2008 Woodie Awards
Home > Sports
Injury to insult
The starting competition at quarterback for Oregon becomes more fluid in loss to Boise State
by Ben Schorzman | Sports Reporter |
The scoreboard read 37-32, Boise State (3-0, 0-0 Western Athletic Conference), as the final seconds ticked off the clock. Boise State players pumped their fists at their first win on the road against a Pacific-10 Conference team. Oregon players looked on, wishing they had just one more minute left on the clock.
It was a frustrating game from an Oregon standpoint. The defense spotted the opponent another big lead going into halftime, turnovers led to points for the Broncos, and yet another injury occurred at the quarterback position.
It didn't take long for the injury to occur either. With roughly 11 minutes left in the first quarter, sophomore quarterback Jeremiah Masoli got hit after the play and drew a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty on Boise State. He hit the turf hard, but didn't show any signs of injury as he finished out Oregon's last drive of the first quarter. But from the second quarter on it was only freshman Chris Harper who played, drawing doubts as to the health of Masoli.
Coach Mike Bellotti confirmed those doubts and the injury report after the game.
"He suffered a mild concussion in the first quarter," he said. "On the play when he got roughed with the helmet-to-helmet hit."
That's bad news for the Ducks, who are now down to just Harper and freshman Darron Thomas at quarterback.
Bellotti recently said that the depth at quarterback was a strength for the Ducks, but now that strength has been negated. Oregon is down to two fully healthy quarterbacks, and one that is 50-50 after the hit.
But Bellotti is still confident Masoli will be ready Monday, saying that he expects to have three quarterbacks to work with for the upcoming game against Washington State.
"We will evaluate and go from there," Bellotti said. "I assume they will all be ready to play."
One bright spot is the play of Thomas. The true freshman's play in the fourth quarter was almost perfect. He completed 13 of 25 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, and his one mistake was an interception with just under three minutes to go in the game that allowed Boise State to eat half a minute off the clock.
It was a frustrating game from an Oregon standpoint. The defense spotted the opponent another big lead going into halftime, turnovers led to points for the Broncos, and yet another injury occurred at the quarterback position.
It didn't take long for the injury to occur either. With roughly 11 minutes left in the first quarter, sophomore quarterback Jeremiah Masoli got hit after the play and drew a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty on Boise State. He hit the turf hard, but didn't show any signs of injury as he finished out Oregon's last drive of the first quarter. But from the second quarter on it was only freshman Chris Harper who played, drawing doubts as to the health of Masoli.
Coach Mike Bellotti confirmed those doubts and the injury report after the game.
"He suffered a mild concussion in the first quarter," he said. "On the play when he got roughed with the helmet-to-helmet hit."
That's bad news for the Ducks, who are now down to just Harper and freshman Darron Thomas at quarterback.
Bellotti recently said that the depth at quarterback was a strength for the Ducks, but now that strength has been negated. Oregon is down to two fully healthy quarterbacks, and one that is 50-50 after the hit.
But Bellotti is still confident Masoli will be ready Monday, saying that he expects to have three quarterbacks to work with for the upcoming game against Washington State.
"We will evaluate and go from there," Bellotti said. "I assume they will all be ready to play."
One bright spot is the play of Thomas. The true freshman's play in the fourth quarter was almost perfect. He completed 13 of 25 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns, and his one mistake was an interception with just under three minutes to go in the game that allowed Boise State to eat half a minute off the clock.
Be the first to comment on this story