The Oregon Ducks Elevator - Football Preseason Week 3

Welcome to the Oregon Ducks Elevator. Another week of practice and the news coming out of fall camp has been mostly positive.

Daryle Hawkins: Apparently Hawkins is showing so much promise at quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli commented that he "showed signs of greatness". I've even seen some comments around mentioning him as possibly beating out Darren Thomas. I understand that everyone is constantly on the lookout for the next big thing but come on. The guy is a true freshman with some talent and appears to be having a good camp so far but let's be a little realistic in our analysis. It does say something though when the starting quarterback single out a guy for working hard who's down the depth chart quite a bit. Elevator: Up 1 Floor

UO Women's Soccer: The fall season officially got underway this weekend when the Oregon Ducks took on the 4th ranked Portland Pilots. There was a big crowd out at Pape Field but the Ducks couldn't take advantage of the home field mojo as Portland won the game 3-0. The score doesn't reflect how the game truly went as Oregon had several chances to score but just couldn't capitalize. Most of Duck Nation is focused on September 3rd as the start of Fall Sports, but the UO Women's Soccer team has already gotten it started. Elevator: For starting the season off, despite the loss, Up 1 Floor

Morgan Flint: Reports seem to indicate that Morgan Flint is going to win the starting kicking job, beating out Rob Beard and Mike Bowlin. Flint took over the job late last year and performed well, hitting 7 of 9 field goals but his time in spring and fall camp seemed to be inconsistent. If he can improve during the first part of the season and become a consistent threat, our perceived weakness in this area may not turn out so bad. A redshirt year for Mike Bowlin wouldn't hurt anyone either. Elevator: Up 1 Floor

Bo Thran: Expected to be starting on the offensive line by now, injuries just seem to linger for the big man. At this point, we shouldn't expect him to be starting against Boise State next week and it might take him a bit longer to work off the rust. The much maligned offensive line could use his presence but injuries have a way of ruining those desires. Elevator: Down 1 Floor

Lou Holtz: He picked Notre Dame to get to the national title game. Although the Golden Domers play a patsy schedule, they aren't beating USC and without beating USC, they aren't going to the national title game. Elevator: Still trying to find the door