How Oregon copes with the devastating losses at running back.

It stinks that the timing of Transfer Portal creates this situation. Ahead of Oregon's semifinal College Football playoff game against Indiana, the Ducks are down to two healthy running backs.

Jayden Limar, Makhi Hughes and Jay Harris* have announced transfers. A report from Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian indicates Jordon Davison, their 6-0, 236 power back, is out for the rest of the playoffs with a broken clavicle.

What was once the deepest position group on the Oregon roster is down to Noah Whittington and Dierre Hill, plus junior walk-on Zander Quinn, 5-7, 170, and tight end Zach Grace, 6-3, 238, who occasionally lines up at fullback.

Whittington and Hill are not slouches. In fact, the senior Whittington is Oregon's leading rusher this season with 829 yards on 129 carries, 6.43 yards a carry. Hill, a freshman from Centralia, Illinois, is their most explosive back, 70 carries for 570 yards, 8.14 yards a carry.

Ducks forced to take 'next man up' to the ultimate level

Running primarily outside, Hill broke a 56-yard run against Northwestern and a 66-yard TD against Northwestern. However, in the first Indiana game the Hoosiers immediately keyed on the outside run whenever he entered the game, limiting him to three carries for -3 yards.

Also working out at running back during the playoffs is redshirt freshman linebacker Brayden Platt, a 6-2, 235 bruiser of an athlete from Yelm, Washington. Platt ran a 4.64 40 in high school, where he was a two-way player as well as a state champion in the shot put and a medalist in the javelin and discus.

Platt's a superb athlete who can do a backflip and dunk a basketball. If he is called upon for emergency duty at RB, his tough-mindedness and linebacker background might help him as a pass-blocker, able to spell Whittington and Hill for a few plays.

The former Polynesian Bowl All-American ran for 928 yards and 21 touchdowns as a high school senior, averaging 10.7 yards a carry. He ran the 100 meters in 11.0.

Another way Will Stein can deal with this suboptimal reality is with formational variety. Last week on a sweep right after Matayo Uiagalelei's sack/strip/fumble recovery he had tight ends Roger Saleapaga and lined up to the right, Saleapaga as an in-line tight end in an unbalanced formation, Sadiq in the backfield as a blocking back, both leading Davison as he took a pitch for a six-yard touchdown.

Stein loves to get creative and sometimes he's too clever about it, but this is a situation that demands he apply all his considerable football knowledge. The Ducks can go five-wide and throw quick; they can line up an extra offensive lineman in the backfield as a blocker or pass protector; they can install Bryce Boettcher to take a direct snap in short yardage, as he did against USC for a one-yard score.

For that matter, did anyone notice Uiagalelei, churning his legs after he swiped the ball from Texas Tech's Behren Morton? At 6-5, 272, he could barrel through some tackles.

It's ludicrous that the Transfer Portal calendar puts teams in this situation. As Dan Lanning has said the playoffs need to be run four straight weeks in December and the portal should open after they are over. In the meantime, if the Ducks want to win their first-ever national championship, they'll have to be resourceful.

"Lanning says that about every day in practice, there's going to be someone who shows up who hasn't all season and that's so true... It really shows the character of this team and the roster depth," Kenyon Sadiq said today following Oregon's practice.

For that matter, handing the ball to the 6-3, 245 Sadiq wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. He's been clocked on the GPS at 22-23 mph.

Another factor is that Oregon's offense line has to take this problem as a personal challenge. It's up to them to pick up some of the slack this attrition creates, paving holes for whoever gets the assignment or however it's shared.

*In a last-minute wrinkle, Jay Harris is NOT on the official injury report, not listed as out, and he practiced Monday. Originally he's been listed as intending to transfer, but Oregon was careful to list other portal players as "Out." That could give them three, in football terms, a quorum.