After practice on Wednesday, junior quarterback Jeremiah Masoli stood talking to reporters for more than 20 minutes, patiently answering questions and saying the right things.
Masoli is a laid-back guy by nature, with a soft voice, but there was one topic that got him thinking about things other than football: home.
The 220-pound, dual-threat athlete calls San Francisco, Calif., home, and with the No. 7 Ducks in Palo Alto playing Stanford, he’s happy his family will be able to see him play. Masoli said there will be “too many (relatives) to count” watching him play at Stanford Stadium, and he’s just excited to be close to home.
“It’s definitely nice to go back home and be around that atmosphere,” Masoli said of the Bay Area. “It’s always different when you’re back home.”
But Masoli, who is averaging 62.3 yards rushing and 161 yards a game passing, isn’t the only one who is going home. Nearly half the team calls somewhere in the state of California home, and there should be plenty of green in the stands. The atmosphere has never been known to be particularly loud at Stanford Stadium, with a couple of players comparing games there to “large high school games.”
Junior defensive tackle Brandon Bair said that it’s tough to play in there sometimes because the team feeds off the noise, but he’s sure that with the newly-painted target on their backs after taking down USC 47-20 last week, motivation will be high enough.
“It may not always be a tough environment, but it’s a tough team to go against,” Bair said.
Both teams come in as the top two rushing teams in the conference. Oregon is No. 8 in the nation in rushing while averaging 233.25 yards on the ground, and Stanford is No. 16 at 205.63 yards per game.
Leading the attack for Stanford will be running back Toby Gerhart, a 235-pound bruiser who runs very well between the tackles.
“(He) is an amazing running back,” Bair said. “I just think they have a lot of heart.”
“They are a really scrappy team,” Masoli added. “They get after it, but so do we. We’re going to look to match that intensity. We see some things we like in their defense.”
The Cardinal will feature a smash-mouth style of football, with lots of running the football and play-action passes from redshirt freshman quarterback Andrew Luck. But the Ducks look to again run the ball a lot with their zone-read system, and if the 391 yards the team rushed for last week against a highly-touted Trojans defense is any indication, it could be another big day for LaMichael James and company.
“I think sometimes you find something that works and we stuck with it,” offensive lineman Carson York said. “Hopefully this weekend we find something that works.”
Oregon wants to do that by setting the tempo early and keeping the Cardinal back on their heels while the Ducks attack. The defense will also will come at Luck in waves to pressure him. The Ducks weren’t able to pressure USC quarterback Matt Barkley much until the second half, but when they did, it threw off the entire offense.
“(The Trojans’) offensive line was good, and we just wore them down,” Bair said. “We just were working and working until they broke. The second half, they started hanging their heads and we started to get pressure on him and rattled him.”
That intensity comes from how hard the team works in practice. Head coach Chip Kelly has practices set up to be harder than the games, so he has fresh players the entire game.
He also has them believing that the key to success is looking only at the next day. The Ducks are so focused that they don’t even care that a potential Rose Bowl berth is at stake if they lose even one game the rest of the way.
“(We looked ahead) in years past and it didn’t work for us,” tight end Ed Dickson said.
“Basically, everyone has bought in to the system and we’re following it and do what we got to do: Win the day.”
bschorzman@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald > Sports > GAME DAY
Running the ball a common theme
Ducks, Cardinal atop the Pac-10 in rushing, despite different styles
Published: Friday, November 6, 2009
Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009
4 comments
secguy
to the poster that says about masoli enjoy it or in 2 years you could be tending bar or washing cars. I am a Florida alumnus living in Oregon. I breathe, live Gator football. So I am not some huge fan of Oregon or Masoli. But I will say this. You are, in all likeliness, not a pro QB either. Not everyone can be, nor wants to be, an NFL player. Saying that Masoli could be tending bar or washing cars in 2 years is so stupid to say. After all, he is @ Univ of Oregon earning a college diploma & education. Maybe he will use his college education, which came by way of an athletic scholarship, to do something that you yourself have only dreamed about but could not accomplish. Maybe, just maybe, he will be much more successful than you are....maybe he will not.....but my money says he will NOT be washing cars or tending bar. He will graduate with a degree and probably do something useful with it. You, on the other hand, are probably just a bitter old man who never went to college, never got a college education, never earned a college degree, and never did anything other than work menial labor jobs all your life. You're the one that should be hoping you do as well as Masoli will do in a few years. But from seeing what I have of Masoli & Oregon, they are extemely good at using the talent they have. That is what is hoped for, but rarely achieved by most people. Reach for the limit of your talents. That is what Masoli is already doing @ Univ of Oregon. Too bad you are the bitter old man that never could do that.
Hank Hosfield
Why do you think any Ducks fan should feel bad that Masoli or any other Oregon player might not be pro caliber? Masoli's a great college QB and he's running the most entertaining and explosive offense in the country. That's what's bringing in the dollars, fans and blue-chip athletes. Bummer for us. Way to rain on our parade.By the way, you're a dubious scout if you don't think Masoli has enough zip on his passes. As for whether he's getting the coaching to play at the next level, Oregon players have historically been regarded as some of the most coached-up players in the NFL draft. That said, he doesn't fit the NFL QB mold. But he's still a very tough and talented athlete. He's hasn't been short-changed by Oregon. If anything, the UO has given him a unique opportunity to shine.I don't know why you'd predict such a false dilemma of potential outcomes for Masoli. My own educational experience at the UO helped me become a much better critical thinker. I expect Masoli may similarly avail himself and find many more opportunities open to him beyond college than the bleak future you might imagine.
Bruno
You lost me at his throws have no zip.
Your name
Hope you O fans realize that your QB is virtually an undraftable prospect in the NFL. Why? First, spread offense. As we all know, anyone who only takes snaps from shotgun and doesn’t know the Pro style offense is at a huge disadvantage. College is a place to get educated: it’s supposed to be about a general education, but even for football jocks they are hoping to get educated to land a job in the NFL. Someone trained in the spread knows nothing about the Pro style or Western offense: when was the last time Masoli took a snap from center? Look no further than Graham Harrell for the most clear example of a spread QB who had no NFL prospects.Next, he is not big enough to be an NFL QB. The last guy who was less than 6 ft. to play QB was Doug Flutie, and Masoli is no Doug Flutie. I watched him struggle to throw the ball 50 yards; and not enough zip on short passes either. Oh, so you say he can run? But would he make it as a tailback? Well, he does not get hit regularly on his runs. You have to be able to show you can take punishment. At least Tebow takes hits and runs into people (but he’s 6′3″, 240 lbs.), and this is for a guy who they would project would go in the 5th round.Don’t get me wrong– I think Masoli is an outstanding athlete. But to his detriment he has not received the training to be in the NFL. I look at the coaches and fans as the real conspirators. Chip Kelly will make millions for bringing the O to BCS status, and you Duck fans can revel in the big blow out victories, but Masoli will be relegated to the dump heap of athletes who sacrificed their college career for short term glory. So, Jeremiah, enjoy being a star, ’cause in 2 years you could be tending bar or washing cars.
