SEATTLE — One year later, the Ducks find themselves in a familiar position.
Who will play quarterback next season?
After both Jason Fife and Kellen Clemens had mostly unspectacular performances in Oregon’s 38-17 loss to Wake Forest in the Seattle Bowl on Dec. 30, Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti and the Ducks find themselves with a handful of quarterback questions. Almost as many questions as they had after the departure last year of Joey Harrington, who was taken third overall in last year’s NFL draft.
“The quarterback job is open,” Bellotti said after the game.
Fife started the Seattle Bowl but lasted only three drives before Clemens took over as the main signal-caller for the rest of the game until the closing minutes, when Fife took back the reins. Fife threw seven passes in the first half, completing only one four-yard swing pass to Keenan Howry.
Clemens showed more confidence when he was handed the ball, but he was unable to engineer the Ducks any kind of comeback as they got within seven points at 24-17, but never closer.
“I thought Kellen did OK; it’s hard to evaluate him without looking at the film,” Bellotti said. “But obviously we’re looking for more than OK.”
Clemens completed 61 percent of his passes, on 19-of-31 passing, for 161 yards and one touchdown.
“I think we would’ve been booed if we had taken Kellen out of there,” Fife said. “He had the hot hand.”
Fife, meanwhile, had the cold hand from the beginning. He completed his first pass, the swing to Howry, but later in the drive missed Howry badly in the endzone on a crucial third-down play. On the second drive, Fife missed Samie Parker twice as the Ducks went three-and-out.
After another three-and-out drive in which Fife threw two incomplete passes, Bellotti pulled the junior in favor of the redshirt freshman.
Clemens also completed his first pass but missed his second attempt on an unsuccessful drive. Clemens didn’t find his rhythm until the last drive of the first half, when he engineered a nine-play, 61-yard masterpiece with time winding down. The drive culminated in Clemens’ seven-yard strike to Parker, a touchdown that brought Oregon within 21-10 at the half. Clemens was 7-for-7 passing on the drive.
So now the Ducks face the same decisions as last year, only this time the decisions seem more ominous.
“It’s going to be competitive,” senior wide receiver Keenan Howry said of Oregon’s quarterback conundrum. “It’s going to be won in spring ball and fall camp.”
That was the philosophy last year after the bowl season, and Fife proved to be the stronger of the two quarterbacks, especially after an impressive outing in the Spring Game. He carried that success into the regular season, posting impressive statistics as the Ducks moved to 6-0 after six games. But as Oregon started playing tougher opponents, Fife went the other way. He became shaky, even shouldering the blame when Oregon failed to generate much offense at Washington State.
Clemens finally got a chance to prove himself but threw an interception on his first pass attempt against Washington.
And that led to this week, when Bellotti told the media he would play both quarterbacks and stuck to his word.
“The coaches made the decision based on how we were performing,” Fife said of this week’s quarterback shift.
And after a dismal loss in the Seattle Bowl, Fife and Clemens will be the answers to the same questions that came up last year. Only this year, they’ll have the motivation of that loss to help them find the answers.
“This will fuel our fire for next year,” Fife said.