Missouri State was never supposed to come to Autzen Stadium.
Before the Pacific-10 Conference expanded into the Pac-12, it was Utah that was set to face off with the Ducks on September 17. Once the Utes joined the conference, however, that option was off the table, and Oregon found itself scrambling to find a team with an opening in their schedule.
The Bears (0-2) ended up being that team, and even Oregon head coach Chip Kelly professed to know little about them heading into Saturday.
“There’s a lot of unknowns going into the game,” Kelly said. “And I think that’s what happens when a game like this comes up…you don’t know a lot about them, and it’s going to be a lot of coaching within the game.”
Of course, this is not to say that the Ducks prepared for the game with blindfolds over their eyes. His team may be a heavy favorite against a struggling Bears squad, but Kelly is not one to overlook any opponent.
“They’re a 3-4 team on defense, so it’s the first chance we’ll really get going against a true 3-4 team,” Kelly said. “So that will present some unique challenges for us in our preparation and getting ready to play against them, because LSU was not a 3-4 team, although they ran a little bit of it in nickel situations.”
That defense, however, has struggled in the season’s opening weeks, giving up 51 points to No. 13 Arkansas in week one and yielding 28 in a loss to Eastern Kentucky last week. Going up against an Oregon team that is fresh off a 69-point explosion against Nevada could spell disaster for Missouri State.
“The tempo in which they play the football game is truly amazing,” Missouri State head coach Terry Allen said on his radio show. “If they’re not scoring touchdowns, as soon as the guy sets the ball down, they are sprinting back to the line of scrimmage and going, ‘Here we go.’ It doesn’t allow you to do the substitutions that you’d like defensively, nor does it allow you to change up your calls.”
Oregon last faced a Football Championship Series (FCS) team in 2010, clobbering Portland State 69-0. Hopes are not high that Missouri State will fare much better, but the Bears do boast an offense similar to Oregon’s high-octane attack.
“Offensively they’re more of a spread team,” Kelly said. “Similar to what our guys run in practice. But they run a couple different running plays than we run, so it’s a matter of getting acclimated to what their scheme is.”
“It’s not something we haven’t seen,” defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti added.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=22687@@
“But they have wrinkles just like every other team has.”
Quarterback Trevor Wooden@@http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/485429/trevor-wooden@@ could also present a unique challenge. The redshirt sophomore started ten games at wide receiver last year before converting to the quarterback position for the 2011 season. @@http://www.missouristatebears.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/wooden_trevor00.html@@True freshman Kierra Harris started in the opener against Arkansas, but Wooden came back from a team suspension last week against East Kentucky to throw for 262 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 71 yards and a score.@@http://www.missouristatebears.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/harris_kierra00.html@@ @@http://stats.nj.com/cfb/players.asp?id=185642@@
Clearly, the bulk of Missouri State’s offense will run through the versatile Wooden, but for his part Aliotti is focused solely upon his own players.
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy things happen, OK?” Aliotti said. “We need to be ready to play, and we need to play like it’s a faceless opponent, and hopefully run away from good and get closer to great. Because the enemy of great is good, and we need to get closer to great.”@@Nice, literate quote there@@
That message has clearly resonated with the players.
“We take it as a regular game,” redshirt freshman cornerback Terrance Mitchell @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204920084@@said. “Just go play, do what we have to do, execute our assignments and just go from there.”