One of the biggest questions surrounding this year's Oregon Ducks football team regards Oregon's ability to bounce back after a loss. After the Ducks' unexpected home loss to Boise State, questions lingered about the coaching staff's decision making and the maturity of Oregon's defensive backfield.
These questions were answered the following week with a 63-14 embarrassment of the Washington State Cougars, in which Jairus Byrd had two interceptions.
However, the following week, Oregon suffered their worst loss in five years, leaving the Coliseum with a 44-10 loss to USC. Again, more questions were asked about the coaches' decision making and the maturity of the defensive backfield.
Well, Duck fans, even though Oregon rebounded with a 31-24 victory over the UCLA Bruins on homecoming night, the questions asked after the USC game still have not been answered.
Oregon should have won this game by a much wider margin. Not only was Jairus Byrd robbed of an interception for the second time this season, Oregon's defensive backs dropped four other probable interceptions.
Let's face it, UCLA was basically giving this game to the Ducks. If Oregon's defense wants to live up to the expectations that the world gave them during the preseason, it needs to follow one simple rule: If a ball hits you in the hands, you catch it.
This rule can also be applied to the Ducks' receiving corps.
Not only have the media's questions not been answered, but my biggest question has not either: Why have the Ducks not given the starting quarterback role to Darron Thomas?
Look at the statistics, my friends. Darron Thomas leads all Ducks quarterbacks in two positions: Passer Rating (132.7) and Yards Per Completion (7.28).
In the Boise State game, Darron Thomas threw for 210 yards and three TDs in one quarter, AND on only 10 percent of the snaps in practice.
Jeremiah Masoli proved to us all in the UCLA game that he is a true scrambler. He had 170 rushing yards in the game but only 42 passing yards. Thomas is truly a dual-threat quarterback, one who can pass AND run. After Nate Costa, Thomas should be the next best option to run the spread option offense.
So why hasn't Thomas been given a single start? This perplexes many Duck fans. If I were to give a pep talk to the whole Ducks football organization, my first point would be made to the coaching staff: Have faith and confidence in your players.
Look at Boise State. Head coach Chris Petersen had complete confidence in his redshirt freshman quarterback, and look what happened. He tore apart the Ducks defense. Granted, Walter Thurmond III was out with a bruised hip, and the secondary was sucked into the play action pass, but the statistics are astounding.
The best thing that the coaching staff can do for their team is to have complete confidence in their players. An athlete may not be the best in the nation, but when their coach backs them 100 percent, it adds to the athlete's own confidence.
The Ducks won the day. Nobody can deny that. But one thing that Oregon needs to do going into this bye week is search deep inside themselves.
Maybe with two full weeks to prepare for a crippled Arizona State team, the coaching staff will make the correct decision to back Darron Thomas 100 percent and reward his play with the starting quarterback job.
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about 1 month ago
I totally agree with you Cameron. The Ducks defense looks destined for mediocrity, as the problem lies with coaching, and last time I checked, no good defensive coordinators are looking for work right now (Though Tony Franklin does do a good job of keeping points off the board)
That being said, the Ducks offense could be so much more than it is. While Massoli did rush for 180 yards abd the stats would have been better if some balls would have been caught, he did not look confident when asked to throw. Every time he dropped back to pass he was looking to scramble and was dancing all over the pocket. If we are going to run the wishbone offense we might as well just put Andre Crenshaw under center and have 3 running backs in the game with Crenshaw, JJ, and Blount.
The ony quarterbacks who have looked poised in the pocket this year have been Justin Roper and Darron Thomas. Thomas is a much better scramble that Roper or even Massoli though. Not to mention the fact that he combines Massolis Rocket arm with Roper's deft touch.
Just because he is a true freshman isn't a reason not to start him. He has more experience in the offense than Massoli and is clearly the most talented quarterback on Oregon's roster. Bellotti needs to learn from Jim Tressel and put some trust in his talented true freshman.
from about 1 month ago
On the positive side, At least we didnt have Black Helmets
from about 1 month ago
Yeah, the only time they should debut black helmets would be if they have a green "O" in the center
from about 1 month ago
We should never debut black helmets. I think we should get rid of the Black pants and jerseys too. Our colors are green and yellow, with white being a road color. Black is our rival's color. Would you see Oklahoma break out a burnt orange uniform? Auburn suit up in crimson? Ohio State wearing Maize and Blue? of course not? so why would we wear black uniforms?
from about 1 month ago
brett, while your argument does have some credibility, siting black as a beavers color, at the same time it's also a bit overshadowing. It's not like the Ducks are coming out with a black helmet, and orange jerseys. The jerseys still have some form of green and/or yellow on them, so i'm sure the uniforms will be fine. I just don't particularly like the Yellow "O" on a green helmet.
about 1 month ago
Ahhhh QB conversations. It's a tough thing to do, lead a Pac-10 team. Massoli looks good with his feet, but that will be exposed as the season progresses and you play Cal, Arizona, OSU.
There are people on the Beaver forums practically calling for Canfield to start just because he threw one long pass for TD in the final minutes vs. Washington State.
People over analyze and always want something different, or more. If a QB gets the job done, kudos. Who cares how he does it. A winner is a winner.
But it's agreed, you guys need to figure out how to throw the ball. If you can't muster over 100 yards passing a game, you very well could lose 3 more games.
With that said, looks like UofO and OSU are destined to be bowl eligible heading into the CW so it'll be a battle for a better bowl.
from about 1 month ago
If we cant get over 100 yards passing we will lose the rest of our games
And the fans calling for Canfield are probably the same people that called for Brady Leaf over Dennis Dixon at the start of last season
from about 1 month ago
The only reason the Ducks won the game was because Masoli was able to run well enough to take the pressure off the passing game. While this may have worked for UCLA, it probably won't work against teams such as California, Arizona State, and Oregon State, who all have pretty good defenses. ASU might be a case for argument because of their losses to Cal and UNLV.
The fact of the matter is, is that Oregon runs a spread-option offense. This offense needs to be led by a Quarterback who can run AND pass. Darron Thomas proved to all doubters that he can run and pass extremely well in the Boise State game, and if Thomas had two more possessions to work with, we very well would have won the game.
I think the Ducks should stick with Thomas, as he provides the Ducks with the best chance at winning. Why Bellotti and Kelly do not have faith in him bothers me.
about 1 month ago
If its not one thing, it's another. Fans will never be fully satisfied. Even fans of teams like Ohio State who make it to BCS games, but often lose, are always angry. There are about 50+ teams in the nation who would trade anything in the world for a BCS game. (Washington State)
Whining will never end, but it's what makes the college game so much different. Passion.
23 days ago
Cameron, I imagine you're rethinking this column after the ASU game. Masoli looked very confident, made really good decisions, and was the Pac-10 player of the week.
You cannot evaluate Thomas on the basis of one brief appearance in one game. My guess is that he does not know the offense well enough to be the starter and its Masoli, followed by Roper, for the rest of the season.
I will confess that, even after eight games, I still don't know how good the Ducks are. The best team we've beaten is ASU! I guess we'll get some answers in Berkeley on Saturday when our powerful running attack comes up against a stingy run defense, and our pass defense faces a rejuvenated Nate Longshore.
from 23 days ago
While I do rethink parts of this column, I still believe that Thomas should still be getting the nod. Look at what he did on only 10% of the snaps in practice. To me, that qualifies as knowing the offense well enough. I just wish that Bellotti would learn to have more faith in him.
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