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Oregon Ducks vs UCLA Bruins Week 6 Preview

If Jeremiah Masoli can't play this Saturday at the Rose Bowl stadium, the Oregon Ducks might not be able to play in the Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day. Such a development would be crushing and hugely unfair for a program that's staring at a devilish dose of deja vu.

Masoli claimed to be fine after shedding the pads and icing up his right knee during the second half of Saturday's 52-6 win over Washington State, but since that gameday proclamation of health, things haven't gone in the right direction for Oregon's revived and surging signal caller. Masoli, who rebounded from a disastrous start to the season by eviscerating Cal and Wazzu over the past two weeks, missed Monday's practice and is listed as day-to-day by coach Chip Kelly. The Ducks are being fairly tight-lipped about Masoli's well-being, but a stiff and limping quarterback is something Oregon fans have seen before, and the image gives nightmares to the fans of Gang Green.

As Oregon prepares to take its spread-option show on the road once again, this time to UCLA for a Saturday afternoon showdown, the only thing Oregon partisans can think about is the last time the Ducks traveled to Pasadena. The pigskin parallels are as eerie as they are unavoidable.

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When the Ducks went to Westwood in 2007--November 24, to be precise--former Heisman Trophy favorite Dennis Dixon had been lost for the season with his own knee injury, a torn ligament that permanently sidelined UO's singular superstar. In Dixon's place, quarterbacks Cody Kempt, Brady Leaf, and Justin Roper all flailed and failed in their attempts to back up then-coach Mike Bellotti's main man under center. Kempt threw two interceptions before suffering an injury of his own. Leaf and Roper fared little better, as the Ducks absorbed a 16-0 loss in which they accumulated only 148 yards of total offense, only 43 on the ground. With UCLA naturally daring UO's unseasoned quarterbacks to beat them with the pass, the Bruins loaded up the box and took away Oregon tailback Jonathan Stewart.

The ineptitude of Oregon's offense was so pronounced because UCLA won despite doing much of anything when it possessed the pigskin. The Bruins gained only 220 yards, and only 64 of them through the air. Two UCLA quarterbacks--Ben Olson and Osaar Rasshan--combined to complete just four passes. None of UCLA's four scoring "drives"--if you could even call them drives--exceeded 31 yards, and only one "drive" topped 14 yards in length. All of UCLA's points were set up either by one of four UO turnovers, or leveraged field position after one of the Ducks' 12 punts. (UCLA punted 10 times in the game.) With a reasonably healthy Dennis Dixon, Oregon would have rolled over UCLA in all likelihood, but without the trigger man needed to run Chip Kelly's offense (Kelly was the offensive coordinator of that 2007 Oregon team, before ascending to the big chair this year), the Ducks were dunked.

How amazing--and unfair, and unreal--it would be, then, if Jeremiah Masoli can't play this Saturday in the same stadium where the Ducks would love to play on the first day of the new decade. Oregon fans can only hope that Masoli avoids the cruel fate that befell Dennis Dixon two not-very-long years ago.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer