Oregon Ducks Lay a Whooping on The Utah State Aggies

There were several questions coming into this afternoon's game with the Utah State Aggies:

How is QB Justin Roper doing and will he play today? Will TE Ed Dickson get some balls thrown his way today? After serving his one game suspension, will offensive tackle Fenuki Tupou be effective? Can Oregon finally get a win while wearing the flame-embossed yellow helmets?

Oregon won easily, 66-24, as they tuned up before facing Purdue next week.

Justin Roper did play. I was actually a bit surprised to see him play as much as he did. I thought he would see a series or two, but it was much more than that.

I'm guessing the coaching staff wanted to see how he would handle the offense while not concussed. Roper did quite well, completing 13-of-19 passes for 173 yards. He also had one touchdown and one interception thrown.

Both Jeremiah Masoli and Chris Harper saw some of snaps at QB. They combined for 11-of-17 completions for 107 passing yards. Harper had one touchdown pass and neither threw an interception. Chris Harper also rushed four times for 25 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Everyone in the stadium held his breath as Jeremiah Johnson went down on the second play of the game with a shoulder injury. According to running backs coach Gary Campbell, Johnson should be ready to play next week at Purdue.

With Johnson leaving the game early, RB LeGarrette Blount got most of the carries and he looked good. In a post-game interview, he said he certainly didn't expect to play as much as he did, but he absolutely made the best of it. He rushed 18 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns—all of which garnered him player of the game honors.

The No. 2 receiver from last season’s team didn't touch the ball at all last week. But today, Ed Dickson was involved with six catches for 70 yards. WR Jeff Maehl caught four passes for 72 yards.

Fenuki Tupou played well with nothing negative to report. Let's hope all of the "agent issues" are behind him and it doesn’t become at distraction.

Yes! Oregon finally won a game wearing the flame-embossed yellow helmets. Phew! We can all get a good night's sleep now.

A couple other quick notes: The Ducks finished the day with a school record 688 total yards. The Autzen Stadium sellout streak continued and now stands at 57 games.

One last thing—Is there anyone on the Ducks roster who didn't score a touchdown today? Here's the rundown of those who did:

LeGarrett Blount - 2 (rushing)
Terence Scott - 2 (rushing, receiving)
Andre Crenshaw - 1 (rushing)
Remene Alston - 1 (rushing)
Juston Roper - 1 (rushing)
Chris Harper - 1 (rushing)
Rory Cavaille - 1 (receiving)