SB Nation - LeGarrette Blount

Who Were the Worst Performers in the Pac-10 in 2009?

Avinash — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:30:02 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Meet the Pac-10 MVP of interceptions!

It's always hard to measure the value of good teams in football. It almost always starts with a good quarterback, followed closely behind by an offensive line and a running back. Then you want a strong front seven, with receivers and secondary coming somewhere after that. You can build a good team around the front four, a great one with everything else coming together

So in determining a football MVP (or I guess for college football, Heisman), we're looking at people from the first three or four categories strongly. In the next two days we'll start counting down the best players and o-line/defensive units in the conference to try and figure out who deserves to be the Pac-10's most valuable player

That's right, instead of doing a national college football consensus (which would be tedious and terrifying), let's go with what we know well. This is all Pac-10.

Because most of us are sick inside, we'll start with the worst Pac-10 performers. What player or unit (offensive line, particular aspect of defense, coach, other thing, etc.) do you feel played the worst this season? Did I leave anyone off that requires mention? Discuss in the comments!

USC--Matt Barkley

Wait a second. Didn't Barkley just beat Ohio State in the Horseshoe? Nothing can stop him now! He's on his way to college football greatness!

Anyway, it seems like Carroll's petty anger at Mark Sanchez was a bad sign of things to come. I'm not saying that Sanchez could've saved USC from the avalanche at Autzen, but he should've outdueled Luck and Foles with essentially the same offense from last year. It would've been a B- version of the 2005 team, all offense and average defense. And they'd probably have ended up in Tempe.

If Sanchez was like an ice cream sundae at Fenton's (a little bad here and there, but still a tasty ride the whole way), Barkley was like a strawberry cream pie shake at Sonic's (tantalizing at first taste, but man would it make you sick down the road). He threw the most interceptions in the Pac-10, more than Sullivan, Prince, and any of the Wazzu troupe. His four turnovers in the Cardinal romp led to 28 Furd points, and he threw another killer pick against Arizona that led to what turned out to be a crucial seven points for the Wildcats. His 4th quarter stats were abominable--50% completion rate, one touchdown, SEVEN interceptions, 83 passer rating, which is good for 117th in the country, only about a drop of about a hundred in the rankings from the season before. His most memorable touchdown throw of the year was only meaningful in the sense that UCLA's defense will be headhunting him in eleven months.

Add in these continuing rumors from Thoroughbred that many of his teammates despise him, and all is not well at Heritage Hall for the first time in...well, a decade. The rest of the Pac-10 couldn't be more delighted.

Note: Thought about the Trojan run defense here, but come on, those guys got DECIMATED (entire front seven gone, plus another four or five guys injured). They had no chance against the Quack Attack or the power run game of the Furd.

UCLA--The entire Bruin offense

via cache.daylife.com

Man, it was brutal watching these guys this year.

Some more fun stats:

There were four teams in the Pac-10 (Oregon, Arizona, USC, Cal) who had two rushers that ran for more than UCLA's leading rusher (Johnathan Franklin)
The Bruins leading man in yards for scrimmage was Nelson Rosario, who finished 19th overall. There were seven teams in the Pac-10 with two or more players with more yards from scrimmage, and four (Furd, Oregon State, Arizona St., Oregon) with three.
Navy threw the ball 96 times this year, Army 161 (http://www.cfbstats.com/2009/leader/national/team/offense/split01/category02/sort06.html), Kevin Prince 267. Navy and Army scored 5 touchdowns apiece on those passes. Prince scored 6. Somewhere Norm Chow is wringing his neck (could be either Prince's neck or his own).
The USC game perfectly encapsulates UCLA's offensive abilities: To prevent from being shutout by their crosstown rivals, the Bruins needed a 13 play, 65 yard, five and a half minute drive that included two fourth down conversions, and two forced fumbles.
Bruins fans are actually calling on Kevin Craft for the bowl game. Yes, THAT Kevin Craft. (Okay, they only want him to start because he wasn't happy at playing hookie, but still). You know your offense is in desperate straits when your fans are ACTIVELY CALLING for Kevin Craft.

Furd--The ENTIRE CARDINAL DEFENSE

via www2.pictures.zimbio.com

Exactly the same thing we did for UCLA. Let's just rattle off the numbers...

A few examples of their defensive fails:

Their defense never forced a fourth down in the first half at Corvallis; five times Oregon State got the ball, five times they marched down the field and put points on the board, 31 in all.
The Cardinal surrendered not one, but two 40+ yard rushing touchdowns to Arizona to blow a two score lead in the 4th quarter, the last one on a 50+ yard scamper by Nwoko on THIRD AND SEVENTEEN.
The Cardinal took a 14-0 lead on the Bears with 6 minutes left in the first quarter; Cal responded by holding onto the ball for 35 of the final 50 minutes, including ripping off 24 unanswered points and scoring on five of their next six drives.

Perfect example of their horrid season came against Notre Dame. Toby Gerhart rushed in the go-ahead touchdown with a minute left in a tied game against an awful Irish defense, and Harbaugh looks about as pleased as Michael Corleone finding out Kay had an abortion. Why? The Cardinal could have kneeled down three times and kicked a chip shot extra point-type field goal at the buzzer to win. The touchdown put the Cardinal defense back on the field against Jimmy Clausen. Sure enough, after getting pinned at their own ten, in TWENTY SECONDS the Irish are at the Cardinal 24 and nearly pull a win out of their asses. All thanks to the Cardinal's hideous defense.

Yeesh. Maybe Gerhart did deserve the Heisman. But we'll get to the MVP candidates soon enough.

Oregon State's September swoon

via blog.oregonlive.com

This isn't really a unit fail as opposed to a team fail; the Beavers suck in September EVERY SINGLE YEAR. They could never get going against Cincinnati even though they were at home. They allowed Nick Foles in his starting debut in Corvallis to complete 74% of his passes at 7.5 YPA with 3 touchdowns and no picks. And they needed a last second Kahut field goal to beat a 5-7 UNLV squad. And these guys plan to play TCU in Dallas and Boise in the Smurf Turf next September?

Cal's pass defense not named Syd'Quan Thompson

via cdn2.sbnation.com

108th in passing yards given up; 103rd in completion percentage; 81st in passer rating. The Bears dropped from 3rd in the country in INTs to 71st, from 1st in the country in passes defended to 47th. So let's say they regressed a little.

(You might say the offensive line deserves this...but Cal still ranked top 40 in rushing yards per game and top 25 in yards per attempt. You might even say the special teams, but they didn't have as much impact as our defense, plus their general incompetence over the past half-decade deserves its own post. A lot of that had to do with Best and Vereen, but that's still only a mediocre unit, not an awful one. Nothing hurt the Bears more in 2009 than their pass defense...the offensive line just exacerbated the situation.)

Washington--Nick Holt

This one's hard to say. Holt's defense was much improved from last year, especially in the run game. USC, Cal, Wazzu, Arizona all fell. On the other hand...his defense still got ripped apart by the Oregon schools and the Furd. They weren't that bad, but they weren't that good either, so it's hard to call them the worst. So I'll go with the easy to hate Holt here.

Ultimately though, Holt's defense still provided us with the most comical college football moment of 2009, which could've been the difference between Locker and his first bowl game...

Arizona State

Only four games into the season, Pitchfork Nation wrote an open letter to his beleaguered starting QB withdrawing his support.

I retract anything positive I said about Danny Sullivan. Not only are you not physically talented enough to start for a Pac-10 team, but as you proved last night, you’re what we call in my family a "mental midget."

..

Instead, you exhibited the same physical problems we saw in each of the Sun Devils first three games. You sailed balls, you completely missed wide open receivers and left your pass catchers out to dry with several horribly thrown balls. Your most accurate pass was one you threw away in the 3rd quarter that perfectly nailed the "C" on the Muscle Milk sign on the side of the east bleachers.

Well, that sucks.

The numbers don't get much better for Sullivan: He never threw better than 56% in any quarter, he threw well on 1st down but didn't make much of a dent otherwise, and he generally struggled with everything. He hit 60% completions in only three of his games, all against bad pass Ds (Cal, Furd, Oregon State). For God's sake, he struggled against Wazzu. Shouldn't there be a shaming list for athletes who struggle against Wazzu?

And it wasn't like he was throwing to turds out there; both Kyle Williams and Chris McGaha notched 57 catches, and Dmitri Nance was a capable runner. No, it looks like most of the wounds were self-inflicted.

Wazzu--Everyone?

via cache.daylife.com

I'll save those poor Cougar fans an explanation; I really don't want to go over this hundred car pile-up, and they've suffered enough. At least they have Klay Thompson.

Oregon: LeGarrette Blount?

via www1.pictures.zimbio.com

He's probably the Ducks Least Valuable Player. I'm not happy stating it since the dude got a huge punishment for a totally surreal moment, but he redeemed himself, so that's always good.

But I put a question mark there...because for not-so-obvious reasons, you could make the case that he's the unintentional Pac-10 MVP. Why?

1) The Punch changed the whole Oregon running dynamic. For nearly a month Oregon struggled to get past the rust, but slowly things started to click and their offense got back in sync for the Utah game; once James and Masoli started operating in tandem the Quack Attack began rolling.

So...does Oregon win close games versus Purdue and Utah if Blount is in the backfield? Do the Ducks slow the pace down against Cal, USC, UCLA, Arizona State, Arizona and Oregon State instead of attacking, attacking, attacking? Does James get going at all? Does Barner break out as a pure speed demon? Would Oregon have gone 10-2 without the Punch? I doubt it. In a strange way, Blount's actions made his team BETTER in the long run--the Ducks were able to play that fast up-tempo offense that Kelly relished, and they blew through the Pac-10 relatively unscathed.

(I will always believe that if the Bears had played Blount and Masoli that we could've snuck that game out--not necessarily won, but the opportunity would've been there. We could've bottled up Blount the way we held Gerhart in check, play deliberate 3-4 football and wait for Blount to find the hole before matching him at the line of scrimmage. Of course, we still wouldn't have been able to defend Ed Dickson, but at least it's a step up from defending no one.)

2) The media hatefest gave the Ducks an 'us against the world' mentality. You can't underestimate the power of ESPN and the Internet on these guys--when Oregon became the dominant storyline of the opening college football weekend, when they heard about how they stunk and that their coach should be fired...it's not implausible they didn't rally around the hate and use it to fuel their overall mission. It's hard for me to say that Chip Kelly didn't use that to motivate the Ducks to play better, execute better, keep the pace going; they only let down once (the Cardinal), rolled everyone else and delivered in what amounted to Rose Bowl quarter and semifinals against Arizona and Oregon State.

If it had just been an awful loss the Ducks would've been forgotten by the national media--the Punch gave it the attention, gave Oregon the fire they needed to run through the rest of the season. It was the perfect black swan event. Everything went wrong on the first day of the season, and the Ducks spent the next three months trying to prove that it was an aberration. Didn't do too shabby, did they?

Of course, you could say he would've been theoretically least valuable; were the Ducks a better team if Blount wasn't playing? We'll never totally know, but the fact they barely missed a beat without him says a lot. They probably beat the Furd with him, but do they blow out USC, Cal, Arizona State, Washington and UCLA? I'm not so sure about that.

So Blount gets his team's LVP...only because the rest of the Ducks played like MVPs the rest of the year. For some reason, I feel he won't mind it that much.

Tomorrow: Pac-10 MVP honorable mentions

Quack Fix: The Oregon Ducks are the Pac-10 Champions

jtlight — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:05:01 -0000

More photos » by Rick Bowmer - AP

It's fitting that LeGarrette Blount was almost the undoing of the season early in the year, and ended up saving it in the 3rd quarter.

Browse more photos »

What a night. I still have a grin plastered across my face. The Ducks are Pac-10 champions. Here's your post-Civil War quack:

First off, Chip Kelly. 3 fourth down attempts and conversions that saved and then won the game for the Ducks. George Schroeder caught up with him after the game, and Kelly never had any thought of NOT going for it. And the confidence that Kelly displayed spread to the whole team. Despite being down by 9 in the 3rd, the Ducks never wavered, they never gave up. They just kept on plugging, and made big play after big play, on both sides of the ball.
Ken Woody has his post-game analysis up. A few things that stuck out: Bringing in Blount turned out to be much more than giving him some playing time as a senior. His physicality was something the Ducks desperately needed (Paul was right!). Second, for all the talk about the Beavers "controlling the clock," it was the Ducks that did that in the second half, with a number of huge drives to keep the Beaver offense off the field. Lastly, OSU seemed to make no attempt to establish a running game. The Ducks dominated the ground game, especially in the second half.
Adam Jude has a piece on LeGarrette Blount, and the emotional night after a long and lonely season. One of my favorite parts of the night can be seen on the SportsCenter highlights of the game (they won't let me embed): The massive smile on Gary Cambell's face when he hugs Blount after his touchdown. I'm so happy for LeGarrette for getting to this point. He kept his head down, and worked hard all season, even when he wasn't being rewarded. How the entire team responded to the Boise situation makes me proud to be a Duck.
Ted Miller has a piece on the bumpy ride the Ducks endured. It has been an exciting ride, with some incredible lows, which make the highs that much sweeter.
The senior sendoff was a great success, and good thing it was well before kickoff, or it may have been a bit teary on the sideline.
And, since I can't resist looking forward, let's take a quick look at recruiting. There were some huge visitors last night, including a surprise by Dominique Easley, one of the top DE recruits in the nation. Don't be surprised if the Duck commitments start rolling in.

After the jump a few videos. As always, leave your links and comments below. It's a day of celebration!!! GO DUCKS!!!

The ESPN crew breaks down the Oregon victory

Chip Kelly Talks Civil War

Chip Kelly full post-game press conference

Jeremiah Masoli post-game press conference

KVAL post game coverage

Remembering the Seniors

jtlight — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:00:45 -0000

When we look back on the seniors of 2009, I don't think they will be remembered in the same vein as some of the other Oregon greats. We'll remember 2001 for Joey Harrington. We'll remember 2007 for Dennis Dixon. We'll remember 2008 for the stellar offensive line and Jeremiah Johnson.

But 2009 is different. The face of the offense, LeGarrette Blount, was suspended for most of the season. The face of the defense, Walter Thurmond III, missed most of the season with a knee injury. And this year may end up being known as a year of transition, as successful as this team may end up being.

But this class is something special. They lived through 2006, when the team imploded down the stretch, and carried those lessons forward, helping to bridge the gap between 2007 and 2009, and providing leadership on a very young team.

Without the leadership and production of Walter Thurmond, Ed Dickson, Will Tukuafu, and T.J. Ward this team would not be where it is. On top of this, many other seniors who didn't see the field as much are just as important to the program. Morgan Flint, Andre Crenshaw, Rory Cavaille, Willie Glasper, Blake Ferras, Simi Toeaina, Titus Jackson are vital and productive members of the team, and worked their butts off day in a day out. Their hard work helped pushed other players to that next level. Lastly, we can't forget the contributions of three walk-ons, who all earned scholarships by their seniors years. Riley Showalter, Mike DiVincenzo, and Pono Kam earned their scholarships, and their play on special teams helped give Oregon one of the top special teams units in the conference.

Thanks for the memories guys. You will all be greatly missed. Enjoy your final game at Autzen.

After the jump, we have some videos, to remember the contributions of another special Oregon class.

Ed Dickson

In a long line of great Oregon tight ends, Dickson goes down as the most productive, with big plays over and over again during his career. His catch against Arizona was simply spectacular. Here are some of my favorite Ed Dickson moments:

T.J. Ward

He will be remembered as the enforcer of the Oregon defense, laying hits over and over again, and likely go down as the most YouTube'd Duck of all time (for exploits DURING the football game).

Walter Thurmond III

He had a knack for the big play. I feel cheated that we missed out on most of his senior year.

LeGarrette Blount

We'll ultimately remember Blount for his essentially lost senior year, which is too bad. He was utterly dominant as a change of pace his junior year. So let's remember him for that, and by one of my favorite runs of all time.

I'm sure I missed some big moments, so leave your favorite memories of our seniors in the comments. GO DUCKS!

Quack Fix: Oregon fans are rude, and there's a 1-in-5 chance Chip Kelly ends up at Notre Dame?

PaulSF — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:13 -0000

Based on SI.com's latest Fan Survey, I'm guessing Full House's Stephanie Tanner wouldn't enjoy watching a game at Autzen Stadium.

View full size photo »

So, it's Friday. And that means it's almost Saturday. Which also means it's almost Gameday. College Gameday, more precisely. Treat this post as your "It's Friday, but I don't feel like working because I'm too nervous thinking about tomorrow's game in the desert" open thread. But first, your Morning Quack Fix:

As Stephanie Tanner often proclaimed, "How rude!" How rude? Autzen Stadium rude. According to SI.com's latest Fan Survey Results for the Pac-10, 26.2% of respondents think Oregon has the rudest fans in the Pac-10. I'm taking that as a compliment. And suddenly feel like taking in a Full House marathon.
On the heels of the R-G's George Schroeder's Tuesday column discussing exactly the same topic, The Oregonian's John Canzano thinks the University's got it all wrong by not letting senior running back LeGarrette Blount speak to the press. For once, I actually agree with Canzano. But I still don't like him.
Time to panic! Bodog.com released prop bet odds on who will be the coach at Notre Dame next fall if it's not Charlie Weis. Guess who made the short list with odds of 5-to-1? Yup, you guessed it: Chip Kelly. If you're a Duck fan, put down a hundred bucks on this bet. That way, if we do lose Chip to South Bend, at least you'll get a consolation prize of $500. You think I'm kidding.
Schroeder has a nice feature on Mike Bellotti's work as a color analyst on the rebroadcasts of Ducks games this year. Let's just hope Mike doesn't get so good at it that he ends up getting a job with ABC. He's a natural!
The R-G's Ron Bellamy reports on Oregon's graduation rates following a national report released Wednesday. Both the men's and women's basketball programs' rates are above the national average, but football declined, partially due to a small 2002 recruiting class that featured a few early NFL draft entrants, including Haloti Ngata.
Lastly, the RG has a feature piece today on Talmadge Jackson III, who has stepped up in the wake of injuries to Walter Thurmond and Willie Glasper. Jackson has been excellent all year, especially last week when he Oregon's defensive player of the week honors. However, just like the rest of the Ducks, he's never satisfied, and is always looking for improvement.

As always, leave any relevant links or comments below. GO DUCKS!

Elizabeth Lambert Finally Talks about her Incident in Soccer Match

Jeremy Mauss — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:00:13 -0000

For those who forgot Elizabeth Lambert is the New Mexico soccer player who literally went crazy during the Mountain West Conference semi-finals by attacking mostly defenseless BYU players. Since that incident she has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities. Now she has spoken to the New York Times to apologize:

"I definitely feel because I am a female it did bring about a lot more attention than if a male were to do it. It's more expected for men to go out there and be rough. The female, we're still looked at as, Oh, we kick the ball around and score a goal. But it's not. We train very hard to reach the highest level we can get to. The physical aspect has maybe increased over the years. I'm not saying it's for the bad or it's been too overly aggressive. It's a game. Sports are physical."

She is correct that this has brought more attention because she is a girl, however there was a recent event with Oregon's LaGaratte Blount who punched out a Boise State player and went nuts after that and had to be restrained. She nearly did the same thing by kicking, punching, and that vicious pony tail grab.

"I look at it and I'm like, 'That is not me,'. I have so much regret. I can't believe I did that.

I think the way the video came out, it did make me look like a monster. That's not the type of player I am. I'm not just out there trying to hurt players. That's taking away from the beauty of the game. And I would never want to do that."

For her to say 'that is not me' and saying it's out of character is utterly and completely false. If there had been a punch or an aggressive slide then that excuse flies, but she did about five or six brutal actions in this game. We all saw what she did (or at least the six millions viewers on YouTube) and it was nasty. She did apologize but kept using qualifiers to attempt to justity what she did. For those who somehow missed it the video is below.

Quack Fix: the impact of Blount not playing and previewing Arizona

ntrebon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:48:09 -0000

It was great to be back at Autzen for the ASU game and to meet several ATQ posters. Here's hoping it doesn't take me another three years for a return trip home. Here's your quack fix for Tuesday.

George Schroeder has a column up that argues that the restrictions on LeGarrette Blount (i.e., no interviews, no clarification of the "academic and behavioral ladders", and not seeing any game action last Saturday) might actually be making the situation a larger distraction than it otherwise would be.
Rob Moseley has a notebook up that previews the Arizona Wildcat defense. Moseley also reports that Jamere Holland was already back at practice despite the knee injury he suffered against the Sun Devils.
Gary Horowitz looks at T.J. Ward's return to the Oregon secondary. Horowitz notes that Ward currently has the fifth most tackles on the team after only playing in five of the ten games thus far. Horowitz also has a preview up of Arizona that focuses on Chip Kelly and the team not looking too far ahead.
Gregg Biggins has a story up about TE recruit Christian Thomas, who was at the game this past weekend. It sounds like he came away awfully impressed, despite the cold weather. Thomas is rated the #7 TE overall by Scout and the #3 TE by Rivals, both of whom have him at four stars.

There are few video clips after the jump. Go Ducks!

Chip Kelly talking about the upcoming Arizona game:

Oregon-Arizona: Chip Kelly talks about Saturday's matchup

KVAL has their own Arizona video preview with a few sound bytes from Ward and Kelly, as well as Kelly talking about Blount not playing against ASU:

The Monday Morning Wash

John Berkowitz — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:27:37 -0000

More photos » by Greg Wahl-Stephens - AP

about 1 month ago: Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian, right, greets Oregon State head coach Mike Riley at the end of an NCAA college football game in Corvallis, Ore., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. Oregon State beat Washington 48-21. (AP Photo/Greg Wahl-Stephens)

Browse more photos »

Well it is back to the drawing board during the second bye week of the year before Washington finishes its season against Washington State and California at home. What started in August with so much promise is starting to look more and more like 2008 with two games left.

The coaches goal for the next three weeks at this point is simply survival. They need to rally their team to finish strong with a victory over Washington State and a competitive game with California so they can finish the season on a high note.

The only thing that is going to make this team better going into the future is a better collection of bigger, faster, more dedicated, and stronger athletes. We all knew that going into this season but somehow we expected a litt more. We expected the breaks to go our way and somehow get into a bowl game. Last second losses against Notre Dame, ASU, and UCLA dashed those hopes. So close but yet so far.

Even with a bowl out the window the Huskies can still accomplish some good things in the last two games. RS Frosh RB Chris Polk is sitting at 900 yard with two games left. Picking up over 1000 yards is quite an accomplishment when you consider the quality of his offensive line.

The Apple Cup is always a big game no matter what the teams records are going in. Jake Locker has never won an Apple Cup as a starting QB. The Huskies have lost two in a row to the Coug's. Playing a team like Washington can be a great confidence builder for a team that is on a losing streak.

The key for this team is to circle the wagons, pull together, and finish strong. If they don't there will be more questions going into 2010 than there were going into 2009.

Recruiting News

Washington picked up a commitment from one of the best linebackers on the West coast in MLB Victor Burnett from Culver City, Ca.. Burnett is the 23rd known recruit in the 2010 class.

Around the Pac 10

Stanford 55 USC 21

Toby Gerhart rushed for 178 yards and three TD's to lead Stanford to a crushing victory over the Trojans. Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score for the Cardinal (7-3, 6-2 Pac-10), who followed up their surprising rout of Oregon last week with a strong start and a big finish at the Coliseum. Richard Sherman returned an interception 42 yards for a score with 11:41 to play, part of a 27-point fourth quarter for the Cardinal.

California 24 Arizona 16

Credit the Bears for not folding this season once they fell out of the Rose Bowl race. Give them even more credit for bouncing back from a tough loss to Oregon State. Shane Vereen scored on a 61-yard run immediately after an illegal forward pass knocked Arizona out of position for a potential game-winning field goal, and the Golden Bears went on to a 24-16 victory over the Wildcats

Oregon 44 Arizona State 21

LaMichael James ran for 150 yards and three touchdowns. LeGarrette Blount suited up and was ready to play for the first time since his suspension for punching an opponent was lifted -- but only watched as Oregon had little problem with the Sun Devils. The Sun Devils' run defense, the best in the Pac-10 going into the game, allowed the Ducks to gain 268 yards on the ground. Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli completed 10 of 20 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

UCLA 43 Washington State 7

Kevin Prince threw for 314 yards and ran for a touchdown as UCLA beat Washington State 43-7 on Saturday in a showdown of the bottom two teams in the Pacific-10. The Bruins even their slate at 5-5 and need to win one of the last two to become bowl eligible.

Pac 10 Power Rankings

1. Oregon...The good news is the Ducks control their Rose Bowl destiny with two games to go. The bad news is the final two games are against Arizona and OSU.

2. Stanford...I knew the Cardinal were pretty good after they took apart the Huskies earlier in the year. The impressive thing is they have kept getting better. Up next are Cal and Notre Dame.

3. Oregon State...The Beavers were very impressive in their trashing of Washington on Saturday. Up next are the Cougars and a possible battle for Pasadena in Autzen?

4. Southern California...Can you actually say Sun Bowl and Trojans in the same sentence? Up next are two more games they can lose against UCLA and Arizona.

5. California...Give credit to the Bears for not folding this season once they fell out of the Rose Bowl race. Give them even more credit for bouncing back from a tough loss to Oregon State.

6. Arizona...The Wildcats had Pasadena in their sights but didn't get it done against Cal. They still get a shot at Oregon and finish with the Sun Devils. UA still has control of their RB destiny if they beat Oregon. I don't think they can beat Oregon.

7. UCLA...The Bruins move to 5-5 as Rick Neuheisel starts talking bowl game. Before he gets too carried away they have to beat ASU next week. Looks like a winnable game for the Bruins.

8. Arizona State...The Brock Osweiler era started against the Ducks who promptly knocked him out of the game. The Devils finish with UCLA and Arizona.

9. Washington...We haven't had the Huskies ranked this low all season but the OSU debacle does that to a team. The Huskies have a week off before finishing with WSU and Cal.

10. Washington State...The season is over in Pullman except for the annual Apple Cup. The Cougs tend to play better than they are in that game while the Huskies do the opposite. Before that happens though the Cougs get the Beavers.

Pac 10 Player of the Week

Toby Gerhart of Stanford tore up USC for 178 yards and three TD's

Husky Player of the Week

Jermaine Kearse pulled down two TD catches in a loss the the Beavers.

Quote of the Week

Steve Sarkisian commenting on the Husky Defensive effort - "I think they kind of wore out. We didn't help them. I think at halftime we had only ran maybe a little over 20 plays. We weren't keeping them off the field. They were in horrible field positions they were put into today with the interception, with the shanked punt, with the big kickoff return. Those are not fun positions to be in when you're starting at your own end of the field on defense.''

Oregon Ducks Q&A with Addicted To Quack

Cory Williams — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:47:36 -0000

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

LeGarrette Blount: Back in action against ASU tomorrow.

Browse more photos »

Here at SBNation, we sometimes join forces with our excellent Pac-10 bloggers to discuss upcoming games and events. This week, we talked about the Oregon Ducks with our friend Jared at Addicted To Quack. Adam took the time to answer Jared's questions, and you can find them here. Without further ado...

What does LeGarrette Blount bring to the table now that his lengthy suspension is up? Do you think he will see a lot of action on Saturday, or will Chip and the rest of the staff put an emphasis on the players that have been producing all year long?

One of our writers, Paul, covered this topic very well earlier this week. Blount bring a physical presence that our running backs have lacked, and could prove very important on 3rd or 4th and short situations. He will be a much needed change of pace to LaMichael James if he can earn his carries. Blount will have some carries (I'm guessing around 5-8), but he will not be the #1 back this season. He will be fighting for backup carries with Kenjon Barner, Remene Alston, and Andre Crenshaw.

Losing to Stanford last weekend put a damper on Oregon's BCS chances. Where do you think the Ducks will end up come bowl season?

I still very much believe that Oregon will reach the Rose Bowl. I think that Oregon will be the favorite in the final two games, and the Ducks have a great chance to run the table and win the conference. However, Oregon still has the top offense and one of the best defenses in the Pac-10, so I think they're the favorites to win it. However, if Oregon drops a game or more, who knows what will happen. The Ducks could easily fall to the Sun Bowl.

More after the jump!

Oregon has been stomping the Sun Devils for years now. What can ASU do to increase their chances of winning this game?

Score more points. Slowing down Oregon will be a very tough job, even for ASU's great defense. ASU has simply not matched the offensive output of the Ducks, and they'll have to score at least 30 to win the game this weekend.

ASU will be starting true freshman Brock Osweiler on Saturday night in front of a ferocious road crowd. What is it like to attend an Oregon home game, and what makes playing in Autzen Stadium so difficult?

Autzen is simply insanely loud, every single play. What sets it apart is that the noise is constant throughout the game. At the Cal game earlier this year, Cal did a very quick snap and the crowd quite ready, so everyone yelled from the end of that play, through the next snap.

This noise has a definite impact. Two weeks ago, USC had 6 false starts. Linemen simply can't hear the snap count. Not only does this lead to penalties, but it means that opposing offenses don't have the advantage of the snap, and both teams are forced to go at the snap of the ball, rather than a count. It just adds that extra level of difficulty for opposing teams trying to execute offensively.

All in all, your season has had its ups and downs. Just how good is this Ducks squad? What are they most lacking, and are there any exciting recruits coming to fill those gaps?

The main thing these Ducks are lacking is a dominating defensive tackle. This isn't to take anything away from the Oregon defensive line, which was been excellent this season. But they don't have the size of other lines, and certain lines (like Stanford's) are able to use that lack of size to their advantage.

Other than that, this is a very very good Oregon team, and they finally have a defense that is keeping pace with their offense (up until last week). If Oregon can add some large bodies on the D-line for next year, watch out. Oregon returns 19 starters and will be a force next season.

Thanks again to Jared for taking the time to answer our questions. Go Devils!

What does Blount's reinstatement mean for the Ducks? More than you think

PaulSF — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:22:09 -0000

More photos » by Don Ryan - AP

Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, who was suspended for the season after punching a Boise State player in the wake of the season opener, has been reinstated by Ducks head coach Chip Kelly. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

Browse more photos »

I had the great displeasure of visiting The Farm on Saturday, and from the opening kickoff, it was very clear that Stanford was the much more physical team. Where the Ducks have been using speed, quickness and finesse to overcome matchup issues, Stanford countered with a tough-nosed, slow-grind power style of play that exposed the Ducks' biggest weaknesses: their lack of size and power.

Of course, the poster child for Stanford's style is none other than senior running back Toby Gerhart.

Gerhart looked like the college football equivalent of Chuck Norris on Saturday:

Toby Gerhart doesn't have a chin. There is only another fist.

Toby Gerhart doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

Toby Gerhart is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.

When Toby Gerhart does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

Toby Gerhart can slam a revolving door.

And on Saturday, that revolving door was Oregon's defense. And slam it he did. Again and again and again.

But it wasn't just Oregon's defense that struggled to match Stanford's physical play. Oregon failed to convert on 3rd down seven of 13 times. And although that's still above their season average, the Ducks have been converting fewer third downs this year than last, and even fewer than in 2007.

It's clear the only weak link for an offense that has few weaknesses is a big, physical back, in the same vain as Gerhart, who can be relied on to move the chains in short yardage situations.

LeGarrette Blount is that back. And, well, he's back.

Yesterday, the Ducks reinstated Blount, their own version of Chuck Norris (as he showed with a vicious right cross just 10 weeks ago), and believe it or not, Blount is the missing piece for an offense that seemingly didn't miss him at all since his suspension following the infamous post-game punch of Boise State defensive end Byron Hout on Sept. 3.

And with games against Arizona State, Arizona and Oregon State left on the schedule and a Pac-10 title and Rose Bowl berth hanging in the balance, the timing for Blount's return is as good as any. Why? Because all three of Oregon's remaining opponents rank in the nation's top 15 in rushing defense (No. 6, No. 10, and No. 15, respectively). And all three are far more physical than most of the defense's we've faced this season. And all three will likely have watched the game against Stanford.

Sure, the Ducks racked up 42 points on the Cardinal. But 14 of those points came in catch-up mode. Oregon also possessed the ball for five fewer minutes than its season average (time of possession average for the season is 27 minutes per game, including the loss to Stanford), which would indicate the Ducks' defense might have been able to hold the Cardinal on a few key possessions had it not been on the field for nearly 40 minutes.

Had Oregon had a big physical back to counter Stanford's style, the outcome might have been very different.

Case in point: At the end of the third quarter with the Ducks trailing 45-28, Oregon faced a 4th-and-3 at Stanford's 39-yard-line. In what appeared to be a blown play, Masoli was tackled for a one-yard loss, and Stanford took over on their own 40. Seven plays later, Cardinal kicker Nate Whitaker kicked a 41-yard field goal that turned out to be the difference for Stanford.

Blount might have made a difference in the same scenario. In fact, considering Oregon was trying to control the clock on that drive (that 4th-and-three was the seventh straight rushing play) to give its defense a break, Blount is likely the perfect back for that scenario. The power back that Oregon's missed at certain points in the season.

With Blount back, he will likely be the go-to back on 3rd down. I don't suspect he'll get a ton of carries outside of those situations, but he's the guy the Ducks will call on for short yardage.

Many said the Ducks were up a creek without a paddle after the debacle in Boise. LaMichael James proved everyone wrong by showing how great a fit he is for Oregon's offense. But every great offense needs a change-of-pace back.

And the Ducks just got theirs back. Let's hope he doesn't back us into a corner like he did in Boise.

Quack Fix: Blount back as fifth string, race for the roses will be as exciting as ever

jtlight — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:21:01 -0000

Apparently some running back was reinstated yesterday, or something. My RSS reader for OregonLive had nine new stories from last night. Every single one related to Blount. I'm ignoring all that indignation crap. We'll have some reaction on how Blount's reinstatement will affect the team in later today.

The first main question will be how LeGarrette Blount fits into the gameplan. Blount practiced yesterday as the fifth string back, which should be no surprise. If he has playing time, he'll have to earn it. RB Coach Gary Cambell also stated later: "We're going to work [Blount] in to do everything he's done in the past...If a short yardage situation came up where I felt like I felt like we needed his size as an advantage, then yeah, we'll probably put him in there for that." For more from Campbell on the football situation, check out this video. But no matter what Blount does, LaMichael James is clear the #1 back.
Well, the Pac-10 race could get really interesting. If Oregon and Arizona drop another game, things will become a huge mess. Rob Moseley rounds up how people are ranking the Pac-10 (such as Bob Clark), and I am really surprised at how many people are putting Stanford at the top of the Pac-10. Yes, I know they beat Oregon. But their gameplan worked out perfectly, and they don't match up that well against other conference teams. They executed against an Oregon team against whom they had some significant matchup advantages. That doesn't make them the best team in the conference over the entire season. Whatever happens, this Pac-10 race will be very exciting, and will come down to the final weekend.
The Arizona game has been picked up by ABC, though the time is not yet known (it will be either 12:30 or 5 PST). If both Oregon and Arizona, I assume that it will be an evening game.
In recruiting news one of Oregon's biggest DT prospects, George Uko, visited UCLA over the weekend and enjoyed that visit. Uko is thought to be a USC lock, though with the d-line problems we saw this past weekend, I'm still holding out hope. Getting a dominant DT like Uko would be huge for 2010. He visits Oregon this weekend against ASU.
Moseley has his Monday practice update. Kelly said that the team practiced well, which shouldn't be a surprise after practicing well all year. Doesn't sound like there are any other big injuries to report, which is always a plus, especially after playing a physical team like Stanford.
Lastly, you can watch Chip Kelly's weekly press conference here.

Leave any other quack in the comments. GO DUCKS!