Battle of The Backups in The Palouse; Oregon Goes For 1st Place In The Pac-10

    No excuses. Oregon fans and football players alike need to adopt this motto before this week's upcoming game. Oregon may be without Nate Costa and Justin Roper, but Washington State could be in an even worse situation with Freshman quarterback Marshall Lobbestael taking the reigns this week after devistating injuries to Kevin Lopina and Gary Rogers. Bottom line is, it shouldn't matter who takes the snaps from shotgun against Wazzu. The defense needs to play with a passion and intensity of a championship game. The special needs, in essence, need to be special. Finally, the offense needs to open up the playbook, regardless of the quarterback; wr screen, hb screen, option, zone read, and draw plays.

    This game will really test the character of this Oregon football team. Will they hang their heads after a humbling performance against Boise State or will they rebound with a sense of urgency? Playing in the Palouse isn't always the most exciting game on the schedule, but as USC found out last night, you should never ever overlook a Pac-10 opponent. This is the time for both Coach Bellotti and Senior leaders to take charge and rally the troops.

    Frankly, we will not find out anything about the U of O football team. Washington State is just that bad. Blount up the middle. Johnson bouncing outside. Dickson streaking across the middle. Oregon can pick and choose their weapon of choice. Cal is not an elite team, but they showed Wazzu can be played with like a child. We will see Oregon's true character the following week at the LA Coliseum.

    What will happen though is Oregon's defense will take their slice of humble pie delivered via Boise State last week (DBoyz, I'm looking at you!) and come out with a chip on their shoulder and put the wood to Dwight Tardy and Lobbestael. Oregon isn't Portland State and Lobbestael will not have all day to pick and choose his target. He isn't coming into a blowout situation. When he lines up for his 1st start, the score is 0-0. Currently, this will be the most pressure Marshall will be faced with. Oregon sure made Kellen Moore's 1st career road start a nice picnic in the park, I don't see Lobbestael getting this treatment.

    Offensively, Oregon needs to play a turnover free game for once. Every game this season Oregon has lost the turnover battle, and yes, that includes a home match up to Utah State. Oregon fans need to see how well the wide receivers hold onto the ball, how efficient Jeremiah is post-shoulder injury, and how Darron Thomas performs in his sequel. This needs to be a perfectly clean game for the players and fans to be satisfied with a win over WSU. A 4 turnover, 10 point win just will not cut it. You might as well cancel the rest of the season if they come out sluggish like that.

    This game sets the tone for the rest of the season.

    Final Score- Oregon 42 Washington State 17

-Dustin Hawes