The Pac-10 is getting defensive

It wasn’t long ago when the nation said the Pac-10 is soft because they didn’t play defense well. Many said the conference was an offensive oriented one–and on most accounts they were right. But things appear to be changing. Read More…

 Oregon Ducks’ top CB Walter Thurmond (knee) done for season – ESPN

Oregon Ducks’ top CB Walter Thurmond (knee) done for season – ESPN.

Walter Thurmond III - Oregon Ducks

Well this is not good news for the Oregon Ducks. Their best defensive player, Walter Thurmond III, is done for the season and will have knee surgery to repair his ACL, MCL and PCL. Wow!

The corner back was having a nice start to the 2009 season with two touchdowns in the first three games, 11 solo tackles and an interception.

I read somewhere he may be eligible for a medical red shirt, but I’m not positive if that’s accurate.

 Oregon ends No. 18 Utah’s win streak at 16; beat Utes 31-24

The Oregon Ducks started fast out of the gate on Saturday. The defense held the Utah offense to a 3-and-out on the opening drive. On the ensuing punt Walter Thurmond III ran the ball back 78 yards for a quick Oregon score.

The 58, 017 sellout crowd was pumped. Could this have been the Oregon Ducks team everyone expected? Was this team finally in sync and ready to show the nation the Boise St. fiasco was a fluke? Those were the thoughts of many in Autzen Stadium.

The only problem is, while the Ducks were leading 7-0, the Oregon offense had yet to take the field.

How could that be a problem, right? Because after last week’s solid performance the offense again looked sloppy. The running game went well this week. LaMichael James rushed for a career high 152 yards and one touchdown. But the passing game was dismal.

Jeremiah Masoli seemed to have taken a step backward from last weeks performance against Purdue. He completed 25 percent of his passes going 4 of 16 for 95 yards—with 58 of those yards on one pass to Jeff Maehl. He threw an interception and lost two fumbles. Masoli was off target with many of his passes and seemed nervous rather than poised. To his credit, Masoli did rush for two touchdowns.

The defense and special teams won this game for the Ducks for the second straight week. It was their big plays and hard work that helped put points on the board and helped take some pressure off the offense, including an interception by free safety John Boyett to help seal the victory with two and a half minutes left in the game.

 Football: Week two review in the Pac-10

In week two we saw less post-game activites and we didn’t encounter many surprises.

Arizona
Running back Nic Grigsby rushed for 207 yards in Arizona’s 34-17 win over Northern Arizona. He reeled off a 94 yard run before being stopped at the N. Arizona one yard line. Of course the score would have been the ultimate reward for a run like that. It was the second longest run in school history. Grigsby is currently leading the Pac-10 rushers with 329 yards through two games.

Next week the Wildcats travel to face Iowa from the Big Ten Conference for their first real test of the season.

Arizona State
Arizona St. had a bye week. They will face Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday.

Cal
Jahvid Best rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns in Cal’s 59-7 win over Eastern Washington.

Cal’s defense played well and their run defense only gave up 14 rush yards. But, they were playing Eastern Washington. Still, the stats will look nice.

They travel to Minnesota next week.

Oregon
Oregon’s defense really should get most of the credit for the Ducks’ 38-36 win over Purdue. If not for an interception and a fumble both returned for touchdowns, the Ducks might have not kept the Boilermakers from leaving Autzen with a win. Even considering how well the D played the game still game down to a last minute drive by Purdue which resulted in a touchdown. A failed two-point conversion is all that kept the game from going into overtime.

Walter Thurmond III intercepted a pass and took it to the house for the score and Javes Lewis scooped up a fumble and returned it for the score.

QB Jeremiah Masoli was the Ducks’ leading rusher as the team looks to fil the void left by the suspension of LeGarrette Blount.

Blount did make a pre-game appearance on the field with the team before heading off before game time.

No. 18 Utah makes a visit to Autzen Stadium next week and the Ducks must improve on both sides of the ball if they expect to compete with the Utes. The offense is far behind the defense and there is a lot of work to be done on the O-line.

Right now it looks like Oregon could easily lose 3 to 5 games this season. They need to find their rhythm and gel together as a team.

Oregon State
The Beavers went to Las Vegas and narrowly escaped with a win. A field goal by Justin Kahut with seven seconds remaining lifted the Beavs to a 23-21 win over UNLV.

It was much of the same for the Rodgers brothers—Jacquizz rushed for 166 yards and caught for 65 yards with one TD while James accumulated 109 yards with a touchdown.

Overall the game shouldn’t have been as close as it was. No. 17 Cincinnati will make a visit to Reeser Stadium next week and the Beavers need to step up their game if they want to get a win.

I’m still on the fence as to whether this team will be a top tier Pac-10 team this season or a mid-level team.

Stanford
Stanford lost to Wake Forest after the Demon Deacons scored a touchdown to take the lead with only two seconds remaining. The Cardinal played very well for most of the game and looked to have the game in hand early. But after half time Wake Forest went to work and ground it out for the win.

Andrew Luck threw for 276 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while completing 23 of 34 passes.

Ryan Whalen caught both of Luck’s TD passes and ended with 123 receiving yards.

This Stanford team will surprise some team throughout the season once they figure out how to keep playing for the entire game.

UCLA
UCLA travelled to Knoxville to take on Tennessee. The game wasn’t as big as those in the past between these two teams, but it was sure to be a good one none-the-less. Well, it wasn’t as good as it could have been as both team played sloppy. The Bruins couldn’t stop fumbling the ball, although they only lost on of them.

QB Kevin Prince broke his jaw and is expected to be out 3-4 weeks. Let’s hope this isn’t the start of another QB injury plagued season for the Bruins.

USC
The Trojans took on Ohio State in what was one of the bigger games of the weekend. Freshman QB Matt Barkley didn’t shine, but he played well enough and kept his composure during the team’s late game winning drive.

Like Barkley, Joe McKnight  didn’t put up huge numbers. But it was the way the two handled the pressure and performed when they absolutely had to during the 14 play 86 yard drive resulting in a game winning touchdown.

Washington
Washington beat Idaho 42-23 and ended their 15-game losing streak! What more is there to say.

The Huskies again played well and Jake Locker threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Could he be showing the nation that he can pass and not just rely on running the ball? Seems to be that way so far.

The defense did give up almost 350 yards passing, so there’s plenty of work that needs to be done. But, it’s nice to get the big monkey off their back having gotten the Win.

Washington State
Washington State hosted Hawaii and ended up losing 38-20. The Cougs had seven turnovers. They played poorly and showed why they are going to be this season’s worst team from the Pac-10.

If Washington State cannot find a way to win next week against SMU, I’m not so sure they will manage a win all season.

 Oregon’s defense should get credit for win over Purdue

Eighteen points. That’s the total number of points that can be directly attributed to the Oregon defense in the Ducks’ 38-36 win over Purdue on Saturday night.

With the offense still struggling and finding their way, it was the defense who lead the charge with a Walter Thurmond III interception returned for a touchdown, Javes Lewis’ fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and Casey Matthews’ interception which set up an Oregon field goal. Add to that the blocked extra point by the Ducks, and it adds up to 18 points.

Even with the points attributed to the defense, the game was almost lost on a late Purdue touchdown that brought the Boilermakers to within two points. A two-point conversion would have sent the game into overtime.

Purdue QB Joey Elliott threw the ball to the back of the end zone where Kyle Adams leapt for the catch. Ducks fans held their collective breathe and watched as Adams landed with the ball in hand and out of bounds. With only 1:01 remaining the game and victory were securely in hand for Oregon.

The Ducks offense started slowly, but looked better in the second half. QB Jeremiah Masoli completed 11 0f 21 passes for 163 yards. He was also the Ducks leading rusher with 84 yards.

The team was penalized nine times for 99 yards. They’ll definitely need to clean up their game and cut back on penalties.

LeGarrette Blount was on the field with the team before the game started, but once game time came he left the field.