At the heart of Oregon’s spread offense is the same tenet that’s been around since college football began.
Run the ball well.
It shouldn’t be overlooked then that a big part of why No. 16 Oregon is 2-0 heading into tomorrow’s game at Purdue is because of the team’s success running the ball. The Ducks rank fourth in the nation, averaging 332 yards of rushing offense, including 408 (of the team’s school-record 688 total yards) against an outmatched Utah State team last weekend, where seven different Ducks scored a rushing touchdown.
“Some of that had to do with us and some of that had to do with our opponent,” head coach Mike Bellotti said, “and as I told our team from now on, I want it to have to do with us.”
For the offensive line, running the ball has always had to do with a certain sense of pride, senior offensive guard Mark Lewis said.
“You’ve got to love that,” Lewis said. “It sets the tempo for the drive and lets you establish a little bit of dominance if you need to early in the game, and really takes the onus off the quarterbacks and lets the front five do what we know how to do.
“We don’t get any glitz or glamour or glory, so whatever our running backs are putting up, that’s all we got.”
Running for 152 more yards against Utah State than it did against Washington – on only seven more attempts – allowed Oregon to increase its time of possession by nearly three and a half minutes. On one scoring drive at the very end of the first quarter, Oregon ran the ball seven of the eight plays on the drive, with LeGarrette Blount taking the final five for 55 yards and a touchdown.
“If we don’t do that (run the ball), we really can’t do anything else,” senior tackle Fenuki Tupou said.
So far this season, Oregon has started six different lineman due to injuries or Tupou’s suspension. The six – seniors Lewis, Tupou, Max Unger and Jeff Kendall and sophomores C.E. Kaiser and Jordan Holmes – have 12 varsity letters and 72 career starts between them. And while they love pancake blocks and rushing yards as much as the next lineman, rushing yards mean nothing if Oregon doesn’t win.
“I don’t think that’s even on our minds really,” said senior Jacob Hucko, who has two career starts at tackle. “It’d be nice, but our focus is just on winning games.”
Although Purdue allowed 122 yards rushing to I-AA Northern Colorado in its first game, it will be the Ducks’ first opportunity to test its running game in a road game scenario against a BCS school. Purdue head coach Joe Tiller didn’t hide his concern for the Ducks’ team speed.
“They’ve got skilled players all over the place,” Tiller said. “They run extremely well, both offensively and defensively.”
Last week proved to be hit or miss for the offensive line’s depth, regaining Tupou after a one-game suspension for improper contact with an agent, but Kaiser injured his left ankle, holding him out of practice for most the week. Kaiser will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., but Hucko will get the start.
Even if it was against a team considered by some as the worst in the nation, Tupou was pleased with the offensive line’s performance opening running holes against the Aggies for running backs such as Blount, who ran for 132 yards on 18 carries.
“I took out my frustrations,” Tupou said. “We did what we had to do and what we should have done.”
A transfer from East Mississippi Community College, Blount has enjoyed running behind a Division I line, calling it the best he’s ever had.
“I think with Max (Unger) and Fenuki (Tupou) and Mark (Lewis) and (Jeff) Kendall and all those guys, they’re probably the biggest lineman, the fastest and strongest that I’ve seen.”
Oregon’s starting running back, Jeremiah Johnson, will return after suffering a right shoulder injury while being tackled after his only run against Utah State – a 37-yard first-quarter dash up the visitors’ sideline that put Oregon in its first scoring position. Although fitted with a shoulder harness, he’ll give the Ducks their top home run threat in the running game – as shown during his season-opening 124-yard performance
against Washington.
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