Oregon Football: It’s time to see what Ducks have in Ty Thompson

Thinking about that excruciating loss to Stanford over the weekend is torture for Oregon football fans. Knowing that the game was pretty much in hand, but a disastrous final offensive drive with under three minutes to go gave the ball back to the Cardinal and they drove the field and tied it up.

Things could have been so much different if the Ducks had an offense that the coaching staff could trust.

Sure, CJ Verdell went down with an injury so it was already playing at less than full strength, but there seems to be a lack of trust in Anthony Brown’s arm. If he’s able to throw for a first down on second or third-and-long, the game is over. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that Brown’s accuracy issues have haunted this team.

Although he doesn’t throw a ton of interceptions, he can also kill drives with incompletions that lead to punts or long drives that should have ended in touchdowns instead ending with field goals.

Could that change with a quarterback who has a better arm? We honestly have no idea. It might, it might not. But the staff won’t know until they try.

We saw Ty Thompson come into the Stony Brook game with just a 10-point lead right after halftime and all he did was making great throws, finish with a couple of touchdown passes, and lead the Ducks to a 41-point win. He didn’t make any mistakes and he looked comfortable.

Playing Pac-12 teams will be tougher, but this kid is built for the spotlight.

Oregon football needs to give Thompson a shot

Is Mario Cristobal hesitant to trust in a freshman? Why not give him a chance early in one of the upcoming games on an early drive just to see what he can do. Why not let him dip his toe in the Pac-12 waters?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Brown and I’ve been wrong about him before, but after watching the Stanford game which followed a so-so performance against Arizona, it just feels like there’s a massive elephant in the room. Oregon will not win anything of note without better quarterback play.

And now that Verdell is out, the offensive becomes that much less dynamic and potentially one-dimensional.

Oregon needs to give Thompson a shot to prove himself in some game action.