The Ducks fed their fresh meat to the dogs, and the hungry Huskies ate it up.
Washington thrashed Oregon 70-21 Saturday night, putting its 12-year losing streak to an end in front of a disillusioned Autzen crowd. It was a bad litmus test for true freshman Justin Herbert, who lacked pizzazz in his first career start at quarterback — but that was to be expected against the No. 5 team in the country.
Herbert learned he would be the starter midway through the last week of practice. He said he was “pretty nervous,” which manifested on his first throw of the game, a slightly underthrown ball to wide receiver Charles Nelson that defensive back Budda Baker snatched for an interception. He ended the game having completed 21-of-34 passes for 179 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Herbert said his performance was “not as great as I was expecting.”
“I can learn a lot from it,” Herbert said. “I’ve got a lot to grow.”
Head coach Mark Helfrich said he gave Herbert the start over fifth-year transfer Dakota Prukop because his team “needed a spark.”
“On that first throw, the biggest thing he didn’t do was trust himself,” Helfrich said of Herbert after the game. “But against that team, playing as well as they were, his poise — his composure was excellent. Now we have to help him out across the board.”
Helfrich said the team will “always reassess and compete,” but he sees Herbert remaining the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.
Herbert at times showed great potential in his first career start. He flashed a strong arm and completed several running throws to receivers in tight windows downfield. He also overthrew his receivers on a number of routes, admitting after the game it’s something he’d need to clean up.
Helfrich didn’t make the move because Prukop’s play was poor enough to warrant it. Prukop’s 153.2 QB rating ranks 33rd in the country — higher than Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and UCLA’s Josh Rosen — and fourth in the Pac-12, behind only Washington quarterback Jake Browning and Steven Montez and Sefo Liufau of Colorado. Prukop missed a few throws in key moments of the Ducks’ losses, but he was not the problem.
Prukop, like Vernon Adams Jr., was brought in to keep the Ducks afloat while their young quarterbacks developed beneath him. But after three losses in five games, and with the No. 5 team in the country looming, Oregon coaches realized the season would no longer be as successful as they’d hoped.
That’s when they dumped Prukop.
The coaches had a choice to make, and they chose Herbert’s high ceiling over Prukop’s experience.
“We’re going to put the best person in there to win the game,” Helfrich said. “We truly believed that that was Justin tonight.”
Perhaps Helfrich truly believed a freshman quarterback gave Oregon a better chance to beat the Pac-12’s No. 1 defense than Prukop, who has 27 career starts at the collegiate level. Or perhaps starting Herbert marked the Ducks’ realization that the 2016 season was a wash.
Those who speculated Oregon’s quarterback situation would be a timeshare going forward were wrong. Prukop didn’t get in the game even with the Ducks down seven touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Instead, Helfrich let Herbert ride it out to get more experience under his belt.
Prukop remains the back-up in case Herbert goes down with an injury — Helfrich doesn’t want to burn freshman third-string quarterback Terry Wilson’s redshirt — but unless Herbert goes down, the Prukop era is over.
Helfrich said telling Prukop he was no longer the starter was “difficult,” considering he had offers to play for Alabama, Michigan and Texas this year.
“[Prukop] decided to come here when he had a lot of great options,” Helfrich said. “You can’t really factor that in when you’re making the decision as to what’s best for your program, but you have to factor that in when you have the talk with that person.”
Oregon will use its remaining games to prepare for the future, and as of now, its future is Herbert.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby