Notes: Seniors on Defense Say Goodbye to Autzen in Style
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
In the locker room after Oregon’s 44-10 victory over Colorado on Saturday, senior day in Autzen Stadium, UO coach Mark Helfrich called all the seniors up to the front of the room.
Then, Helfrich called for one in particular. “Keanon Lowe, you have the floor,” Helfrich said. The senior receiver from Portland stepped up, and wasn’t sure what to do next.
“What do we always do about this time?” Helfrich said. “You’ve only done it about 60 times.” With that, Lowe knew where his coach was going. “Let’s sing,” he shouted, leading the Ducks into a victorious chorus of “Mighty Oregon.”
The UO seniors got to sing out about another victory for the 44th time over the last four seasons, and the 56th in the last five, all featuring at least 10 wins. Oregon’s senior class included the heart and soul of the team’s “Men of Oregon” ethos, including Lowe, Derrick Malone Jr., Hroniss Grasu, Tony Washington and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, among others.
“It’s kind of a surreal experience,” Lowe said. “There’s a point where it’s like you’ll never leave the program, around year two, year three. I’ve had the time of my life playing in Autzen and in front of the fans, my family, in my home state. It means the world to go out with a win.”
Lowe had four receptions for 42 yards in his final home game, while senior center Hamani Stevens stepped up at center in Grasu’s absence. Defensively, Malone, Washington and Ekpre-Olomu contributed to perhaps the Ducks’ best day of the year; the Buffaloes were hampered by an injury at quarterback, but the UO defense held them to 226 yards and limited the nation’s leading receiver, Nelson Spruce, to just two touches.
“He wasn’t able to get his short routes, and that’s where he gets most of his catches and yardage,” Ekpre-Olomu said. “I think that threw them off-guard. ...
“As a senior group we did a lot of great things since we’ve been here. Getting the opportunity to play our last game here and finish off strong was all you can ask for.”
Washington expressed a bit of frustration at Oregon’s penalties – eight for 98 yards – but didn’t let it spoil his day. “We had a lot of fun out there,” Washington said. “That’s the biggest thing. I think our team enjoyed how well we were playing, and that was good.”
Malone concurred. “I had a lot of fun out there,” the inside linebacker said. “We had a victory, a lot of three-and-outs, great defensive performance, got some young in to get experience – it was the perfect game, for me.”
Among the young guys to get valuable experience Saturday was Oregon’s new starting tight end, Evan Baylis, who entered the lineup in the wake of the injury to Pharaoh Brown.
Baylis had played considerably as a complementary player with Brown, but he got the start Saturday. A Colorado native, Baylis had two receptions for 33 yards against the team from his home state, and hauled in a touchdown pass.
“I felt like it went pretty well,” he said. “I executed pretty well; always things to improve, but it was a good start. … Coming in the red zone, I knew that play would be a touchdown the way their defense plays it, so I was excited to see that play.”
The Ducks used their 11th true freshman of the season, Devin Melendez, who handled long snaps in place of fellow true freshman Tanner Carew.
Melendez said he found out early this week he’d play Saturday, which helped him mentally. “Each day I got progressively less nervous, so the game just felt normal,” he said.
Oregon’s previous total of 10 true freshmen matched the number of true freshmen the Ducks used in 2007, the highest total in recent memory.
