#2 Oregon vs Wyoming Pre-Game Notes
Saturday's game is the first meeting between the Ducks and Cowboys.
(EUGENE, Ore. ) — Though it’s the largest city in North Dakota, Fargo’s population is a shade below 115,000.
That’s well below the more than 150,000 residents of Eugene, which is more than 1,600 miles away from Fargo.
Despite that distance, the Oregon football team is well aware of what’s been going on in college football the last few years in Fargo.
North Dakota State is based there, and the Bison won each of the last three FCS national championships under coach Craig Bohl, who moved on to Wyoming this offseason and leads the Cowboys into Autzen Stadium on Saturday (11:00 a.m., Pac-12 Networks).
Saturday's game is the first meeting between the Ducks and Cowboys.
ON THE AIR:
National Television: Pac-12 Networks with Ted Robinson (pxp), Glenn Parker (analyst) and Jill Savage (reporter). Radio: Oregon IMG with Jerry Allen (pxp) and Mike Jorgensen (analyst). Satellite Radio: Sirius 92, XM 198 .
THE SERIES:
• Saturday’s meeting is the first between the Ducks and Cowboys.
• Oregon is 51-18-1 all-time against teams that currently make up the Mountain West Conference.
• Of the 12 teams that currently make up the Mountain West, Wyoming is the only member the Ducks have yet to face.
QUICK HITS:
• Oregon has won 12 straight games against teams outside of the Pac-12 Conference. The Ducks last non-conference defeat came vs. No. 4 LSU in the 2011 Cowboys Classic.
• Marcus Mariota sits fourth all-time in career passing yards at Oregon with 6,927 yards after passing Chris Miller (1983-86) and Joey Harrington (1998-01) in the Michigan State game. Mariota needs 1,417 yards to become the school’s all-time passing leader and can pass Kellen Clemens (2002-05) for third with 629 more yards.
• The Ducks sport the best overall winning percentage in college football this decade at 89.1% (49-6). UO’s 77.8% success rate vs. top 25 opponents (14-4) is also the best in the land.
• Mark Helfrich has won his first nine games as head coach at Autzen Stadium, second only to Chip Kelly (2009-12), who won his first 18 home contests.
• Four of Oregon’s six touchdowns against then-No. 7 Michigan State were scored by freshmen with redshirt WR Devon Allen and true RB Royce Freeman notching two apiece. On the season, nine of UO’s 15 TDs have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.
• 43 of UO’s 49 victories since 2010 have been by more than 14 points.
• The Ducks have the highest percentage of offensive plays of 20+ yards over the past five seasons at 8.79%.
HEAD COACH MARK HELFRICH:
Oregon Head Coach Mark Helfrich knew the comparisons would be inevitable – how do you replace arguably the most successful football coach in school history? His answer was simple – by being Mark Helfrich. That formula proved to be successful in 2013. In guiding the Ducks to a first-year mark of 11-2 and a 30-7 Alamo Bowl triumph over Texas, the number of wins equaled three others for the conference record for success by a first-year head coach as well as surpassed his predecessor Chip Kelly’s previous Oregon pinnacle for most wins by a rookie head coach. In addition, Helfrich joined Ducks’ alum John Robinson (USC, 1976) as the league’s only other coach to win a bowl games in his inaugural season.
Only four other squads in school history have ever won as many as 11 football games in a single season (2001, 2010, 2011, 2012) – the former Oregon graduate assistant coach (1997) made it a fifth. Helfrich helped orchestrate the continuation of the program’s offensive firepower last season as the Ducks led the league in total offense (2nd in the country) for the fourth year in a row, in scoring offense (4th in the nation) for the seventh straight season, and in rushing (9th nationally) for the eighth time in many years.
The transition to head coach has been a relatively smooth one. Six of the assistant coaches who played key roles in the program’s trio of conference championships in the past five years remain, as do three of the assistants who have called Eugene home for more than two decades. As a result of the change there really has been little change at all. The 40-year-old Oregon native was appointed the school’s 32nd head football coach on Jan. 20, 2013, following a quartet of seasons as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during the program’s most prolific era in school history. Oregon tallied a 46-7 ledger and four BCS bowl appearances from 2009-12.
SUPER MARIOTA:
Marcus Mariota is coming off arguably the best back-to-back seasons by a quarterback in Oregon history.
In 2013, the redshirt junior from Honolulu more than met the challenge of following up a rookie campaign that saw him set the Pac-12 freshman record for touchdown passes (32) and lead the conference in passing efficiency (seventh nationally) en route to Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and all-Pac-12 first team QB honors. His encore as a sophomore included 3,665 yards passing and 715 rushing with 40 total touchdowns (31 pass, 9 rush) and just four interceptions.
Mariota ranked seventh nationally in pass efficiency rating (167.66), ninth in points responsible for per game (18.8) and total offense (336.9 ypg), and 11th in yards per carry (7.45). A Heisman Trophy candidate for most of the season, Mariota was a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award (most outstanding player), the Davey O’Brien Award (national quarterback award) and Walter Camp Award (most outstanding player). He was also on the watch list for the Manning Award (top quarterback honor, including bowl game).
ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY EXTENDS RECORD STREAK IN EUGENE:
ESPN College GameDay produced its live weekly college football preview show from the University of Oregon’s Memorial Quad on Sept. 6, marking the ninth appearance in Eugene by the immensely popular show which features host Chris Fowler along with analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack. Oregon, the only school to host GameDay five consecutive years, has now done it six straight.
With a 46-27 win over then-No. 7 Michigan State, the Ducks now boast a 7-2 record when the show airs from Eugene, with their only defeats coming vs. No. 18 Stanford in overtime in 2012 and against No. 6 Cal, 31-24, in 2007. Last year a second-ranked Oregon squad took down No. 12 UCLA, 42-14.
Other home wins in front of GameDay were the No. 9 Ducks over No. 18 Arizona State in 2011 (41-27), a 52-31 victory over No. 9 Stanford in 2010 (UO was No. 4), a 47-20 Halloween upset of fourth-ranked USC in ‘09 (UO was No. 10), a 35-23 win vs. No. 6 Arizona State in ‘07 (UO was No. 4) and a 29-10 upset of No. 6 UCLA in 2000 (UO was unranked).
ANOTHER GAME, ANOTHER TOUCHDOWN:
Marcus Mariota continued his streak of passing touchdowns with three in Oregon’s 46-27 win over No. 7 Michigan State last Saturday.
The junior has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 28 games of his career, totaling 69 scores through the air. Mariota, who had 31 touchdown passes in 2013, has thrown for two or more TDs in a game 20 times with a career-high six touchdown passes at California as a freshman.
He also has thrown four or more touchdowns in a game six times. Mariota’s 28-game touchdown pass streak is the second-longest in the nation behind Marshall’s Rakeem Cato.
Active TD Pass Streaks:
1. Rakeem Cato (Marshall) 34 -- next vs. Ohio (Sept. 13)
2. Marcus Mariota (Oregon) 28 -- next vs. Wyoming (Sept. 13)
MARIOTA RECORD WATCH:
Marcus Mariota has shown during his first two seasons at the helm of the Oregon offense that he is among the elite signal callers in Ducks’ history. The junior passed Darron Thomas (2008-11) for first all-time in TD passes when he threw three against Michigan State during Week 2 of the season. Mariota added another school record early in the game against the Spartans, passing Bill Musgrave (1987-90) for the all-time lead in career total offense, and now has a school-record 8,479 yards - 339 more than Musgrave.
The Honolulu native also sits fourth all-time in career passing yards at Oregon with 6,927 yards after passing Chris Miller (1983-86) and Joey Harrington (1998-01) in the Michigan State game. Mariota needs 1,417 yards to become the school’s all-time passing leader. He will pass Kellen Clemens (2002-05) for third with 629 more yards.
THREE-HEADED MONSTER IN BACKFIELD:
While most teams are lucky to have one quality back to carry the load on offense, the Ducks have three tailbacks who are listed as starters on the depth chart. Junior Byron Marshall, sophomore Thomas Tyner and true freshman Royce Freeman share the workload in the backfield while giving opposing defenses three different backs to prepare for in the game plan. Marshall, Tyner and Freeman have combined for 608 all-purpose yards in the Ducks’ first two games.
Marshall leads the way with 273 yards (174 receiving, 99 rushing), while Freeman has 197 (164 rushing, 33 receiving) and Tyner has 138 (97 rushing, 15 receiving, 26 kick returns). The three are averaging a combined 304 yards per game of all-purpose yardage and have combined for seven touchdowns.
MARSHALL PLAN:
Byron Marshall had a couple of career firsts against South Dakota after setting career highs for receptions (8) and yards receiving (138) against the Coyotes. The junior running back finished with his first career 100-yard receiving game, while also catching his first career touchdown pass (he ended with 2 TD catches). Marshall also put together his second career 200-yard all-purpose game with 228 total yards. He had a career-high 246 all-purpose yards in a win over Washington State last season.
FAST AND FURIOUS:
Devon Allen has already proven that he is a true two-sport star at the collegiate level. The Ducks redshirt freshman had his first 100-yard receiving game against Michigan State when he caught three passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns in Oregon’s 46-27 win over Michigan State on Sept. 6. The gridiron success comes after Allen won a NCAA championship as well as a USATF national championship in the 110 hurdles during his true freshman season.
RETURN MEN:
The 2014 Oregon roster has 48 letterwinners, including 16 starters - 10 on offense and six on defense - from last season. By contrast, the 2013 squad had 56 returning lettermen and 16 starters.
FIRST TIMERS:
Youth will be a big part of Oregon’s success in 2014. Ten true freshman (Tanner Carew, Tyrell Crosby, Royce Freeman, Justin Hollins, Austin Maloata, Henry Mondeaux, Charles Nelson, Aidan Schneider, Arrion Springs, and Jimmie Swain) saw action in the Ducks’ season-opening win over South Dakota Aug. 30. The 10 rookies made a contribution scoring three touchdowns, kicking six extra points, and making 11 tackles. The last time the Ducks played 10 true freshman was 2007. Last season six saw the field, eight in 2012, seven in 2011 and five in 2010.
FULL NELSON:
Freshman receiver Charles Nelson’s 50-yard touchdown on a punt return against South Dakota was the first punt returned for a TD by a true freshman at Oregon since freshman eligibility was restored in the early 1970s.
LIGHTNING STRIKES:
Of Oregon’s 14 drives resulting in touchdowns this season, nine (64.3 percent) lasted two minutes or less. Three other drives have lasted less than two minutes and 15 seconds. Oregon’s most time consuming drive this season lasted 6:31 on the team’s final drive against Michigan State Sept. 6. Last season, of Oregon’s 74 drives resulting in touchdowns, 49 (66.2 percent) lasted two minutes or less.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS:
Since 2000, Oregon is 36-6 in regular season, out-of-conference contests, earning notable victories against the likes of Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Michigan (x2) and Michigan State. During that stretch, the Ducks are 3-1 against the SEC, 6-2 vs. the Big Ten, 1-1 vs. the Big 12, 4-0 against the Mountain West, 12-2 vs. the WAC, 2-0 against Conference USA and 7-0 vs. FCS teams.
COACHING CONTINUITY:
An often overlooked facet of Oregon’s run of success has been the continuity of its coaching staff. Second-year head coach Mark Helfrich is in his sixth season on staff, but he is supported by several assistants who have served the last three UO head coaches. Running backs coach Gary Campbell is in his 32nd year on the Oregon staff, which is the longest tenure of any Oregon assistant football coach in school history. In addition, offensive line coach and running game coordinator Steve Greatwood enters his 28th season at UO, while recently promoted defensive coordinator Don Pellum is in his 22nd campaign.
HOUSE OF LOUD:
With a standing room only crowd of 59,456 at Autzen Stadium last Saturday against Michigan State, the Ducks ran the nation’s third-longest sellout streak to 98 consecutive games (cap. 54,000), dating to 1999.
EXPLOSION PLAYS:
A staple of Oregon’s blur offense in recent years has been “explosion plays” of 25 yards or more from scrimmage. The Ducks have 12 this season through two games, with six of those finishing in the end zone. Last season the Ducks racked up 67, with 21 resulting in touchdowns.
70 - D. Allen rec vs. MSU (Mariota)*
64 - Carrington rec. vs. MSU (Mariota)
62 - Stanford rec. vs. SD (Mariota)*
53 - Marshall rush vs. SD
41 - Marshall rec. vs. SD (Mariota)*
40 - Mariota rush vs. MSU
38 - Freeman rush vs. MSU*
37 - Lowe rec. vs. MSU (Mariota)*
34 - Carrington rec. vs. SD (Mariota)
28 - P. Brown rec. vs. SD (Lockie)
26 - Freeman rush vs. SD*
25 - Marshall rec. vs. SD (Mariota)
* indicates touchdown
2014 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
Devon Allen, Fr., WR Week 2
• Athlon co-Freshman of the Week
Royce Freeman, Fr., RB Week 2
• Athlon co-Freshman of the Week
Marcus Mariota, Jr., QB Week 2
• Walter Camp National POTW
• Davey O’Brien National QB
• Pac-12 Player of the Week (offense)
• Athlon National POTW
• CFPA National Performer/QB of the Week
Charles Nelson, Fr., WR Week 1
• CFPA Punt Returner Performer of the Week
Source: goducks.com
Ifo Ekpre-Olomu Post Practice Tuesday:
