Close your eyes at Oregon’s football practices this week and you might think you’re in Corvallis, judging by the team’s praise of Oregon State’s winning game plan against USC last Thursday.
The No. 23 Ducks will look for their second straight win against the No. 9 Trojans this Saturday by creating a strategy that’s partly derived from their game film from last year, as well as a few cues from the Beavers’ 27-21 win, where dominating the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense was pivotal.
“We obviously are trying to find some way to do similar things and I think certainly now that SC has seen it once, they may be a little bit more prepared for it,” head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We’d like to replicate it some way but I’m not sure how. There’s quite a bit of difference in what we do and what (the Beavers) do.”
On offense, Oregon State found success running the ball straight at the USC defensive line with little to no misdirection for 186 yards by Jacquizz Rodgers alone.
Oregon has used its spread offense to run the ball for an average of 308.6 yards per game – fourth-best in the nation – on plays that find holes from being stretched the width of the field. Runners typically run toward either sideline, looking for holes, before then turning up field.
Oregon running back Jeremiah Johnson, one half of the Ducks’ tailback tandem with LeGarrette Blount, believes the key will be conditioning.
“We beat them last year on just straight running plays; we ran 90 plays on them last year,” said Johnson, who averages 88 yards rushing per game. “That’s pretty much our whole focus is get them tired and after somebody’s tired they look for pity and some people just give up. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
USC boasts four players listed on college football magazine Athlon Sports’ preseason all-American teams, including offensive tackle Jeff Byers. Incredibly, seven of the eight tailbacks on USC’s roster were high school all-Americans, yet were held to just 86 yards rushing against Oregon State.
The secret to stopping such a vaunted backfield? Not being afraid to play physical defense.
“That was the most impressive thing I noticed – they were just very aggressive,” Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. “They kicked their ass on that day. I don’t like bragging about Oregon State that much but they got off the ball, got into their gaps and took it to them.”
Oregon’s defensive line, initially a question mark entering fall camp, has allowed the second-fewest rushing yards per game in the conference since the emergence of defensive tackles Cole Linehan and Ra’Shon Harris as disruptive players on the inside, flanked by standout defensive ends Nick Reed and Will Tukuafu.
“I was getting irritated all through fall camp having people ask me, ‘What do you think about the untested, unproven Sonny and Cole,’” Reed said. “But they’ve done great.”
Reed didn’t need convincing that the defensive line could be a major factor in back-to-back wins over USC.
“I’m a d-lineman, so I think it all starts in the trenches anyway,” Reed said.
Thurmond back to practice; Turner out 2-6 weeks
Junior cornerback Walter Thurmond didn’t practice Monday, but he was back on the field Tuesday after playing with an injured groin against Washington State. Thurmond had two interceptions and three tackles against the Cougars despite missing the majority of last week’s practices with the injury that forced him to sit out against Boise State.
“He wasn’t 100 percent healthy,” Aliotti said about Thurmond’s condition against WSU. “But he’s a warrior and hopefully he’ll be more healthy this week.”
Redshirt freshman Terrell Turner will miss a return trip to Los Angeles this weekend after partially tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee Saturday. Bellotti said he hadn’t seen the MRI on the knee, but expected Turner to miss two to six weeks.
Holland, Pleasant return, too
Redshirt freshman linebacker Eddie Pleasant and sophomore wide receiver Jamere Holland returned to practice this week after being involved in an alleged street race in Springfield last Thursday that resulted in the car Pleasant was driving hitting an oncoming car. Bellotti said he will wait on delivering a punishment until the police finish their investigation.
“(Springfield Police) have yet to find the other car involved; I don’t know if they’ve made an effort to find the other car involved,” Bellotti said. “If and when they do we’ll do our thing after the law takes care of its business.”
Freshman quarterback Darron Thomas was also in the car and suffered a bruised right elbow, but was able to play against Washington State. Pleasant required 75 stitches to close a gash on his forehead, but Bellotti said he heard the stitches could come out by game time.
“Eddie looks great; swelling is down,” Bellotti said.
Holland practiced Monday but declined to comment. Bellotti said Holland didn’t suffer a concussion and had no side effects from the crash.
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