Dropped passes, unopen receivers force Masoli to run wild

By Marc Hudgens  |   Sunday, October 12, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

Oregon Ducks
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On the surface, when you have two NFL-caliber halfbacks in LeGarrette Blount and Jeremiah Johnson, you really don’t need dual-threat quarterbacks like sophomore Jeremiah Masoli and freshman Chris Harper to do a bunch of running. But when your quarterback (Masoli) rushes for more yardage (170 yards on 24 carries) than Blount and Johnson (who combined for 141 on 18 attempts) in a 31-24 win over UCLA, something’s wrong.

But not necessarily from a game plan standpoint. It was clear Masoli dropped back quite a bit looking to throw Saturday, thereby not setting to run from the snap. But open receivers were few and far between; worse, when they were open, they'd often drop the pass. Because of that, Masoli was simply forced to run too many times; luckily, his scampering ability served him and the Ducks' offense well against the Bruins.

At least the Ducks did something unique by moving Harper to receiver in hopes of getting the receiving game nailed down. Harper did catch a touchdown, so the plan was somewhat of a success. Harper also dropped a couple passes, however, so he didn't exactly establish himself as Masoli’s go-to guy.

In the end, the Ducks ran the ball 46 times and threw it on just 19 occasions. One of the big keys to a road win over Arizona State in two weeks is for Oregon to establish the passing game. Given what happened against the Bruins, that's going to be difficult for head coach Mike Bellotti and the gang.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He ...
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