Four days removed from its 60-13 steamrolling of UCLA, the No. 1 Oregon football team returned to practice at the Moshofsky Center Monday morning in preparation for Saturday’s matchup with the USC Trojans.
The Ducks wore shells, shoulder pads and helmets after a couple days of much-needed rest. Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said the team went for a group run on Friday morning, followed by a short film session, before taking Saturday and Sunday off to recuperate.
“You know, it’s really their first time off since we’ve been in camp on Aug. 9,” Kelly said.
Oregon ran its usual up-tempo practice Monday morning with nothing but Saturday’s showdown in Los Angeles in mind. Though the Ducks throttled USC on Halloween night in Eugene last fall, and has experienced relative success when the Trojans visit Autzen Stadium over the last decade, USC’s stadium is known for being a tough opposing venue.
“Nobody wins in the Coliseum,” sophomore quarterback Darron Thomas said. “That’s one of the big things about it. It’s going be a big test.”
Thomas was a true freshman the last time Oregon played in the Coliseum in 2008, a 44-10 loss for the Ducks.
The last time Oregon won at USC was Oct. 14, 2000, when Joey Harrington, Keenan Howry, Maurice Morris and Co., squeaked out a 28-17 win as USC dropped its third Pac-10 Conference game of the season. Oregon improved to 5-1, already ranked in the top 10 nationally.
This year, Oregon reps a spotless 7-0 record overall and a 4-0 mark in Pac-10 play. USC stands 5-2 overall, 2-2 in league play, but is just two last-minute plays away from being undefeated, as well.
Kelly, per usual, expects the most of this capable USC squad.
“USC is the most talented team in our league, by far,” Kelly said. “They’ve got more four- and five-star recruits then anybody. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Kelly has commented in weeks prior that he doesn’t look into how a recruiting service rates prep players, pointing out that Oregon has generated several NFL prospects who were two- and three-star recruits out of high school.
Regardless, one of those five-star recruits, sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley, will line up under center on Saturday for the Trojans. When the two teams met a year ago, Barkley completed 21 of 38 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns, allowing just one interception.
“You can’t let him sit back there and let him throw the football,” Kelly said. “You really have to manufacture some pressure on him, because if he gets time to sit back there, you know, he’ll get a chance to pick you apart because he’s got some talented receivers to run routes and he’s a real accurate thrower.”
Barkley leads the Pac-10 in passing yards per game (267.0) and passer efficiency (167.3), while ranking second in total offense behind Stanford signal caller Andrew Luck. Barkley leads the Pac-10 with 20 touchdown passes, while posting the fewest interceptions (four) of any starting quarterback in the league.
Oregon true freshman, quarterback Bryan Bennett has taken on the maroon and gold No. 7 jersey in practice this week against the first team defense. Bennett was intercepted once by senior cornerback Talmadge Jackson III, but looked sharp aside from that. Fellow cornerbacks Cliff Harris and Anthony Gildon both wore red jerseys, staying out of full contact action as they recovered from injuries.
Sophomore running back Kenjon Barner was at practice again Monday morning, but he is still is not participating in any team workouts.
Kelly selected USC’s “Conquest” as the background music for the final 11-on-11 drill, which saw lackluster performances from both the first- and second-team offenses.
Thomas completed three of his six pass attempts to senior Drew Davis, but moved the ball just 20 yards during that stretch. The drive was capped by a Rob Beard 47-yard field goal that split the uprights.
Backup quarterback Nate Costa shared similar results, going 1-for-5 and turning the ball over on downs.
It was a rough end to an otherwise crisp Oregon practice, which Kelly is starting to rest his visor on.
“Nothing really changes for us,” Kelly said. “It’s just the same thing we’ve done. And that’s part what our success is, is being really consistent in our approach no matter who we’re playing.”
[email protected]