Spirits may be down for many Oregon football players after losing senior quarterback Dennis Dixon for the season after he re-aggravated the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee against Arizona. Dixon was the seventh Duck to suffer a devastating injury this season and the fifth with a blow to the knee.
“It’s like ‘How many losses can we sustain?’” center Max Unger said. “It’s just ridiculous, pretty much. It’s extremely frustrating.
“It’s something we’ve gotten pretty good at this year – dealing with injuries – and that when somebody falls, somebody will step up and make plays. We’ve done that for the most part this year, with the exception of the last game.”
Upon back-up quarterback Brady Leaf’s insertion into the game against the Wildcats, the offense was out of sync without Dixon’s control. Leaf threw 46 passes but ended with only 163 yards and two interceptions with a sprained ankle. He was still hobbled by the injury as of Monday’s practice, but he said there’s no doubt that he’ll be ready to go by Saturday and was up front about the condition of it.
“It’s a little tender today,” Leaf said before Monday’s practice. “By Saturday, I should be 100 percent. If the holes are there, I can get half as much as (Dixon) can, at least.”
Unger had no idea about the severity of Dixon’s injury.
“I thought he was 100 percent,” he said. “He had a torn ACL and he out-ran an entire defense.”
Neither did redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Roper, who became the backup once Dixon was injured.
“The confidentiality of that was between him, the coaching staff and the trainers,” Roper said. “They didn’t really tell any of the players.”
And neither did Leaf, who despite saying he was good friends with Dixon, said the former starting quarterback remained quiet about the injury, saying it was “banged up a little bit,” Leaf said.
“If he didn’t want people to know about the whole situation, that’s his decision,” Leaf said. “I just had to prepare that he wasn’t injured, and that he could be injured.”
Leaf said that, while he didn’t need to know whether or not Dixon was injured to help better prepare himself for the start, it might have benefited his mentality knowing that he would have a good chance to play, though Leaf said he prepares for every game anticipating that he will get to play.
With a week to prepare with life after Dixon (A.D.) the offense should be in the better shape for this week’s game against UCLA, but nothing’s for certain given the nature of the loss against the Wildcats and the status of Leaf’s ankle.
Bellotti said the offensive strategy won’t change for Leaf. It never has before – even as he threw for 274 yards against Oregon State in his only start last year. The players instead will have to adjust to Leaf’s abilities compared to Dixon’s.
“For so long we were structured around Dennis and what he does,” Unger said. “Now it’s just a matter of getting used to him playing around us. We haven’t done it in so long.”
While Oregon may no longer be playing for a national championship, there’s still plenty to look forward to for the Ducks despite losing their Heisman-candidate quarterback. But that doesn’t mean that the players have forgotten what could have been.
“You don’t really get over it,” Unger said. “It’s just something you kind of deal with.”
Now, they have to face a team that has a former wide receiver as its quarterback and a non-scholarship, fourth-string running back predicted to start the game. Still, they’ve had plenty of time to prepare.
“We have two teams that have two weeks to prepare against us,” Unger said referring to UCLA and Oregon State’s bye weeks. “It’s going to be uphill.”
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