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Oregon Week 2 Preview: Purdue

Let's be Blount about the Oregon Ducks' outlook for week two of their radically reshaped football season: A team in turmoil isn't really playing the Purdue Boilermakers; the gang in green's biggest opponent lies within.

Yes, it's technically true that Chip Kelly will need to find a way to beat the Big Ten opponent that took the Ducks to overtime last year in West Lafayette, Ind., before losing in the extra period. But for all intents and purposes, the 2009 home opener at Autzen Stadium comes down to the character and focus of a UO outfit that is plainly reeling from the past week's events.

The Ducks' football family, from the head coach down to the bottom of the depth chart, has been shaken in every conceivable fashion by the nightmare that recently unfolded in Boise, Idaho. The Sept. 3 train wreck against Boise State--both the miserable game itself, and the ugly LaGarrette Blount punch that followed it--cast a long and interesting shadow over anything and everything connected to Oregon football. The school's decorated coach-turned-athletic-director, Mike Bellotti, has a public relations crisis on his hands. Kelly, as the new coach, has to regain the trust of his team, which spiraled into dissension on the sidelines in the latter stages of the Boise State game. Kelly also faces the tactical challenge of adjusting to life without Blount, a wayward actor but also a meal-ticket running back who was supposed to help Jeremiah Masoli power UO's offense past the competition this fall.

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Oregon is emotionally, strategically, and physically diminished as a result of its in-game and postgame implosions last Thursday in Boise. The Ducks might be better than a high-scoring Purdue club, or they might not; it's very hard to pin down the identity of the Ducks right now--trying to do so would be a fool's errand. This much can safely be said, however: If Oregon doesn't pick up its spirits and find a positive attitude in response to the black clouds that have covered the program, any deficiencies on the part of the Boilermakers won't matter. Sure, Purdue coughed up 493 yards and 26 first downs to the Toledo Rockets in the Boilermakers' own opener this past weekend, but if the Oregon team that (didn't) show up in Boise is seen walking through the motions this Saturday, an already-depressing season (one that is now much less likely to deliver a Pac-10 title) could get worse before it gets better.

Will this team find the intestinal fortitude and self-belief needed to overcome the hellhole of the Boise State stumble, and the darkness of the LeGarrette Blount rampage?

The answer won't be found in Xs and Os. It will be found in the hearts and souls of some young men and untested coaches who will learn a lot about themselves this Saturday.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer