Missouri State Preview

 

The Ducks close out their non-conference schedule on Saturday when they host the Missouri State Bears in Autzen Stadium. Kick-off is set for 12:30.

 

The Bears were beaten by Arkansas 51-7 in their opener but gave a better showing in week two, falling to Eastern Kentucky by a score of 28-24. Still, it is hard to imagine a final score on Saturday that has the Bears within 35 points of Oregon.

 

This despite the fact several Oregon players are anticipated to be out with injuries. Linebacker Michael Clay, receivers Josh Huff and Justin Hoffman and running back Kenjon Barner are expected to sit out Saturday, with the hope of being ready for the conference opener against Arizona seven days later.

 

Missouri State a last minute addition to the 2011 schedule. When the Pac-10 expanded to add Utah and Colorado, Oregon was faced with a dilemma. Play their originally scheduled game against the Utes in Salt Lake or try to find another opponent. As the master schedule for 2011 was developed by the conference, Oregon opted to replace Utah with the FCS (Division 1-AA) Bears.

 

Head coach Chip Kelly has consistently preached a philosophy of preparing his team not to play to a particular opponent but play to a level of performance.

 

"The way you set this program up here is we have a vision for what this thing should look like and how we should practice, how we should play, and that's the standard we hold ourselves to," he said when asked about playing the Bears.

 

"That's what I hope our players understand as we continue to practice for this week and get ready for Missouri State."

 

The Bears will give Oregon one wrinkle, a three-four defensive front. LSU employed the scheme only in their nickel package and Nevada is a dyed-in-the wool four-three team, so this will be the first time the Ducks will see the odd front on every snap.

 

Kelly indicates his offensive line will have to be effective at communicating blocking assignments and the running backs will have to account for the extra linebacker.

 

"There are some schematic problems that defense presents," he said. "The good thing is that our defense runs some of it during camp, so we've got some familiarity with it. But the way Missouri State runs it is a little bit different than the way our defense runs it. We can kind of simulate the looks a little bit, but it's still going to be kind of new to us."

 

When Oregon's defense takes the field they will see something of a mirror image across the line of scrimmage. Missouri State runs a spread offense very similar to what the defense faces every day in practice.

 

The difference of course is the personnel - Oregon's offensive talent runs 20 players deep while the Bears will be using a converted receiver Trevor Wooden at quarterback. Expect him to hand the ball often to senior running backs Stephen Johnston and Chris Douglas.

 

At 6'4" and 234 pounds Matt Thayer will be a key match-up at tight end, as will wide-outs Jermaine Saffold and Julian Burton.

 

One ominous sign for Missouri State is they have yet to score a point in the first half. That will have to change radically on Saturday; it is not unreasonable to expect Oregon to have 40 on the scoreboard by the break.

 

The best the Ducks can gain from such a clear mismatch is additional playing experience for the younger players and giving Oregon's injured another couple of days to get healthy before facing Arizona in Tucson to open the Pac-12 era a week from Saturday.