Oregon Football: Ducks Facing Familiar Situation Facing Utah Utes
Oregon Football will look to find offensive balance on the road, while the Utah Utes look for answers in the passing game with a Freshman Quarterback starting his first game.
The Oregon Ducks saw a fast start last season before Quarterback Justin Herbert went down with a broken collarbone. Last weekend the Utah Utes lost Starter Tyler Hundley for the rest of the season with the same injury. The Oregon Ducks travel to Utah to face the Utes this week after a more complete performance last week against UCLA.
Utah Freshman Quarterback Jason Shelley will get the start for the Utes.
Oregon found ways to score from Special Teams, they saw Defensive stops and several key plays that led to scores with Defensive players like Justin Holins making big plays. Despite the 20 point win over the Bruins, it never really felt like a lead that would hold. Oregon never really ‘finished off’ UCLA like they did in seasons past. The Marcus Mariota led Oregon Football team put teams away, in some cases early and often.
The Oregon Defense lost a key run game stopper on Saturday in Kaulana Alelo who is out with a fractured leg for the rest of the season. He did not travel with the team against Cal earlier this season and the Golden Bears were able to find yards on the ground against a Rush Defense that was among the top in the country to open the season.
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Utah Running Back Zack Moss warrants attention this week and could have a big game for the Utes. Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal is aware of his talents, “That’s a big big guy that gets downhill…He’s a dynamic player. We find out selves every week seeing a player that we’re playing against that is one of the best in the conference and certainly he is one of them.”
Oregon Football was expected to lean on Tony Brooks-James for their run game. He was expected to do his best in replacing Royce Freeman, but the Ducks have been more ‘Running Back By Committee’ this season.
Oregon has found some success, but also some failure, especially in short yardage situations. Cristobal said the team will continue to operate this way against Utah, “I think him(Tony Brooks-James), CJ, Travis, Cyris too are all doing a good job. You want to spread the ball around and find out who’s hot. Certainly, that explosive run(vs UCLA) merits and warrants more touches so it’s certainly in the plans.”
The Oregon Ducks face the Utah Utes Saturday at 2:30 pm Pacific Time on Pac-12 Network.
Quotes obtained firsthand at Oregon Football Practice