USC-Oregon battle for a happy Halloween
October 31, 2009
Posted by ESPN.com’s Ted Miller
EUGENE, Ore. — The forecast for tonight from Autzen Stadium?
Noise. Darkness. Weirdness. High stakes, with the chance of a Pac-10 frontrunner.
And maybe a bit of rain. It just started to come down as of this typing. And then stopped by the last sentence below.
No. 5 USC (6-1, 3-1) visits No. 10 Oregon (6-1, 4-) in the conference game of the year — a Halloween night party that should be intense and colorful.
Tailgaters arrived early, many decked out in their Halloween finest. The theme in the stadium is “blackout,” meaning many fans will wear all-black, which should look interesting on television when the sun goes down.
The mood around Eugene is festive. The entire town seems taken by the prospects of their Ducks and first-year coach Chip Kelly. The nation is watching, too, with ESPN’s College GameDay in town.
An investigation launched by the Pac-10 blog at Taylor’s bar Friday night — with an assist from Bruce Feldman and a group of Oregon students and alumni who called themselves “The Musketeers” — concluded that things could get a little freaky in a stadium known to take things to wild extremes.
There will be plenty to entertain in the stands. Now, about the game part of the game.
The story late this week was some significant injury hits to USC’s receiving corps. Tight end Anthony McCoy (ankle) as well as receivers David Ausberry (calf) and Travon Patterson (ankle) didn’t make the trip. Fullback Stanley Havili, who is the Trojans third-leading receiver behind McCoy, also has been limited by a shoulder injury.
Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley still has Damian Williams and Ronald Johnson, an outstanding pair, but his options won’t be as diverse as they were the previous few weekends when the passing game starting clicking.
Speaking of passing games: Will Oregon, a run-first team, be able to exploit a USC pass defense, which has yielded big yards to Notre Dame and Oregon State?
Ducks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has righted himself since a slow start. He’s completed 49 of 65 — 75 percent — of his passes with five TDs in his last three starts (he missed the UCLA game on Oct. 10 with a sprained knee).
But 280 of his 526 passing yards, and four of those touchdowns during that span, went to tight end Ed Dickson. Expect the Trojans to gang up on Dickson and see if Masoli can move the ball with his receivers, who have been inconsistent this year, other than Jeff Maehl.
Last week, Oregon State baffled the Trojans with tight end Joe Halahuni, who had career highs of nine catches for 127 yards. Might safety Taylor Mays take a special interest in Dickson?
On the other side of the ball, Oregon’s surprisingly stout defense has been a big story. The Ducks rank 19th in the nation in scoring and total defense.
But that defense hasn’t faced an offense as talented as USC’s, most particularly an offensive line like the Trojans.
The Trojans line is big but it also is very athletic, which means it might not struggle with the Ducks speedy but undersized front-seven. If USC can run Joe McKnight and Allen Bradford at will, then the Ducks will have to commit more guys to the line of scrimmage, which could leave a secondary that has been thinned by injuries exposed.
Or will the raucous Autzen magic rule the night?
Just moments ago, the students did their mad dash for seats. They immediately started chanting for their Ducks.
In the Pac-10’s biggest game of the year, though, only one team will have a happy Halloween.