Oregon is receiving plenty of praise for its offensive prowess but the defense finally answered some of the questions last week against Fresno State.
They held an opponent to a low rushing total (60 yards on 36 carries) and continued to win the turnover battle by recovering a fumble for a touchdown and intercepting a pass.
The Duck who had his hands on the ball both times, sophomore cornerback Walter Thurmond III, who despite also recording eight tackles didn’t think he performed exceedingly well considering he gave up a few deep passes for first downs.
But he’s developed into a playmaker early into this season and is looking forward to showing his progression from the very first game of his Oregon career when he squared off against the bigger Stanford receivers.
“I think I did all right. It was my first year, my first game playing and everything,” Thurmond said. “Not shaky, but it was a good experience to go against them.”
Now a year wiser, Thurmond knows that facing a bigger receiver means they’re typically that much slower running their routes.
“(Evan) Moore, the 6-7 receiver, he’s pretty tall but he’s not real quick out of his cuts and everything. I can use my quickness against him to my advantage,” he said.
All the linemen see playing time
Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said one of the most difficult things in football is to control the line of scrimmage by knocking somebody off the ball. But the way his offensive line is playing this season, they’re almost making it seem easy.
“Other than turnovers, I think controlling the line of scrimmage is the next factor in winning football games,” Bellotti said.
And once the offense outscores the competition for a significant margin, Bellotti has been able to insert the reserves so they can see playing time.
“In our second and third games we’ve been able to play every single offensive lineman,” Bellotti said. “We’ve been able to substitute freely and not fall off in terms of execution. That’s really important and that’ll pay dividends down the road.”
Improved special teams
When asked about the improvement of special teams coverage this season, Bellotti offered one explanation, at first.
“We have a better punter,” Bellotti said. “It’s a very simple solution.”
He then went on to compliment the improvement from Matt Evensen’s kickoffs and the coverage unit on punts.
“Those are two things that directly attribute – especially kickoff coverage – to (special teams coach) Tom Osborne,” Bellotti said. “His scheme is teaching motivation and energy. We’ve continued the same punting system but we’re punting it better.”