The Ducks are 9-0 with a huge game looming down in Berkeley this weekend. I don't know about you, but game weeks have started to slow to a crawl. Here's your Tuesday morning fix:
- With still no official word on Nate Costa's injury, Rob Moseley writes that true freshman Bryan Bennett has been moved up to number two on the depth chart. In my opinion, this is clearly the right decision. By all indications, Bennett is now the second-best QB on the roster. If Darron Thomas suffers a significant injury or gets hurt in a close game, Bennett has to come in. With Thomas only being a sophomore, there may be an opportunity for Bennett to try and redshirt later on down the road. Who knows when Oregon may have another chance at such a special season?
- George Schroeder offers a story on Costa's latest injury setback told through a relationship with a local family that Nate had recently developed through a shared passion for hunting.
- In his weekly look around the conference, Bob Clark writes that Stanford may be left on the outside looking in when the BCS Bowl matchups are announced. Clark also notes that if Wazzu wants to avoid tying the conference record for consecutive conference losses, they will need to come up with a win against either Washington or Oregon State this year or in their conference opener next season against Colorado. That looks like a pretty favorable schedule for avoiding loss #20.
- John Hunt writes that Jackson Rice will be taking over the holding duties on all kicks (although Chip Kelly says that Darron Thomas is also a possibility). Hunt also has a blog entry up with an anecdote about Oregonian reporter Ken Goe being tabbed by Coach Kelly as his fourth-string QB.
- Ted Miller posted his "Rewind and Look Ahead" blog entry, though this week Oregon only earns a couple of mentions near the bottom -- neither of which are about the Washington game.
- With the basketball signing period starting tomorrow, Clark runs down the players that both the men's and women's team expect to sign. The highlight of the men's recruiting class will most likely be receiving an LOI for Jabari Brown who is ranked nationally as a top 25 player in his class and who announced his verbal commitment to Oregon last month on TV.
Go Ducks!