Ducks Continue Their Winning Ways

A month ago the Oregon Ducks season could have easily continued on a downward spiral. Boise State defeated them 19-8 and the Ducks star RB LeGarrette Blount was suspended for throwing a punch. The schedule after the Boise State disaster was Purdue at home followed by Utah at home. At that point most people would have written off the 2009 season for Oregon. The Ducks were able to defeat Purdue 38-36, Oregon beat the 18th ranked Utah Utes 31-24 and they blasted #6 California 42-3 and climbed all the way back up to #13 in the AP Poll.

At the start of the season either Cal or Oregon was expected to challenge the USC Trojans for first place in the conference. Now that Cal is completely eliminated from the discussion the Ducks have put themselves in a great position with six games left to play.

UCLA is probably the best defensive team the Ducks have faced all season. The Ducks were held to zero points in the first half of the game. It wasn’t until the second half of the game when the Bruins could not stop turning the ball over that Oregon was able to take control of the game. After trailing 3-0 at halftime, the Ducks outscored UCLA 24-7 in the second half of the game. The Oregon defense held the Bruins to 6/16 on third down conversions and 0/2 on fourth down. UCLA QB Kevin Prince was 13/25, threw for 81 yards and had 1 interception. Bruins QB Richard Brehaut was 5/10, for 64 yards and 1 interception. The same offensive woes continued for UCLA with their inability to move the ball in the air.

Ducks QB Nate Costa only threw for 82 yards, but RB LaMichael James finished the game with 20 carries for 152 yards. After the Blount suspension James has taken advantage of his opportunity. James has a total of 581 rushing yards, 4 TD and is averaging 6.3 YPC. Without the services of starting QB Jeremiah Masoli and S T.J. Ward this was a big win for the Ducks. Now Oregon heads into the bye week with a lot of momentum. The Ducks have an opportunity to get healthy and their next three games will have a huge effect on where the Ducks end up in the Pac Ten Standings. Oregon is at Washington on October 24th. They get the USC Trojans at home on October 31st and they are on the road against Stanford on November 7th.

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Showdown In Corvallis

Cincinnati is the best team in the Big East and they visit the Beavers on September 19th. This is a very good match-up that is not getting that much National attention. Last season the Bearcats fell to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl 20-7 and Oregon State needed one victory to make it to the Rose Bowl, but loss to rival Oregon 65-38. This year the Bearcats have defeated Rutgers and South Missouri State by a combined score of 117-18. The Beavers defense must be prepared to stop a potent offense if they want to win this game.

Cincinnati QB Tony Pike is completing 77.2% of his passes. Pike has thrown for 591 yards and 6 TD’s. WR Marshawn Gilyard (6-1 187) is Pike’s favorite target. Gilyard leads the Bearcat receivers with 14 receptions for 200 yards and 3 TD’s. The Beavers lost a lot of their key players from last season’s defense. The best way for Oregon State to slow down the Bearcats high-powered offense is to control the clock by giving the ball to RB Jacquizz Rodgers. Against UNLV the Beavers won the time of possession battle 33:03 to 26:57. In his first two games this season Quizz has rushed for 269 yards, 4 TD’s and he is averaging 6.4 YPC. Rodgers is one of the best RB’s in the Pac Ten and at 5-7 193 he is very hard for the defense to locate. Oregon State is the first real test for the Bearcats this season and for Cincinnati to be successful they must stop the Beavers running game.

Conference pride is also at stake in this contest. The MWC is proving that they are more deserving of an automatic bid than the Big East Conference with memorable victories such as Utah over Alabama and BYU over Oklahoma. In 2005 TCU defeated Oklahoma 17-10 and in 2008 Utah beat Michigan 25-23. Is there a recent Big East victory in an OOC game that people remember? These are the kind of games that people will point to if the Bearcats lose to support the opinion that the Big East should not automatically qualify for a BCS game. The Pac Ten is also fighting for respect. USC gets a lot of credit and the Trojans deserve it, but other Pac Ten teams are not feared like teams in the SEC or Big 12 are. A lot will be on the line on September 19th. If the Beavers win they will most likely be in the Top 25 next week.

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Experienced Pac Ten QB’s Must Perform Well In OOC Games

The Pac Ten is the second best conference behind the SEC, but a lot of people feel the Big 12 is the second best conference. The Pac Ten went 5-0 in Bowl Games last season, but the conference did not perform well in OOC games last season. Oregon State got beat 45-14 by Penn State and Utah edged them 31-28. Boise State beat the Oregon Ducks 37-32. Arizona State suffered a horrible 23-20 OT loss to UNLV. The California Bears didn’t feel the need to arrive in Maryland a few days early and get adjusted to the time change and an early East Coast kickoff time. As a result, the traveling mistake aided the Terrapins in beating the Bears 35-27. If the Pac Ten wants to take a big step forward players that have experience behind center must lead their teams to victories in OOC games.

Cal announced that QB Kevin Riley would be the starter when Cal opens up against Maryland on September 5th. Riley was in and out of the line-up last season when Nate Longshore was on the roster. In 2007 Riley had a tremendous game in the Armed Forces Bowl. In that game Kevin was 16/19, threw for 269 yards and 3 TD’s. In 2008 Riley’s play declined, because the Bear’s played with a lot of WR’s that did not have experience. Coach Jeff Tedford said that Riley worked on his throwing motion in the off-season. As a result, Kevin should be more accurate with the football this season. Now that the WR’s are more comfortable in the offense and Riley has Jahvid Best lined up behind him there is no excuse for Cal not to play at a high level in their OOC games. California is ranked # 12 in the country. If they truly deserve that ranking they cannot lose to Maryland or Minnesota.

The Oregon Ducks have a very good player at the QB position that is not a household name around the country. QB Jeremiah Masoli ran for 718 yards and passed for 1,744 yards. Masoli has the ability to beat defenses with his arm and legs. With the USC Trojans going with a freshmen at QB the Ducks will have an opportunity to make a move in the conference. Oregon’s rise in the standings begin with their OOC games starting on September 3rd against Boise State. With a year of experience under his belt Masoli could make a big statement by leading Oregon to a victory in a Primetime game on the Blue Turf. After the game at Boise State the Ducks get Purdue and Utah at home. If Jeremiah plays well in those games Oregon has a great chance of starting the season 3-0.

The Oregon State Beavers have two experienced QB’s in Lyle Moevao and Sean Canfield. Moevao threw for 2,534 yards, 19 TD’s and 13 picks in 2008. Canfield threw for 703 yards, 6 TD’s and 2 INT’s. The Beavers are notorious for starting the season off slow. Last year the Beavers began the year 1-4. With two SR. QB’s on the roster Oregon State should be able to avoid a slow start this season. The Beavers open the year with Portland State at home, at UNLV and Cincinnati at home.

For the Pac Ten to start getting recognition around the country they need to start qualifying two teams for BCS games on a regular basis. One of the ways to get two teams in the BCS is for multiple teams to not suffer losses in OOC games. The Trojans could get the benefit of the doubt and have two losses and still qualify for a BCS game, but another team in the Pac Ten must finish the 2009 season with no more than one loss.

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