Oregon Vs. Boise St. - Hidden Treasure

The first loss of a season can never be easy and it always leaves the sour taste in your mouth of what could have been. Yesterday's lost to Boise St. was no different. The quarterback woes continued to leave the Ducks struggling and look pathetically inept through the air for practically two complete quarters (2nd and 3rd). I don't think you can blame Chris Harper for his inability to throw the ball and complete first downs on a continual basis. He is a freshman and obviously raw as a passer. There is no denying his athletic abilities and the recognition that he has the future potentional to be a game changer...but now is not that time. I think he belongs holding Darron Thomas' clip board for the time being.

I'm not going to get into the X's and O's of the loss, but rather comment on the positives and negatives, but focus heavily on the silver lining of this loss:

1) Darron Thomas was the diamond in the rough. It's unfortunate the coaching staff couldn't uncover him quicker. In my opinion he went from an unknown commodity to possibly the best option Oregon has...even after Roper comes back.

2) LeGarrette Blount is REALLY good. His leap over a Boise St. defender for a score was the No. 1 play of the day on ESPN's SportsCenter. He compliments Jeremiah Johnson perfectly and I don't think we would have got past Purdue without him.














2) Jeremiah Masoli can get the job done. Before he took the late hit yesterday he looked like the quarterback that lead his team to a Junior College National Title. Boise St. had to respect his passing ability, and I don't believe they would have stopped Oregon all day if he would have continued playing. I'd be willing to bet my paycheck (albeit a small one) that Boise St. was willing to take a 15 yard penalty for the cheap shot on Masoli just to get him out of the game and turn Oregon into a one dimensional unit. After watching the replay of the helmet to helmet hit he took I lost all respect for Boiste St. Defensive Coordinator, Justin Wilcox, and thought that it was a premeditated move. With that being said, however, that plan worked to perfection and ultimately resulted in a win for the Broncos.

3) The loss wasn't to a PAC-10 opponent. The Rose Bowl is still in sight, and after watching ASU's play against UNLV and Georgia I can't say that they really scare me at this point. Neither does the rest of the PAC-10 for that matter.

4) Nick Allioti is on a short leash. How many times was he planning on letting the Play Action Pass burn the Ducks all day? There is only so many times I can watch the tight end go untouched down the field without an Oregon player within 5-10 yards of him without wondering if it's time for a change. Last week we give up 180 yards to Purdue's RB Kori Sheets on the ground and make Curties Painter, a VETERAN QB, look merely pedestrian. Then 7 days later we hold an All-American running back in Ian Johnson to 40 yards on the ground, but presume to give up 386 yards in the air to a reshirt freshman quarterback. The consistency on defense isn't there. I know Walter Thurmond III wasn't playing, but Talmadge Jackson III did intercept a pass and not look half bad.

5) Patrick Chung needs to return kick offs more often. The guy has pure speed and is always fearless. My girlfriend and I were in attendance and even she noticed how fast he gets up to full speed.

6) Hopefully Bellotti comes to the realization that there is only a two man quarterback competition for the Washington St. game.

• Darron Thomas = 13/25 for 210 yards and 3 TD's and 1 Int. And this occurred when the defense knew he was going to throw EVERY down. What kind of numbers can the baby faced freshman put up when he actually has a running game to compliment his passing ability?
• Jeremiah Masoli = 3/4 for 27 yards before being knocked out. Those numbers would have continued to grow.
• Chris Harper = 0/3 for two Interceptions. I think that speaks for itself.

7) And Finally, the hemorrhaging of turnovers needs to stop. 5 against Purdue and 4 against Boise St. I'm willing to dispel the one against Thomas due to the circumstances of the game and the need to make up a large deficit in a hurry. I almost want to make an excuse for Harper throwing the other 2 just to get the ball rolling. Either way, we won't win many games giving up 2 or more turnovers.

There is no doubt that Thomas' emergence from this game can be seen as a huge motivational lift for the Ducks, and hopefully next week the Oregon coaching staff will award him with the start. Watching him in action was like watching Dennis Dixon version 2.0 without the extra "0" on the back of his jersey. This should be his team now...even through the youthful mistakes that are sure to occur.