Ducks downplay revenge factor
Oregon still remembers its week as a national darling last season. The Ducks beat a Michigan team some thought was the nation’s best, made the cover of Sports Illustrated, and were on a roll heading into the Pacific-10 Conference season.
Then came the conference opener, a home game against Washington State. A 55-16 loss to Washington State.
Oregon remembers that game, and would love to view the rematch on Saturday — this time, the game’s at Martin Stadium — as a chance for revenge. But that’s just not possible.
“If we were 3-1 or 4-0, I’m sure it would play a little bit more of a part in getting ready this week,” Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemons said. “But we’re a 1-3 team right now. We’re getting ready to play a football game, and hopefully get off to a good start and go from there.
“I guess what I’m saying is … we’ve got other things to worry about.”
Most everyone presumed that the Ducks would be an upper-echelon team in the Pac-10, as has been the case almost every year under head coach Mike Bellotti, now in his 10th season in charge in Eugene.
But a funny thing happened right out of the gate for the Ducks — they lost. To Indiana. Then it was on to Oklahoma, where no one expected Oregon to pull off an upset, and the Ducks obliged by losing 31-7. Last week it was Arizona State going into Autzen Stadium – once an impossible place for visitors to win – waltzing out with a 28-13 victory.
The Ducks don’t have a bye week in 2004, so Bellotti doesn’t get a breather along the way to try and right the ship. Instead, he and his team have little choice but to plow forward and pray for a win. Already, it may be now or never.
“We got to get there pretty dang quick. We’re five weeks into the season,” Clemons said. “There are some people that have written the 2004 Duck season off, but none of them are a part of the Duck organization.”
Part of the problem for Oregon is that there hasn’t been one culprit responsible for the 1-3 record. (The win came against Idaho.)
Against Indiana, seven turnovers were the primary issue. At Oklahoma, the Sooners defense dominated the day. Against Arizona State, communication errors and red zone miscues left Oregon in a hole.
“I don’t feel like a 1-3 team, but we are a 1-3 team. That’s the reality of it,” Bellotti said. “So we just have to dig ourselves out of this hole. Part of this hole, we dug for ourselves.
“Obviously it’s hard to stay confident when you don’t win. … There are three areas we’re targeting for improvement. One is red zone efficiency on the offensive side of the ball. The second is penalties. And the third is overall special teams play. Those things are very workable, are very fixable in my mind.”
The red zone offense in particular has been a thorn in Oregon’s side. In 17 trips inside the opponent’s 20, the Ducks have eight touchdowns this season. By comparison, WSU has 11 touchdowns in 15 trips.
On defense, Oregon has yielded four touchdowns on pure communication errors, with blown coverages leaving wide receivers wide open for easy scores.
“Take way those four scores and we’re a lot closer to winning some of those games,” middle linebacker Jerry Matson said. “Our defense is being real stubborn about 97 percent of the time.”
Few have said that the Ducks have no chance of knocking teams off this season, as talented players crowd the roster. Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata is one of the nation’s best, and running back Terrence Whitehead has looked strong in the last two weeks.
Regardless of the talent level, however, the losing record has Oregon thinking that the season — if it is to be salvaged — may come down to a win this week at WSU.
“Usually at this point in the season we’re 3-1, 4-1,” Matson said. “We’re 1-3, so we got to get busy here. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. This is definitely must-win time now.”