Ducks Turn Attention To Utes As Pac-12 Play Begins
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Late Saturday night, the Pac-12 Conference announced that Oregon’s home game against Utah next Saturday will kick off at 5:45 p.m., providing one answer to a question about a game rife with them.
No more prominent this week with be speculation about the respective quarterback jobs for the Ducks and Utes. Junior Jeff Lockie made his first career start for Oregon in its 61-28 win over Georgia State on Saturday, giving Vernon Adams Jr. a week off, while Kendal Thompson started Utah’s 45-24 win over Fresno State in place of Travis Wilson.
After the win over Georgia State, UO coach Mark Helfrich declined to speculate about the identity of Oregon’s starter against the Utes. One day later, in his weekly postgame wrap-up with media, Helfrich also downplayed the subject of Utah’s starter.
“You’re preparing schematically to stop (running back Devontae) Booker, job one,” Helfrich said. “And then the play action game and/or complementing quarterback runs, all the other things that come off those guys, it’s equal parts assignment football and then rally to the ball. We’ve got to get multiple bodies on Booker.”
A returning first-team all-Pac-12 selection, Booker is averaging 115 yards per game with four touchdowns during Utah’s 3-0 start, featuring wins over Michigan, Utah State and Fresno State. Booker had 110 receiving yards but saw his five-game streak of 100-yard rushing games end in last season’s 51-27 loss to visiting Oregon, in which the Utes were close to going up 14-0 before Joe Walker’s wild 100-yard fumble return completely reversed the momentum.
Thompson started that game before suffering a knee injury and being replaced by Wilson. This season, Wilson started Utah’s first two games before getting hurt in the first half against Utah State; Thompson is 25-of-35 for 215 yards and a touchdown with one interception, a 132.5 efficiency rating, and has run for 54 yards and a touchdown.
Oregon, meanwhile, saw Lockie go 23-of-31 for 228 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start.
“In a lot of ways he did a good job managing the game; a couple throwaways, put the ball in a couple good spots – if you’re going to have a good incompletion, had that,” Helfrich said. “Took the sack there to back us up (in the second quarter), which wasn’t good. He’ll look at the film and see some things he did … but for a first-time guy, that’s very much to be expected.”
Saturday’s game in Autzen Stadium will be a matchup of ranked teams, with both Oregon and Utah appearing in the top 25 of the polls.
Oregon remained at No. 13 in the coaches’ poll and slipped a spot Sunday to No. 13 in the Associated Press poll of media. Mississippi vaulted past the Ducks, from No. 18 all the way to No. 3, after beating previously No. 2 Alabama, which slipped to No. 12.
Utah was No. 21 in both polls entering its win over Fresno State that vaulted the Utes to No. 17 in the coaches’ poll and No. 18 in the AP poll.
Helfrich, a voter in the coaches’ poll, was asked Sunday whether he views them purely as entertainment, or if they may retain some relevance as an influencer prior to the first rankings released by the College Football Playoff selection committee. Their first rankings will be released Nov. 3.
“I couldn’t give any less of a thought to that right now,” Helfrich said with a laugh. “I think that’s purely for the media and fans to be involved in.”
Oregon’s 11 a.m. kickoff against Georgia State allowed plenty of time later in the day to watch games from around the country, and for a UO team looking to clean up some things on defense, the Ducks saw they have some prominent company.
Alabama allowed 43 points in its loss to Mississippi, Texas Christian gave up 37 to Southern Methodist and Stanford allowed 31 in its upset at Southern California. The Crimson Tide, Horned Frogs and Cardinal have all been among the top 10 or 15 defenses in the country over the last five years.
“I’ve never seen a game without a missed tackle, and I’ve never, ever seen a game without a missed assignment,” Helfrich said. “As long as everybody is committed to improving on those things, and we’re putting them in the right position structurally to do those things, we can live with that.”
Georgia State scored 21 of its 28 points Saturday in the third quarter, when UO defenders said they relaxed too much in the wake of Oregon’s 33-7 halftime lead.
“A win, I think, is the bottom line,” Helfrich said. “Everybody’s goal is perfection; we’d love a shutout, we’ve love to score 60 points every week, be perfect in every phase, but that just doesn’t happen. … Everybody’s committed to getting better, but there’s always things you don’t anticipate when human beings are involved.”
Oregon’s players of the week for their preparation and play over the past seven days were Dwayne Stanford on offense, DeForest Buckner on defense and kickers Aidan Schneider and Matt Wogan on special teams.
Schneider made all four of his placekicks Saturday, while Wogan averaged a perfect 65 yards on his 11 kickoffs. Buckner led the Ducks with seven tackles, including 1.5 sacks, and Stanford had three receptions for 48 yards, including a 35-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown.
Helfrich said Stanford’s downfield block to take out the last defender on Taylor Alie’s 87-yard touchdown run also deserved mention. “It was a huge block by him there, a great hustle play,” he said.
