Last year when coach Mike Bellotti switched Oregon’s scheme to the spread offense, the running game quickly became an after-thought and senior running back Terrence Whitehead saw his number of carries shrink to 156 as he ran for only 679 yards during the season.
That’s not the style of football this year’s team is playing, however.
With sophomore running backs Jonathan Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson living up to the hype they received when they were first recruited, the Ducks have transformed their image from pass-heavy into a smash-mouth football team that averages 206.3 rushing yards per game, good for ninth in the nation and first in the Pac-10.
Twice this season Oregon has racked up more than 300 rushing yards in a game. Against Arizona State, both Johnson and Stewart averaged more than 10 yards per carry and last week against Washington, the triple option became one of the more popular play selections against an over-aggressive Husky defense.
“We haven’t run the option since (quarterback) Reggie Ogburn (1979-80),” Bellotti said. “This is a little bit different attack.”
For an offensive lineman, it was a dream come true.
“It was phenomenal,” left tackle Max Unger said. “Once the option gets flowing it’s pretty tough to stop. Once you start using our offense to its fullest potential, it’s just sick.”
Though most offensive linemen enjoy keeping the ball on the ground, the option play makes things a bit more complicated for the line.
“Run-blocking is fun but the option’s a little bit tougher,” Unger said. “You’ve got to ‘avoid here’ and ‘block this guy and block that guy.’”
Unger said that, though the option isn’t a very complicated play, it requires more awareness on the part of the blocker to know who’s behind him, whether it’s a quarterback or a running back, and he has to figure out who he has to block next depending on who has the ball.
“It’s more second-level blocks,” Unger said. “A lot of it’s the secondary and linebackers that you have to worry about.”
Bellotti and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton have also included the wide receivers into the option offense, sending them in motion before the snap to become the third option for the pitch.
For wide receiver Brian Paysinger, he’s been the most consistent pitch-man among the receiving corps. He averages nearly as many yards rushing per carry (13.0) as he does yards per reception (13.2).
“(The coaches) implant a pitch relationship with the receivers but most of the time we don’t get the pitch,” Paysinger said. “But when you get the pitch you got to be ready to run.”
Paysinger had three carries for 43 yards and one reception for one yard against the Huskies.
“I’d rather be catching passes because I’m a receiver,” Paysinger said. “But it’s kind of ironic, a receiver having 40-50 something yards and one catch the whole game.”
With the talented backs, speedy wide receivers and a dual-threat quarterback in Dennis Dixon, Bellotti said this year’s team is one of the best rushing teams he’s had.
Even with the success of the rushing attack, senior center Enoka Lucas doesn’t believe the Ducks are suddenly becoming one-dimensional.
“We’re well-balanced,” Lucas said. “I enjoy whatever works. Whatever puts up points.”
Injury update
Bellotti announced that defensive backs Jerome Boyd and Terrell Ward practiced Monday and will be ready to play against USC’s talented receivers Saturday.
Tight end Dan Kause and wide receiver James Finley are questionable for action this week, both sustaining injuries during the Washington victory.
Bellotti also said that defensive lineman Cole Linehan is behind schedule in his recovery process. X-rays showed that the broken bone in his foot did not show significant improvement and there is no set date of when he should return to practice.
Trading tickets
The football players are given complementary tickets that they often give to family members to watch the game. Usually the players trade these tickets to other players who will have more family members at a game, but for the USC game, that’s not the case.
“Everybody’s using their tickets,” Paysinger, a nearby Los Angeles-native, said. “This is one of those games where it’s pretty hard to come by an extra ticket.”
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