the front on rail and by horse and wagon. Kelly took a bunch of 24th-rated classes to the National Championship. But Rommel's war was a grim business serving the agent of ultimate evil. Kelly's is a harmless diversion of autumn afternoons, a fit, chaste glory for young men. It's much preferred that the best of a generation receive their wounds and decorations on a painted field, rather than a beach pockmarked by artillery shells and machine gun fire. The horrors of Rommel's glory live in infamy.

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