That right everyone, it's game week! There was a lot of quack over the weekend, so let's get right to it:
- The big news on Friday was the announcement that Darron Thomas will be the Ducks' QB against New Mexico. Adam Jude has a piece on the reaction after Saturday's practice. Now the Ducks will work on getting the chemistry between the QB and receivers down. And let's not forget Nate Costa, who handled this entire situation with as much class as possible. Even if he's not the starting QB, he's one of the most important players on the team. KVAL has video interviews available from Kelly, Helfrich, Costa, and Thomas from Saturday's practice, so check those out.
- George Schroeder had a more Thomas-centric article, gauging how the redshirt sophomore is reacting to his promotion. While Schroeder had publicly written that Costa should get the job, he's praising Thomas now. Off the field, he's handling everything well, but he knows he has a lot of work to do if the Ducks want to achieve their goals this season.
- With LaMichael James suspended for this weeks game, Kenjon Barner will be leading the running backs. Barner had done a great job for much of 2009, but really burst onto the scene during the Rose Bowl, when he had 227 all-purpose yards. But like much of last years young team, he was still going on instinct, which led to inconsistency for much of the year. But after an offseason of hard work, with his future role known, he's made huge strides, and has his "flow back," according to RB coach Gary Campbell. KVAL has an interview with Barner available.
- New Mexico is preparing for the house of horrors that is Autzen Stadium, but though they know they'll have a stiff test, they are looking forward to putting a tumultuous 2009 season behind them.
- With one week to go, everyone's making their yearly predictions. Matt Daddy posted the predictions of all the ATQ writers over the weekend, and Avinash from CalGoldenBlogs posted a preseason poll compiled by the SBNation Pac-10 bloggers. Unlike the media, the Pac-10 bloggers are quite skeptical of USC. Ted Miller also got in on the action, and made some predictions of his own.
- Oregon women's soccer had a tough game over the weekend. Despite out-shooting SMU 22-3, the game ended in a scoreless tie. Oregon's record is now 1-1-1.
- Jon Wilner has the latest Pac-10 expansion rumors. The latest gossip is that the California schools may end up with the Arizona schools, though if that happens, expect the Northwest schools to receive some scheduling and revenue concessions.
Got anything else to share? Leave it below. 5 days! GO DUCKS!