Oregon's season has gone into an irreversible spiral down the tubes since QB Dennis Dixon was injured. Back the Oregon State Beavers today when they take on the Ducks.
Dennis Dixon has made quite a case for himself as the Heisman winner since he got hurt. Yes, you read that sentence correctly – Dixon’s absence has proven what a difference maker he was for the Ducks.
[articleBanner]who2beton[/articleBanner]Before Dixon got hurt in the first quarter of the Arizona game on Nov 15, the Ducks had the most potent offense of any major conference team in the country. They’d put up 48+ in more than half of their games, gaining more than 250 yards on the ground and 225 through the air on average.
Brady Leaf got the nod when Dixon went down. Much like his maligned older brother Ryan, Brady struggled mightily when put in the spotlight. He, too, got hurt, leaving untested third and fourth string redshirt frosh QB’s Cody Kempt and Justin Roper to split time against UCLA last week. The results were predictable: Oregon got shut out. Now a team that was thinking national championship only two games ago in danger of finishing in sixth place in the PAC-10!
Mike Belotti’s teams have a long history of responding poorly to adversity. Last year the Ducks were 7-2 when they got blasted by USC. They lost their final three games of the season to finish at 7-6. We saw a similar late season collapse in 2004, when three season ending losses turned a promising season into a 5-6 disaster. In ’02 the Ducks were 7-2 before closing out the campaign with four consecutive defeats. With no quarterback, and a track record like the one described above, it’s not hard to make a case for another Duck meltdown here in 2007.
Meanwhile, very quietly underneath the radar, Oregon State has won five of their last six, the lone loss coming at USC. The Beavers have one of the strongest rushing defenses in all of college football, holding foes to 64 rushing yards per game (1.9 yards per carry) for the season. Mike Riley loves to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks; that's bad news for the Ducks young signal callers here. And while the Beavers are playing without their starting QB as well, backup Lyle Moevao has rebounded nicely from some early season struggles, guiding the Beavers to victory in each of his two starts.
Look for Moevao to make it three in a row with a win in Eugene on Saturday. Take Oregon State.
Free Pick: Oregon St. -1 (-110)