Steven Jackson is like a puppy.
Just give him the ball, and watch him run with it.
At least that was the analysis of Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti, only without the puppy part.
“They’re very comfortable giving him the ball 30 times a game and letting him win the game for them,” Bellotti said of Jackson, who the coach also called “the best runner in the conference.”
With Onterrio Smith sitting out the past weeks with injury, Jackson has officially taken over the crown of the Pacific-10 Conference’s best rusher. He averages 136.6 yards per game, almost 30 more yards per game more than Smith and 50 yards more than the next-nearest challenger, UCLA’s Tyler Ebell. That number puts Jackson fifth in the nation.
He will win the conference rushing crown, barring 500-yard performances from Ebell in the Bruins’ final two games or a shocking appearance by Smith in the Civil War.
“What can I say?” Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson said. “He’s had a great year, and we’ll see what happens this week.”
If Erickson had trouble coming up with words, Oregon’s Kevin Mitchell had no problem coming up with some.
“He’s the real deal,” Mitchell said. “He’ll run you over or put a move on you. He’s unbelievable.”
Jackson has scored 14 touchdowns this season, the most by a Pac-10 running back, and rushed up the Oregon State career lists in total yardage (he now ranks 17th), career points (11th) and career rushing yards (eighth).
Yes, Jackson is eighth on the Beaver career rushing-yards list. And yes, he’s only a sophomore.
His emergence has Oregon State fans asking “Ken Simon-who?”
Ken Simonton, who had a well-publicized Heisman Trophy campaign fall well short last season, gave way to Jackson, who now finds himself right up there with the Heisman hopefuls, at least in some statistical categories.
On the national rushing-yard list, Jackson trails only Colorado’s Chris Brown, Penn State’s Larry Johnson, Northern Illinois’ Michael Turner and West Virginia’s Avon Cobourne. Brown and Johnson are legitimate Heisman candidates late in the season.
“He’s been our workhorse,” Erickson said of Jackson. “Let’s face it, when we’ve made the decision that he’s going to carry it 25 or 30 times a game, we’ve been more productive offensively because we’ve gotten the ball to a big time player’s — in our scheme of things — hands.”
Erickson knows his team. When Jackson rushes for more than 100 yards in a game this season, which has happened eight times, the Beavers average 37.5 points and have a 6-2 record. When he rushed for less than 100 yards, the Beavers scored only nine points total in two losses and scored 47 points in a win over UNLV.
“He’s got very good speed, and
he seems to have hit his stride,” Bellotti said.
The question for Oregon’s defense will be; which run defense shows up against the conference’s top rusher? Will it be the defense that was ranked first in the Pac-10 after a 6-0 start? Or the defense that has slipped to third by giving up 160 yards to USC, 190 to Washington State and 163 to Washington?
Surely, the Oregon defense should be able to stop a puppy.