Just a week removed from giving up 323 passing yards and four passing touchdowns in a 38-35 loss against USC, the last thing Oregon’s secondary needs is more trouble. Yet that’s exactly what’s coming on Saturday as Oregon State arrives in Autzen Stadium. Though the Beaver quarterback and wide receiver groups are not nearly as strong as USC’s, Oregon’s youthful cornerbacks will be tested once again opposite the likes of James Rodgers and Markus Wheaton.
“They’re going to throw a lot,” senior cornerback Anthony Gildon said. “Wheaton is a great receiver, and Rodgers has been there forever, and he’s a great receiver as well. As soon as he gets the ball in his hands, you’ve got to make the tackle on him.”
Wheaton, a junior from Chandler, Ariz., leads the team with 71 catches and 947 yards on the year while averaging 6.5 receptions per game (fifth in the Pac-12, ahead of USC’s Marqise Lee). Rodgers, meanwhile, returned from a knee injury to put up another solid season (514 yards and three touchdowns), and tight end Joe Halahuni provides another solid target for Oregon State’s inexperienced quarterback.
“They’ve got a passing attack that really has our attention in terms of Rodgers and Wheaton and (freshman wide receiver Brandin) Cooks and Halahuni and the rest of the guys,” Oregon head coach Chip Kelly said. “I think they’re very athletic and present problems for us on defense.”
The goal, of course, will be to keep redshirt freshman quarterback Sean Mannion from finding those receivers at all. But against the Pac-12’s fourth-ranked passing offense (285.6 yards per game), that is easier said than done. Kelly, for his part, has been impressed not only with Oregon State’s receiving corps, but Mannion as well.
“It seems like he’s starting to hit stride,” Kelly said. “He’s got a real good physical tool set, and it seems like as the season has gone along, he’s gotten better. He played really, really well last week against Washington.”
The Ducks, of course, are no strangers to strong passing attacks. The past four games against Washington State, Washington, Stanford and USC have provided a trial by fire for Oregon’s secondary with somewhat mixed results. Although Washington’s Keith Price and Stanford’s Andrew Luck were more or less held in check, USC’s Matt Barkley lit Oregon up at Autzen Stadium in an upset victory last week. Receivers Marqise Lee and Robert Woods proved nearly unstoppable, but Kelly stressed this was a product of their talent more than mistakes in coverage.
“I don’t think they were bad,” Kelly said. “You look at the catches Marqise Lee made; those are big-time, big-time catches.”
Gildon — one of the few veterans in the secondary after Cliff Harris’ suspension — felt the same way and pointed out that in many cases Oregon’s cornerbacks were in the right place last Saturday. USC simply made better plays.
“We were all in position,” Gildon said. “Their receivers and their quarterback made a lot of great plays, and we just gotta make great plays to match their plays.”
They’ll have a chance to do that on Saturday against the Beavers, and no one on the team is questioning their abilities.
“We have good corners,” free safety John Boyett said. “Ifo (Ekpre-Olomu) is a tremendous corner, great corner. So is Troy Hill, and so is Terrance (Mitchell). The ball just bounced (USC’s) way.”
The Civil War will be an opportunity for redemption and for this young set of defensive backs to put together everything they’ve learned throughout the season.
“We’re all byproducts of our experience,” Kelly said. “So you would hope that when we get to game 12, that the fact that we’ve faced some pretty good throwing teams already … that we’ll benefit from that.”
Oregon secondary faces another challenge with Oregon State receiving corps
Daily Emerald
November 22, 2011
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