| 08 November 2011
It wasn't a massive stat accumulation, but it was the most complete victory by the Oregon team this year.
Offense, defense and special teams, they dominated the Huskies, on the road before an enthusiastic crowd with a lot of emotional leverage. They got off to a fast start. The defense dominated the line of scrimmage, holding the Dogs to 2.3 yards per rush, sacking Keith Price six times, and winning the battle of turnovers 3-1. The Huskies had just 82 net yards rushing, and 278 total, for an offense that had been scoring 36 points a game. Their tight ends were held to three catches for -5 yards, a great effort led by Eddie Pleasant, named PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Week after picking off two passes to go along with five tackles. It was Pleasant's best day as a Duck, returning the interceptions for 65 yards.
It sets up a confrontation with #4 Stanford in Palo Alto on Saturday night, a game where the Ducks will need another total team effort. All the hard work that's built an 8-1 season culminates in a showdown fans have pointed to since the summer. Win, and the Ducks have the inside track to the Rose Bowl. Lose, and they can only hope to back in to a prize that's eluded them for nearly a hundred years: a win in The Granddaddy of Them All.
photo left: Right now, he might be the most maligned and muttered about 19-2 starter in the country. Fans are restless about Darron Thomas, who is plagued by inconsistency but continues to pad an impressive Oregon resume. Will he rise to the challenge, facing two top-drawer quarterbacks in the season's next two weeks? (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens).
But this last Saturday night was an Oregon victory that deserves one last long lingering look. For its completeness. It was a victory that marked a maturing team and a great effort by the coaches in teaching the game the right way. The Ducks got major contributions by many players, great signs they can take into the stretch drive of this season and a championship drive in 2012.
LaMichael James, on a night he didn't break the dazzling career highlight film run, got every yard out of every play, running with determination and brilliant vision, grinding out 156 yards, setting to rest forever the argument about who is the best back in the PAC-12, although Stanford's Stepfan Taylor will try to reopen it on The Farm. James followed and used his blocks beautifully, and when they weren't any, he created positive yards out of nothing. He blasted into every crease and carried tacklers forward. He drove, darted and dived. Late in the game he showed how smart and complete a player he was, tucking into a fetal position to avoid going out of bounds to keep the clock moving on the Ducks' closing drive. James was a leader in Husky Stadium. Playing with great courage, a huge brace on his injured right elbow, he showed why he's Oregon's career rushing leader and one of the finest college football players fans will ever have the privilege to watch in their lifetimes. The injury and an off night for the Webfoot offense back in September probably cost him a second trip to New York, but there can be no doubt: he's an all-timer. With J-Stew watching, he proved why.
Grade: You don't grade genius. You just appreciate it, take it in, and try to absorb and remember what you saw, like the night you watched B.B. King or Al Pacino on a stage. LaMichael James, warrior and competitor, isn't finished proving he's the greatest Duck ever, a giant heart in a little man with a fabulous motor.
The Oregon Defense was stellar and opportunistic. They swarmed Keith Price for six sacks, 1.5 each by Dion Jordan and Wade Keliikipi, one each by Brandon Hanna, Taylor Hart, and Josh "Can Do" Kaddu. Keliikipi, healthy now after having a banged-up ankle earlier in the year, joined Pleasant in having his best game as a Duck. His solo sack came on a three-man rush. Terrance Mitchell had a brilliant strip on a bubble screen, wresting the ball away like Tyrann Matthieu.
The Ducks D had a whopping 12 tackles for loss in the game, including one for six yards by redshirt freshman Derrick Malone. They hurried and harrassed Keith Price, completing destroying his rhythm, forcing the worst game of the season for a sophomore who's exceeded all expectations replacing Jake Locker. It was the fourth time this season they'd held an opponent under 300 yards of offense this year, including #1 LSU, Missouri State, Colorado, and now the 6-3 Huskies. The defensive domination secured the eighth win in a row over their Northwest rival, and suddenly Oregon has a legitimate and formidable defense, aggressive, fast, deep and smart.
They'll need another effort just like this one to beat Stanford. Led by Heisman frontrunner and future #1 NFL draft pick Andrew Luck, The Cardinal are a perfect 52-52 in the Red Zone, scoring every time they get the ball inside the 20. The offensive line has allowed just four sacks all season, making it the sternest challenge for an Oregon front seven that leads the conference in sacks, sixth in the nation with 3.22 per game. Through a relatively easy schedule few teams have pressured Luck. The Trojans got two sacks for 20 yards in their 56-48 overtime loss, but the big offensive line has protected him brilliantly all year long, while the power running game demands a big share of the defense's effort and attention. The fearsome balance is The Cardinal's greatest weapon, an even bigger challenge than the Huskies, with a stout and hard-hitting defense instead of a soft one.
Grade, Oregon defense versus Huskies: A. The best effort of the season in the season's ninth game, the first big conference test on the road.
Oregon passing game
After a slow start this year in which the Ducks didn't find him much, David Paulson had a very productive night with three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. He was tough in traffic and made big plays, the reliable target Duck fans thought he'd be at the beginning of the year. He's strung together four solid games after being shut out of the stats against California, and in an offense with a lot of weapons, the Ducks seemed to have found a way to effectively use him. (Even De'Anthony Thomas occasionally struggles for touches in the Oregon attack; on Saturday night he was limited to an electrifying 69-yard kickoff return and a 9-yard dash for a touchdown on an option pitch.)
The failure to get The Black Momba the ball in the passing game was inextricable on a night other players were dropping it. Josh Huff and Lavasier Tuinei did have productive nights, Huff running hard after the catch on his four receptions for 60 yards, Tuinei steady in the possession role with four short catches (LT's had a very good senior year thus far, finding the end zone seven times, using his length well, particularly in the red zone.)
Darron Thomas was a borderline disaster. 13-for-25 in an offense that provides a lot of safe, easy throws is a pedestrian effort. He continues to miss high and get out of rhythm, and although he's now 19-2 as a starter, he's regressed alarmingly as a passer with the season's biggest test four days away. Thomas scoffed at questions about his starting job after Bryan Bennett showed promise in three games of relief work, but quarterback competition or not, the Ducks need more consistency from their junior leader facing Stanford and USC. Thomas wants to win. He wants to win a third straight conference championship and develop into an NFL quarterback. But right now, frankly and perhaps too pointedly, he's in a mid-career slump that threatens all of those goals. You start to wonder how serious he is about them. Perhaps not serious enough.
He wasn't helped by his receivers often enough, and hasn't been over the last couple of games. However, it's on Thomas to deliver a more accurate and catchable ball, and provide the rhythm and execution in Oregon's passing game. Thus far the Ducks haven't had the balance and counterthreat he provided so capably last season. He's been a half step out of his best rhythm most of the year.
Grade Oregon passing game versus Huskies: C
To beat Andrew Luck and a very physical Cardinal team, the Ducks need their most complete four-quarter effort of the year. They can't afford a gigantic breakdown in one area. They need a solid first half and must not rely on a second half surge, because Stanford has proven themselves very tough in the third and fourth quarters themselves. LaMichael James has had big games running the football both years against them. Thomas outplayed Luck last year. The defense clamped down on their offense in the second half last season in Autzen Stadium. But this game is in Palo Alto and The Cardinal are a three-point favorite. ESPN's Ted Miller has provided the kiss of death by picking the Ducks. Chip Kelly doesn't believe in curses or cheap motivational ploys, but his team will need beautiful and prepared minds to overcome Luck and a smashmouth Stanford squad, 8-0 with an eye on the national championship game.
