For the Ducks, It’s A Great Time for a Bye Week

By SPENCER McLAUGHLIN

Contributor, 750 The Game

Oregon doesn’t play a football game this week. Those Duck fans who’s emotional well-being often relies on the performance of their favorite team can relax this week, for more than one reason.

No game means no stress. But the bye week also serves as an opportunity for the Oregon State performance to sink in to help expunge the memory (but not nightmare!) of the Boise State and Idaho games. The Ducks put it all together last weekend in Corvallis and showed Oregon fans that they are in fact capable of playing as the team they looked to be on paper. But the good news continues.

Oregon is a little banged up. They’re no Utah from 2023 who, by the time they played the Ducks, were playing their starting safety at running back. Still, Matthew Bedford and Jeffrey Bassa are key pieces to this Oregon team and neither one is at 100% right now. Hopefully the bye week serves as an opportunity for both to get healthy. 

Bassa is not just Oregon’s most experienced and talented linebacker, he’s the captain of the defense. With helmet communication everyone thinks of how that impacts the quarterback and the offense, but often forget one defensive player has that helmet device as well. For Oregon that is Bassa, who was on a snap count against the Beavs. He didn’t look right against Boise State after getting dinged up in the opener against Idaho. He’s yet to have a sequence that I’ve seen in which he looks like himself, a guy who was a 2nd-Team All-Conference selection last season.

Oregon’s defense has been fine so far, with glimpses of greatness such as the second half against Oregon State when they pitched a shutout. The secondary has been mostly spectacular, with Brandon Johnson and Nikko Reed stepping up and playing big roles for Dan Lanning and DC Tosh Lupoi. 

The linebackers taking Bassa’s reps, fan-favorite Bryce Boettcher and 3rd-year Devon Jackson, have done a good job. Boettcher in particular has been exceptional, leading Oregon in tackles through 3 games. Jackson has had some great moments as well. I still wonder if this defense is at its full potential without a 4th-year starter who is the “quarterback of the defense” playing as his usual self.

Then there is Matthew Bedford, the Indiana transfer who was expected to start at right guard before getting hurt in Fall Camp. I’m sure many Oregon fans presume he will jump right back in and start–and he certainly could. He’s a long-tenured offensive lineman who reminds me of Steven Jones from last year’s unit (who started at right guard). 

The offensive line was missing chemistry and…well everything you want from an OL in the first 1.5 games. Then in the second half against Boise State, they seemed to have found something with former East Carolina transfer Nishad Strother at left guard, moving Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu to center with veteran Marcus Harper at right guard. That unit allowed 0 sacks last week and ran for over 7 yards per carry. 

Combine that performance with the second half of the Boise State game, and you have the sort of offensive line Oregon was expected to have coming into this season. Can Bedford slide right in and have the OL produce at the same level it did against the Beavs? Who gets booted from the starting unit? This is why the bye is well-timed, it allows Dan Lanning and OL Coach A’lique Terry extra time to figure that out–and get him healthy.

Certainly with a veteran like Bedford he’s more likely to be able to make it a seamless transition than a redshirt freshman seeking his first college reps. Having too much depth on the OL to pose these sorts of questions is a good problem to have. And if they do decide to insert Bedford, he and the other guys up front have an extra week to get ready for UCLA on September 28th in Los Angeles (in a classic Big 10 showdown!).

Oregon looked really good on Saturday and it was a refreshing sight for Duck fans everywhere. If they get fully healthy during the bye, I wonder if they might not have another gear to showcase on game days.

Spencer McLaughlin is an Oregon Ducks football contributor to 750 The Game. He also hosts the “Locked On Oregon Ducks” and “Locked On College Football” podcasts and has work featured throughout the season here.