By Ron Bellamy
Columnist, The Register-Guard
Sure, the season-ending injury to quarterback Kellen Clemens represents a huge challenge for the Oregon football team in its last three regular-season games. Except, that's far from Oregon's only worry. Because the Ducks survived the Arizona game with a win despite allowing 212 yards rushing, and generating just 67 yards on the ground themselves, and only top-ranked Southern California ran for more yards against Oregon this season, and held the Ducks to less. Now the Ducks enter November, a foul-weather month that puts a premium on the running game, and every team Oregon faces this month has a good one. Cal, which visits at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, has two running backs averaging more than 100 yards per game apiece - a now-healthy Marshawn Lynch, at 108.8, and Justin Forsett, at 108.4. Then there's Washington State in Pullman, and the Pac-10's leading running back, Jerome Harrison, rushing for 163.8 yards per game, and Oregon State in the Civil War, and running back Yvenson Bernard, averaging 123.8. "Our defense is facing a tough stretch right now," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said Tuesday. "It's important that all aspects of our team recognize that." Because it all fits together. As Bellotti points out, the Cal ground game, which is second in the Pac-10 only to Southern California and seventh in the nation, at 247 yards per game, contributes to a ball-control offense that is second in the league in time of possession. And that in turn helps the Cal defense, which leads the Pac-10 in scoring defense. "Our defense first and foremost needs to be able to stop the run," Bellotti said. "Part of that, too, will be our offense controlling the football."
Which, in part, comes back to Clemens' replacement, Dennis Dixon, but only in part. The Ducks need him to play well, but also need the kind of game they got from tailback Terrence Whitehead against Arizona State, or a breakout game from freshman Jonathan Stewart. This is Dixon's first start, nine games into his sophomore season, and some growing pains are to be expected. However, he's a major recruit, and a major talent. Oregon's commitment to him as the backup last season arguably contributed to the decision of another highly regarded recruit, Johnny DuRocher, to leave the program and ultimately transfer to Washington. Coincidentally, it seems as if DuRocher is being considered for his first collegiate start Saturday as well, against the Beavers. Dixon isn't a desperation fill-in, but Oregon's future quarterback; the future just got here sooner than Oregon would have wanted. It's reasonable to temper your expectations of Dixon; it's fair to have some. How he plays in the next three games will have much to say about this season - and frame expectations for next season. Bellotti said Tuesday that when the Ducks made the switch to the spread offense for this season, he not only considered how Clemens would fare in that system, but also Dixon and Brady Leaf. He determined they'd do well. Bellotti said he also considered how the spread offense would work in late-season bad weather. "I watched Utah do it in Utah and Wyoming, in worse weather than we'll ever play in," he said. "And Northwestern does it, so I'm very convinced that it can be done." Bellotti's convinced the Ducks can still run the ball, or at least control it with some of the short passing plays in the spread offense. And with Dixon giving the Ducks another weapon as a runner. "For us, the running game is an interesting animal because it's not the purest type running game," he said. "We're single-back and our receivers are ballcarriers and our receivers are blockers. We're not all of a sudden going to go to two tights and two backs in the backfield and ram the ball down people's throats." Still, Bellotti said, "I'm confident we'll be able to run the ball." If the Ducks can't run it, it figures to be a tough first start for the guy who has to throw it.
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