Offense Turns Table On Defense In Third Spring Scrimmage
EUGENE ? Six days after being shut down by the Duck defense, the revamped University of Oregon offense showed major signs of improvement, scoring five times in the third scrimmage of the spring Friday evening in Autzen Stadium.
It was a different story on Friday as the offense moved the ball efficiently and consistently behind tailback Terrence Whitehead, who rushed seven times for 69 yards. The aerial game came to life as well with receiver Kyle Weatherspoon catching 4 passes for 40 yards and two touchdowns. Quaterback Dennis Dixon finished the scrimmage 5-for-9 and connected with Jaison Williams for a 20-yard touchdown and Garren Strong for a 21-yard score while Kellen Clemens was 4-for-11 with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Weatherspoon.
"I thought the offense did a little bit better today than last week and that was in part due to Haloti Ngata not being there. He’s obviously a big factor on defense. I also think we did not tackle as well today. We got good collisions, but we did not tackle. The offense was a little bit more crisp, but still not where we want it to be, but shows some of the things that can happen with it and some of the things it does to a defense. It’s also nice to have Terrence Whitehead back. He had a pretty good average when he touched the ball and terrell jackson made some big plays and broke some tackles as did Andiel Brown. I think we can and should run the ball more, but we want to maintain balance."
Overall, the offense balanced fairly well Friday, accounting for two rushing scores and four through the air. Eugene native Niles Mittasch rushed five times for 37 yards, including an 18-yard score. Terrell Jackson accounted for the other rushing score ? a four yard run on the 57th play of the scrimmage.
Placekicker Luke Bellotti missed a pair of field goals from 35 and 24 yards out and was 1-for-2 in PATs. Portland native Matt Evensen was also 1-of-2 in PATs.
Defensively, Jackie Bates, Patrick Chung and Thor Pili each had six tackles and the Duck defense also had three sacks for a loss of 31 yards.
Oregon returns to the practice field next week for workouts Tuesday and Thursday before hosting the annual spring game next Saturday in Autzen Stadium.
