Oregon Ducks Way Too Early Preview

The Ducks had plenty to celebrate last season, is a fourth title in the cards for them?
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

The Ducks are coming off the two greatest seasons in program history. A berth in the national championship followed by a long awaited Rose Bowl victory had Duck fans clamoring for another season with senior quarterback Darron Thomas at the helm and an experienced backfield starring Kenjon Barner and last year's break out star De'Anthony Thomas. However, the draft called and Darron Thomas answered leaving a big question mark at the quarter back position heading into the 2012 season. The Ducks are the 3 time defending conference champions and in the North, the road to Pasadena goes through Eugene.

Last season, the Ducks had national championship aspirations but they were derailed in the first week with a loss against eventual national runner up, LSU. Oregon would bounce back and win their next 9 straight games including a dominant performance on the road against conference rival Stanford. Oregon rose as high as #4 and were back in the national picture when Oregon's furious comeback attempt went wide left against USC, giving the Ducks their only conference loss of the year. They would go on to win the conference and Rose Bowl in an instant classic against Wisconsin 45-38. Coming into the summer, all eyes will be on the quarter back battle between Bryan Bennett and Marcus Mariota. Mariota red shirted last season and Bennett's only meaningful playing time came in the second half against Arizona State and then on the road at Colorado, both wins. Mariota, on the other hand got the fans buzzing at the Spring game where he acounted for 3 scores and outshined Bennett to start the conversation in Eugene.

A lot is riding on Coach Kelly and his ability to plug and play as he did in Darron Thomas' first season at quarter back. This season faces even more uncertainty than the aforementioned year as the Ducks must not only replace a quarter back who only had 3 losses on his ledger in his career but they also must deal with missing the workhorse of the offense, running back LaMichael James. James, forgoing his senior season proved himself to be one of, if not the best runner in school history, leaving as the second highest rusher in the conference. All eyes will be on Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas to shoulder the load out of the back field this season. If they are unable to be a serviceable companion to whomever the quarter back will be, the Ducks may not be a threat to four peat in the Pac-12. The Ducks have question marks all over the offensive side of the ball, not only limited to the backfield. They lose Senior Lavasier Tuinei who had a virtuoso performance in the Rose Bowl. The Ducks have a bevy of talent at the wide receiver position but much of it is untested. Josh Huff is going to have to step up and show himself as the leader of this unit and fulfill the potential he showed as a Froshman. The Ducks are going to be missing a pair of senior offensive linemen but the way the offensive line rotates, the cupboard is far from bare moving forward into the future.

Coming into last season, the Ducks had one of the most exciting players in the conference on  the defensive side of the ball in Cliff Harris. When ever Harris was involved in a play it was going to be spectacular. Whether it was spectacularly good or spectacularly bad is another point of conversation. After Harris' run in with the law he was suspended indefinitely and in his final play in a Duck uniform he recorded a safety, breaking up the shutout against Colorado. His absence threw inexperienced but talented corners such as Dior Mathis and Troy Hill into the fray. This would have been Harris' senior season but he is no longer with the team. The Ducks ended up playing a lot of youth and it hurt them early on, especially against LSU. However, the defense started to gel and form one of the better units in the conference. They don't lose a lot from the defensive side of the ball save for Safety Eddie Pleasant and Line Backer Josh Kaddu. While they will be missed, play makers like Terrance Mitchell and Kiko Alonso will have their opportunity to leave their mark.

This year, the Ducks don't face a marquee opponent like LSU to open the season. Their offense will have a couple weeks to warm up before they face their first conference opponent in Arizona. In the best case scenario, the match up at USC will be the game to decide who hosts the conference championship game when the two likely rematch to decide who moves on the BCS, whether in the national game or in the Rose Bowl. The best case scenario for Oregon is they run the table and go undefeated and move on to play in the BCS. That is if the offense can pull it all together and get rolling like they have been in the last few years. If the team is similar to the previous issues, they are going to be tough to deal with. However, if the offense can't put it together, its possible that the Ducks could end up 9-3 while Washington or Stanford go on to the conference championship game.

Bennett, Barner lead #10 Oregon in Rout of Buffaloes

Kenjon Barner runs to daylight in the first half
(AP Photo/ Jack Dempsey)

Darron Thomas and LaMichael James both dressed to play for the road trip to Colorado. It was clear after the first quarter that neither of them would be needed against the Buffaloes. Oregon opened the game going 6 plays for 80 yards, capped by a 4 yard Kenjon Barner touchdown. The play that really set the tone for the drive though, and the day was a Bryan Bennett scramble for 43 yards that was capped with a personal foul penalty that put Oregon in the red zone. After the two point conversion, Oregon's defense stood tall, as they would do throughout the game to force a punt and get the ball back to the dynamic Oregon offense. The Ducks rattled off 29 points in the first quarter and cruised to a 45-2 win. It was Oregon's 6th consecutive game in which the offense tallied more than 500 yards.

Colorado quarter back Tyler Hanson left the game in the second quarter and the Buffaloes didn't score until late in the third quarter on a bizarre play. After the Duck defense forced a punt, Cliff Harris went back to field a punt inside his own 10. Harris ran back and his momentum carried him back into his own end zone and he was unable to get back out as the Colorado punt team forced a safety breaking up the shut out for the Ducks.

For the offense, Kenjon Barner lead the Oregon rushing game with 115 yards on only 10 carries and had two scores, before coach; Chip Kelly shut him down for the day. Barner's highlight came in the first quarter as he sprinted to daylight scoring on a 84 yard rush to put the visitors up 22-0. Bryan Bennett completed just over half of his passes but did connect for two touchdown scores, one to De'Anthony Thomas and a one handed catch by David Paulson to get Bennett his second passing score of the day. Bennett truly showed his dual threat capabilities in his first collegiate start by adding another score on the ground, part of his 69 rushing yards on the day.

Colorado's offense was often stymied by an defense that sacked the quarter back 5 times and got themselves on the board with a interception return for a touch down by Michael Clay. The defense dominated the line of scrimmage and made Colorado play from 3rd and long throughout the day.

Seeing as how two of Oregon's superstars, Darron Thomas and LaMichael James, dressed but did not play, it's reasonable to assume they will both be back in action next week when the Ducks return home for an upstart Washington State squad. Colorado on the other hand will go on the road to Tempe to play South division leader Arizona State.

#10 Oregon Vs. Colorado : Preview

LaMichael James may be back this next week after spending last week on the sidelines.
(AP Photo/Don Ryan)

The Ducks travel to Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado to face a new conference foe in the Colorado Buffaloes. The last time these two teams saw each other was in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl in which Oregon routed Colorado 38-16 in a game that put the Ducks in the national spot light. Since then, Colorado has joined the Pac-12 so these two squads will be seeing a lot more of one another from this point on.

Oregon will be making it's first trip to Boulder since 1978 and they will be making it without their two biggest play makers on offense. According to Rob Moseley, Bryan Bennett has been taking all the first team snaps this week, in spite of Darron Thomas being suited up for practice without a brace or limp.

Thomas injured the knee early in the third quarter against Arizona St. and Bennett came in, leading the Duck offense to victory, trailing 24-21 at the time. Bennett was just 2 of 5 but showed promise in running the read option, the cornerstone of the Oregon offense. Also injured is star running back LaMichael James. He, on the contrary plans to make the trip to Colorado and will play if the team needs him. “I definitely could play,” James said. “ Kenjon (Barner’s) doing a great job running the ball, and De’Anthony (Thomas). And Darron and Bryan Bennett, those guys are doing a great job right now. I don’t know if they’ll need me."

On the other side of the ball, Colorado is also going to be without their leading rusher, Rodney Stewart. The Buffs will miss Stewart who is well on his way to setting school career records for all purpose yards as well as yards from scrimmage. Stewart sprained his knee in their loss to Washington and will be out at least 2 weeks. Not only does he lead the team in rushing, he is also a very capable receiver out of the backfield, being #2 on the team in receptions. Colorado will turn to a running back by committee and hope that the three running backs on the roster can pick up the slack of the offense's most viable weapon.

Injuries have been a big story for the home team this year. Already on the year, the defense has lost 59 games from it's projected 2 deep from the beginning of the year. Most notably in the medical report for the defense is Douglas Rippy, inside linebacker and the team's leading tackler. Even before the injuries decimated the Buff's defense, the secondary was already thin; due to a suspension for what coach Embree called failure to meet team obligations and responsibilities. What's left of the defense is going to face a tall task in containing an Oregon offense that didn't seem to miss a beat with back up running back and a quarter back. They need to get to Bennett and try to shake him up early and try and rattle him. A first start on the road could prove to be a difficult adjustment for the red shirt freshman and if Colorado can force some miscues they have a puncher's chance in this one.

Colorado Will Win If:                         Oregon Will Win If:
Rattle Bryan Bennett                             Run the ball well
Score Early                                           Protect Bennett
Force Miscues                                      Get production from Bennett