WSU offense hopes to take advantage of young Oregon secondary

PULLMAN – Even without Heisman winning quarterback Marcus Mariota, the Oregon offense has had in-and-out end zone privileges, putting up 60 points in two of its first three games.

An injury to this year’s starter, Vernon Adams, formerly of Eastern Washington, hasn’t exactly grounded the Ducks, who put up 41 points at Colorado last week.

So while not facing either of those two passers opens a door of opportunity for the Cougars, to walk through it they’re going to need more than just a good day from their defense. The offense is going to have to start putting points up in bunches.

A 37-point outburst at Rutgers in Week Two was the only time the Air Raid offense appeared to be working anywhere near its capability during Washington State’s (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12) first four games.

A seven-sack showing by quarterback Luke Falk and the offensive line stifled the WSU offense last week at California, and against Portland State and Wyoming it was stilted and inconsistent.

The matchup to watch on Saturday will be between WSU’s potentially explosive offense and the currently maligned Oregon defense.

The skies should be open for the Air Raid. The Ducks return just one starter from last year’s secondary, cornerback Chris Seisay, and he’s out for the game with a foot injury.

Currently ranked 105th in the country in pass efficiency defense, the Ducks defense provides Falk an opportunity for a confidence-building, stats-gorging game.

While Falk has completed passes at a high percentage, the offense is not efficient through the air. The WSU passing offense ranks No. 7 with 369.3 yards per game, but its average of 7.2 yards per attempt is the lowest among the top-25 passing offenses.

Priority No. 1 for the WSU offense, and offensive line in particular, will be tracking Oregon defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, who is expected to be selected in the first round of the next NFL draft.

“Very active, strong, he plays a lot of positions,” Mike Leach said of Buckner. “They move him around, they realize he’s troublesome, also, so they have him play a lot of stuff. Kind of like people used to do with Howie Long. They’d just plug him in all over the place and try to expose them to him.”

If the WSU offensive line is able to keep Falk free of Buckner and the quarterback and receivers can exploit Oregon’s pass defense, WSU will have a shot to upset the Ducks and win in Eugene for the first time since 2003.

The last time WSU beat Oregon in any setting was 2007, although in recent years the Cougars have made a game of it. In 2012 and 2013 the Cougars kept with the Ducks for a half, and last year’s 38-31 loss in Pullman was decided by a controversial no-call pass interference.

“Year-in and year-out they are the top competitors,” linebacker Jeremiah Allison said. “You prepare for them just as you prepare for any other team. But growing up, you had a chance to see them in the limelight.”