Injuries have taken their toll on Oregon all season and as a result the coaches have had to get creative with the way they use the remaining players.
This week, that means redshirt freshman safety Marvin Johnson, who played as a running quarterback in high school. Right now, both Johnson and running back Andre Crenshaw are listed as the third-string quarterbacks.
“He’s one of those guys that you don’t mind putting the ball in his hands because you trust him,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. “He can throw the ball a long way. He can throw the ball 70 or 80 yards. He can throw it 55 yards on his knees. That doesn’t always mean he’s going to be a great quarterback but he has all the intangibles.
“He’s done a tremendous job on special teams. He’s a warrior. He’s physical and makes a lot of tackles.”
Johnson certainly seemed confident about playing quarterback despite not knowing that much of the Oregon playbook yet.
“I made all-state at quarterback, so I can do it,” Johnson said. “I sat in the quarterbacks’ meeting to check out some of the plays because all of this is new to me at this level.”
While Johnson isn’t expected to know the Xs and Os of every play, he said he’d be “comfortable enough” to run the offense, if needed.
Who the quarterback will be throwing to is still up in the air as the receivers continue to be an uncertainty. Derrick Jones’ availability for Oregon State is unknown. Jeffrey Maehl, who was expected to play on both sides of the ball after switching to wide receiver from his safety position, is now going to focus exclusively as a receiver.
“Jeffrey Maehl continues to impress,” Bellotti said. “Aaron Pflugrad, I hope, will be back.”
And the defense is hurting too.
Freshman middle linebacker Casey Matthews, who had replaced the injured John Bacon as the starter a few weeks ago, has an injured shoulder and is “very questionable” to play this week, Bellotti said. He said some combination of A.J. Tuitele, who returned from an injury to play in the UCLA game last week, Kwame Agyeman and Kevin Garrett will see the majority of time at the linebacker position.
Offensive line inconsistency
While there are plenty of other factors to worry about, Bellotti isn’t afraid to put the Civil War’s outcome on the shoulders of his veteran offensive line. He said they’ve been inconsistent in the team’s past two losses and a better effort from them is crucial for the Ducks’ chances.
“The last two games have not been our best games. I think that’s a combination of a lot of things,” Bellotti said. “The offensive line has been and continues to be one of the strengths of our football team and I have no fear or hesitation to put this game on them and say ‘It’s on our offensive line.’ We need to have a great performance from them. They’re capable of that and I think they’re ready to do that.”
Bellotti could attribute some of their inconsistencies to the lack of having senior quarterback Dennis Dixon or Brady Leaf in the game, the running game has caused issues as well.
“We hadn’t been doing well in just some basic running plays that have been our staple this year,” he said.
Questionable calls are another problem
While Bellotti is awaiting for a ruling from the Pac-10 about the UCLA interception that appeared to have bounced on the ground before a UCLA defender got a hold of it, he got some answers from officials about the previous missed calls against Arizona.
“I was told that there were obviously penalties,” Bellotti said. “The punt return (for a touchdown) shouldn’t have been allowed. The penalty flag shouldn’t have been picked up. There was confusion on some of the other plays but there’s not a lot you can do about it at this point.”
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