Coming off a dramatic double-overtime 32-26 win over Purdue, the no. 17 Oregon Ducks (3-0, 1-0 Pacific-10 Conference) host the Boise State Broncos on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Autzen Stadium, as Oregon looks to wrap up its non-conference schedule with a perfect record.
Oregon is projected as a two-touchdown favorite in the game, but Boise State is known for taking ranked opponents to the wire – most notably in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma. Boise State came back and tied the game against the Sooners in the closing seconds before calling a gutsy play in overtime for the two-point conversion, which gave the Broncos the win.
This season Boise State is still a threat. The team is 2-0 coming into the game, with decisive victories over Idaho State and Bowling Green. The Broncos have only allowed 14 points this season, ranking in the top 10 in the nation in scoring defense. Offensively, they are averaging 34.5 points a game, and are led by senior tailback Ian Johnson, a member of that 2007 squad that beat Oklahoma.
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti isn’t looking past them because, over the past 10 years, they are one of the winningest teams in Division I football.
“They’ve done a great job and we have a real good relationship with them,” Bellotti said. “It’s very impressive in terms of what they do on film and they continue to find ways to win.”
However, Idaho State is a member of the Big Sky Conference – the same conference as Portland State – and Bowling Green is in the Mid-American Conference. Not exactly the type of opponents you can compare to the fast, athletic Ducks. But Boise State is confident it can keep up with Oregon, especially considering how its defense is playing right now.
But it’s a daunting task to ask of a team that has never beat a Pac-10 team on the road. The Ducks are fourth in the nation in rushing offense, averaging 323.3 yards a game, and ninth in scoring, with an astounding 47.3-point average. They’ve beat conference rival Washington, 44-10, Utah State, 66-24, and Purdue last week.
For the past decade the Broncos have been known as an offensive football team, and this year is no exception. They are
averaging 470 yards a game of total offense, so look for them to use a variety of formations and offensive sets to gain big yardage. It’s likely Boise State will pull out all the stops to keep the Ducks off balance on defense.
The key is the play of Boise State’s freshman quarterback Kellen Moore. He’s thrown for two touchdowns and 454 yards over the first two games, but his ability to handle Autzen Stadium’s hostile environment may keep Boise State in the game.
Most of the team’s touchdowns have come via the run, which means the Broncos will need Moore to stay poised in the pocket in tight situations when they need to throw.
Perhaps a bigger story is how Oregon’s two newest quarterbacks will handle their responsibilities as the main signal callers for the Ducks. Starter Justin Roper is expected to miss two to four weeks with his partially torn MCL, forcing Bellotti to promote junior college transfer Jeremiah Masoli and true freshman Chris Harper. Masoli and Harper have been rotating every other series and sometimes every other play during practice to get them the most repetitions before Saturday’s game.
But they’re not coming in without game experience. Masoli and Harper shared time against Washington and against Utah State, and last week at Purdue Harper finished out the overtimes after Roper went down.
“I think we are very fortunate that Harper has played in every game and Jeremiah has factored into two of them,” Bellotti said. “It’s not an untested group. Would I like Nate Costa and Justin Roper? Absolutely. But I think (Masoli and Harper) are, in some ways, maybe one of the best passers and one of the best runners with the football in his hands.”
But until Roper is healthy again, Oregon’s quarterback saga continues. The team has made it a habit of getting injured at that position, something that has been lessened this year by the depth. The Ducks have made it clear that no matter who’s playing at quarterback, they’ll still play their same style of offense and run up the yards.
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