Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode #26

In this week's episode, Derek Weber comes on to talk college football, with the Ducks and the Beavers opening their season this coming weekend. They also talk some Timbers with their season winding down, and of course have usual segments, including "This Week in Oregon Sports History," "What Plucks My Duck," and "What Eagers My Beaver." You can check the podcast out at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio or in the nifty player on the right.

This Week in Oregon Sports History: 9/1/1838 and 9/5/2009

9/1/1838 - William Clark, world famous explorer and national hero, passed away at the age of 68 in Missouri. What does he have to do with Oregon sports? Without him, there may not be any Oregon as we know. Yes, I know I'm pushing it.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), going way back to September 5, 2009, poor Joey Harrington was cut from the eventual Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. The former Duck, who once had a billboard put up in Times Square to aid in his campaign for the Heisman, never quite had his career go as planned. After being drafted at #3 by the Detroit Lions in 2002, Harrington would go on to struggle on some terrible teams in the Motor City, sporting an 18-37 record as a starter. He was then traded to Miami to serve as a backup to Daunte Culpepper, before bouncing around the NFC South with Atlanta and New Orleans for a couple of years. As Derek Ward said on today's podcast, his career may not have gone according to plan, but it went about how you would expect by anyone drafted by the Lions.

This Better Work

Chip Kelly’s decision to go with Darron Thomas over Nate Costa at quarterback makes sense coming from a man known as a risk taker, but there may be one off-the-field risk he didn’t take into account when choosing his starter. Costa, a 5^th year senior who has fought back from injury over and over again, has more experience in the sense that he’s more familiar with the playbook, and was supposed to be the starter 2 years ago before hurting his knee. This in turn has earned familiarity and respect from his peers in the locker room. How much backlash could be coming from the upper classmen on the team over this decision to go with the inexperienced sophomore instead of Costa?

The Ducks Quarterback Controversy 2010 has been billed as experience vs. potential. If you want veteran leadership and in-depth knowledge of the playbook, you want Costa. If you want high-risk, high reward, big play potential, you want Thomas. Just think back to the big 4^th quarter explosion against Boise State two years ago, when Thomas went for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns in the period while almost rallying the Ducks back from a 19 point deficit. After it all played out and the announcement was made on Friday, I’m not sure it was that simple.

Chip Kelly has a “win-now” mentality. He realizes he has a very talented, experienced team (17 returning starters) that’s favored to win the Pac-10 this year. The potential future benefits of giving Thomas the reins speak for themselves. He could a 3 year starter, in the same mold of player as Dennis Dixon. Since Kelly only cares about the now, not the later, this means Thomas most likely won outright in the competition against Costa. He’s not in there for his potential. He’s in there because right now, he’s the better quarterback.

This drastically helps his case against any possible backlash. Even though an older player will have paid his dues, if the younger player is simply better, then he should be the one taking the field. Hopefully, most of the upperclassmen will realize this, despite any loyalty they may feel towards Costa.

The real problems will come to a head should Thomas flounder in any of the early games. The Ducks’ non-conference schedule could very well have them at 3-0 going into Pac-10 play. First up will be New Mexico, a seemingly simple Mountain West opponent that only won one game last year. Then the Ducks have to travel to Tennessee to take on the Volunteers in a very winnable matchup against an average SEC team. Then they wrap up the non-conference schedule back home against the lowly Portland State Vikings, a Big Sky team whose biggest news this offseason was that they were going back to their familiar green jerseys.

The Lobos and Vikings games should be cakewalks for Thomas and the Ducks. Any struggles he shows there should be red flags, and the concerned upperclassmen will have their concerns validated. Mark the Tennessee game as the first genuine litmus test of the Darren Thomas decision. An inexperienced, young, underclassman quarterback making his second career start on the road in the SEC will face a very uncomfortable situation at Neyland Stadium. If he’s successful, this will be a good sign for the Ducks. This year’s Vols team is of about the same quality as most other Pac-10 teams. If he struggles, expect to hear cries to bring on the Senior. Hopefully, for Thomas’, Kelly’s, and the Ducks’ sake, Thomas will not struggle early on, because locker room dissonance can only hurt the situation, especially during an in-season quarterback controversy.

More Pressing Concerns Than Saturday's Decision

Chip Kelly stated today he'll announce who the starting quarterback is on Saturday. The week before the season opener. Just like he said he would. Just like I said he should. Regardless of whether it's Costa or Thomas, the Ducks will be fine offensively as long as they are healthy.

Defensively, the experience is there, but a talented secondary needs to get its depth chart figured out. Talmadge Jackson will start at one corner, but the other side is still up for grabs. Cliff Harris, Anthony Gildon, Avery Patterson, Scott Grady now vie for the other side. Terrance Mitchell and Chad Peppars also have their hat in the mix.

Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti and secondary coach John Neal are both pleased with the depth they have at the position. All of those guys are pretty good ball players, and many of them contributed or even started for arguably the best defense in the Pac-10 last year. Unfortunately, none of them has separated himself from the pack to become the clear-cut #2. This can be viewed as beneficial for the Ducks, since depending on what packages they send out there many of them might be on the field at once. In a field this deep and talented, it's good to know you don't lose much, if anything, the deeper you go on the roster.

At the same time, corners play on their own island. While the quarterback is the leader, he has a tremendous support system that starts with the experienced offensive line and continues on through the rookie-rushing record holder LaMichael James. The Ducks have shown you can insert different quarterbacks into this system and they will succeed because of the system. The corners, on the other hand, are out there on their own, and blown coverage will prove costly.

Aliotti says “The strength might be that we have three or four guys who can be pretty darn good.” Yes, it's good to be deep. But you want the players to know when and where they'll be out there, and what their responsibilities are. This is not a position you want to have to be tweaking as the season starts. If a quarterback makes mistakes, others can cover for him. If a corner makes a mistake, it's his and his alone. Neal believes "I don’t think any of them have my complete trust in terms of all the things we ask them to do in the scheme and the technique." At least Costa or Thomas will have the position sealed up before New Mexico. It doesn't look like the secondary will be nearly as solidified. Cliff Harris better figure out how to stay focused.

Sportsland, Oregon: New Episode

In the first part of our 25th episode, Los and Cliff open with the strange situation for the McMinnville High School football team. After discussing the pros and cons of offseason workouts for high school athletes and trying to figure out how far is too far, the guys move on to the Oregon Ducks #11 ranking on the AP preseason poll, Rudy's trade demands, and what's wrong with the LPGA website.

In the second part of this split podcast, Los and Cliff delve into LaGarrette Blount's penchant for punching and whether or not fighting should be allowed in sports. They also get to the weekly segments, including "What Plucks my Duck," "This Week in Oregon Sports History," and introducing a new segment, "Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game." You can check out both parts of the episode at blogtalkradio.com/oregonsportsradio or in the nifty player on the right.

This Week in Oregon Sports History: 8/25/1916

The year was 1916. The world was entrenched in the War to End All Wars, the light switch had just been invented, and the Chicago Cubs played their first game at the legendary Weeghman Park, now known as Wrigley Field.

More importantly (for the purposes of this blog), Carson Bigbee debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 25th. Bigbee, an Oregon native, would go on to play his entire career for the Pirates. In 11 seasons, he hit .287 and helped Pittsburgh win the World Series in 1925, going 1-3 in the deciding Game 7 against the Washington Senators.

Wait and See

This week has brought more news about icons from the Oregon Ducks' recent past as opposed to concrete answers about the future. LeGarrette Blount made headlines with another notorious punch after a scuffle during his preseason practice with the Tennessee Titans. Despite no official word from Houston Nutt, Ole Miss seems to have found its starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. As for the Ducks, there is still no word on who will start the season under center. Between Nate Costa and Darron Thomas, it's still a toss-up, and the Ducks supporters are split into essentially two camps: those that want the older, more "experienced" Costa since he has more of a familiarity with the system, or the younger, more dynamic Thomas whom they believe should start getting playing time since he is the present and future of the program.

Chip Kelly announced Wednesday that a decision won't be reached until the week of the season opener against New Mexico, saying, "We're not going to do anything until the week of the game. We've got more scrimmage time, more situations. Those guys know. We're not going to turn around tomorrow and say 'Hey, this guy is starting or this guy is No. 2.' There is no reason for us to rush to judgment and put anybody in there."

He went on to explain his apprehension towards naming a starting quarterback this "early" might stem from the decision made on Costa in 2008: "We were just about to name him and he got hurt. Then, all of a sudden, you have to go to the other guys. There is no reason to name a starting quarterback, Our first game is 16 days away."

While there are plenty of reasons why having already named a starter would be beneficial to the program, in this case Kelly is quite frankly right. Neither player has separated himself from his competitor enough to warrant being named the clear-cut starter. They seem to be splitting time with the first team, but neither is making the most of his time, and both Costa and Thomas have given inconsistent performances. Consistency at quarterback remains one of the most important aspects for any team at any level, and Kelly has openly said, "We need more consistency out of both of them. There are times when, wow, that’s a real good play. Then there are other times where, 'Hey, we’ve got to get ourselves out of that play. There is a check system in and you didn’t get to it.' They’re doing good things and they’re doing bad things." Until one or the other does more good things than bad things, Kelly has no reason to hand over the reins to either.

Friday's practice had Thomas slide into the lead, but barely. According to John Hunt of the Oregonian, Costa threw a few bad picks, while Thomas ended up having to throw many balls away. Either way, the air game was struggling. How many of Costa's struggles might be the player feeling the pressure of competition, trying to make throws he wouldn't normally make with more on the line simply in order to separate himself from Thomas? How much might Thomas be throwing balls away due to the fact that he's seen coaches reactions to the picks, so he is now making conservative decisions he might not normally make? Either way, consistency is still an issue.

The Ducks gain a certain tactical advantage from not having announced a starter yet. On top of the fact that not much game tape exists for these two (71 career passes between them), without announcing a starter teams won't know who to prepare for. Or at least New Mexico won't. Hopefully, after that, the situation will have figured itself out. Although the real answer might lie in something Kelly said about his incoming freshman and apparent third-stringer, Bryan Bennet: "Our future is now. We’re not saving anybody for anything. If a person, I don’t care what class he is, gives us the opportunity to win a football game – I don’t look at and say let’s redshirt this kid for five years from now. You do that, you might not be here five years from now. If Bryan Bennett is the third quarterback by the time we get out of camp, he’ll be the third quarterback. We’ll figure it out … We’ve played young kids before." Sounds like Kelly won't have any qualms going with the sophomore Thomas.