To be "Blount," Oregon Has Worse Things To Worry about From Boise St. Defeat

(Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)

If you’re Oregon, I’m not quite sure which is worse waking up this morning: the fact that you played so horrendous in your much-hyped and nationally televised season opener, or that nobody is even talking about how bad you looked thanks to LeGarrette Blount and his right hook.

Seriously. One side of the coin shows that Oregon doesn’t even deserve to sniff the compression shorts of Top 10 teams in the country—at least not right now, anyway—and the other side places an indelible blotch of misconduct and selfishness on the program.

But I’m telling you, as bad as it looked, Blount’s haymaker that put Boise State’s Byron Hout flat on his back isn’t the worst of Oregon’s problems. Not after a 19-8 loss to No. 14 Boise State that left the Ducks heading home to Eugene with one quiet quack and the Broncos saddling up for their journey to a BCS Bowl game.

With Oregon returning Blount, who set a Ducks' record with 17 rushing touchdowns last season, and quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, there was enough reason to believe that Oregon could be legitimate Pac-10 Conference contenders and BCS party crashers.

An opening week loss doesn’t do anything to Oregon’s hopes of winning a conference title, but it severely cripples their national reputation, on a night when millions looked in anticipation of what could be one of the country’s best offenses.

Oregon’s offense looked like mere specs of lint on Boise’s blue turf field, getting pushed around repeatedly by the Broncos' offensive and defensive lines. Masoli couldn’t throw the ball and Blount couldn’t run the ball, ultimately culminating in an embarrassing night that saw Oregon record it’s first first down of the game with 7:07 to play in the third quarter.

Oregon rushed for only 31 yards (Blount contributed minus-five yards to that doozy) to Boise’s 164, and only gained 152 total yards to Boise’s 361. If it weren’t for a fourth quarter spark in Oregon’s offense, they wouldn’t have recorded the six first downs that they did.

Masoli was supposed to be the star of the show—the star of the quarterbacks at the very least—but that didn’t happen, either. Masoli was 14-of-27 for 121 yards and one interception, but he did score the Ducks' only touchdown of the game, with a five-yard run with four minutes and change to go in the third quarter.

Boise State’s Kellen Moore, a redshirt freshman, was much more impressive on this night. Moore was 19-of-30, good for 197 yards and a 10-yard TD pass to Austin Pettis. He actually looked the part of a quarterback that you would expect to find on a team with BCS aspirations.

Boise State’s O-Line gave Moore ample time to deliver the football, but the lefty was still impressive with his feet, gliding in and out of the pocket to buy extra time for passing lanes to open up. The kid makes plays and he’s confident.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?