Andrew Luck quietly accumulated yards against the Oregon defense last week, but those yards failed to transfer into points.
The Stanford quarterback completed 29 of 46 passes for 341 yards, with two passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Luck’s longest pass was a 41-yarder to Jamal-Rashad Patterson in the fourth quarter; Cliff Harris had one of his two interceptions on the next play.
The second-longest was a 36-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to tight end Coby Fleener, left wide open on play action. The third-longest went 26 yards to Griff Whalen and set up the Cardinal’s lone field goal at the end of the first half.
“Communication with the coverage (hurt us),” Oregon linebacker Casey Matthews said. “Sometimes, a couple of us weren’t on the same page, and we had our coverages messed up.”
The Ducks, of course, faced a quarterback in Luck who is among the nation’s most adept passers. And they won the game, 52-31, not allowing a point in the second half. Whether or not Oregon passed the Stanford test, missed assignments and reads were ubiquitous.
“I think we’ve done all right so far,” Matthews said. “Obviously, there’s stuff we can work on. We’ve made plays when we had to and definitely given our offense a chance to score. We can always get better. (Washington State) will be a different type of test.”
Plays have indeed been made. Leading the nation in turnover margin, Oregon has intercepted 11 passes through four games. Alabama and Bowling Green have also intercepted 11 passes; Florida has intercepted 12.
Harris leads all Pacific-10 Conference players with four interceptions, including two against the Cardinal that earned him conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. Three Ducks are among the conference’s top 10 in passes defended; Harris leads the Pac-10 with eight, and John Boyett and Brandon Bair are tied for fifth with five apiece.
Bair, Boyett, J.J. Watt of Wisconsin, Kawann Short of Purdue and Victor Gray of UCF are all tied for 38th nationally in that statistic, with Bair the highest defensive linemen. Harris is tied for ninth nationally.
Coaches are looking for more than just statistics, however. They’re looking for consistency and discipline within the scheme.
“There’s a lot of young kids that don’t have a lot of playing experience that are playing,” Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. “I know they want to do it right and I know they’re working their butts to get it right, and it’s our job to make sure they understand it. Once they’re out there, guys have got finish plays. Guys have got to make plays. If a guy’s in position to make a play, he’s going to make a play.
Oregon led the nation in total defense for the first three weeks. Presently, the Ducks rank 52nd. The passing defense has surrendered 205.4 yards per game, a pedestrian 60th in the nation and fourth in the Pac-10 — but Oregon leads the conference in pass efficiency defense (95.1 rating).
At Washington State, yet another wrinkle will be thrown at an Oregon secondary that starts just one senior, cornerback Talmadge Jackson III.
“They’re a little bit different. They throw it down the field, and they seem like they’re a pass-first operation,” Chip Kelly said.
“We haven’t faced a pass-first operation. Obviously Tennessee was going to run the ball. Stanford was going to run the ball. I thought Arizona State was a balanced operation. And then Portland State was a run-the-ball-first-type team. It’s unique in terms of what we’ve faced so far.”
Steven Threet of Arizona State attempted 53 passes against Oregon, completing 30 (with three touchdowns and four interceptions) for 387 yards in the Ducks’ 42-31 win in Tempe. Coupled with Luck’s 46-attempt outing, Aliotti expects Washington State to air it out another 50 times.
“If you throw 50 passes, you make a lot of yards throwing the ball,” Aliotti said. “I don’t like to see the passes go for explosion plays. I like to see the passes go for touchdowns as long as they keep plays in front of us.
“I think (Cougars quarterback Jeff) Tuel’s a good quarterback. I think he’s much improved. We need to step up all parts of the defense when it comes to passing.”
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