Head coach Chip Kelly knew going into Saturday’s showdown with Washington State that his secondary would be tested. Cougars head coach Mike Leach brought with him to Pullman his famous “Air Raid” offense — a pass-first, pass-second mentality that causes mismatches and stretches defenses across the middle of the field.
“(Leach) throws it 70 times a game,” Kelly said during the week. “And the only reason … is because they won’t let him throw 100.”
Kelly was only slightly exaggerating. Washington State entered the game passing the ball nearly 70 percent of the time, and Cougars quarterbacks Connor Halliday and Jeff Tuel combined for 64 pass attempts Saturday.@@names checked@@
Coming off a shutout of then-No. 22 Arizona, Oregon’s young secondary initially had difficulty adjusting. Personal fouls by cornerback Terrance Mitchell and rover Brian Jackson extended one Washington State drive deep into the red zone, leading to a Cougars field goal.
But in the game’s momentum-shifting third quarter, the unit gelled. After Oregon’s offense engineered its longest touchdown drive of the year, defensive back Avery Patterson slipped in front of a wayward Halliday pass for the interception. In front of him was nothing but endzone.
“I just took it and ran with it,” Patterson later recalled. “He threw it right to me. I would’ve been upset with myself if I didn’t get it.”
Patterson’s 34-yard pick-six salted the game away and answered the question of how well the unit would play on the road without senior safety John Boyett, who’s out for the year with season-ending knee surgery. One of Boyett’s main roles in the secondary was calling audibles and ensuring the defense was in the right position.
“With John being out, we’ve kind of developed a little more chemistry together with one another and learned how to communicate better,” Patterson said.
His interception was the third Oregon has returned for a touchdown in two games. Both Troy Hill and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu recorded pick-sixes in the Ducks’ thrashing of the Wildcats.
Of course, the secondary had help in the trenches. Oregon’s defensive line wreaked havoc on Washington State, sacking Halliday seven times including a sequence near the end of the first half when Dion Jordan, Michael Clay and Wade Keliikipi recorded back-to-back-to-back sacks.
“With the D-line, we always count on them to get pressure on the quarterback,” Patterson said of the effort upfront. “It helps us out in the secondary to get our hands on some balls and get some picks.”
Up next, Oregon’s defensive backs have little time to rest on their laurels. Washington comes to town this weekend fresh off upsetting then-No. 8 Stanford. While the Huskies’ offense isn’t as statistically intimidating as the Cougars’, dual-threat quarterback Keith Price is a much better player than he was the last time he faced the Ducks. Now-departed safety Eddie Pleasant picked off Price twice in that contest en route to Oregon’s 34-17 win.