Everyone knew Dennis Dixon was important to Oregon's offense, but few thought he WAS the Oregon offense. Turns out, those few were right. Without Dixon, the Ducks (also minus backup quarterback Brady Leaf), could not score a single point in a 16-0 loss to UCLA that exposed the team's worst fear - without Dixon, Oregon is a bunch of sitting ducks.
UCLA is used to quarterback changes, which should give the Bruins the advantage in this weekend's matchup with Oregon, where both teams will be sporting out-of-practice signal callers. Redshirt junior Ben Olson will not be starting for the Bruins after missing five weeks of practice with a knee injury, but he has practiced all week to try to earn back his backup role (Osaar Rasshan is the unquestioned starter). As for Oregon, the Ducks will have to rethink their offensive strategy after Dennis Dixon tore his ACL, taking him off the field for the rest of the season. Brady Leaf will make his first start on Saturday in a game that has Pac-10 implications for both squads.
Continue reading "UCLA vs. Oregon: New Faces Behind Center" »
Oregon's worst fears have become reality. Former Heisman hopeful and star quarterback Dennis Dixon will have surgery on the left knee that buckled under him during Thursday night's loss to Arizona. Dixon can now kiss the Heisman goodbye, and Oregon has hopefully already said its farewell to the team's national championship hopes. But with Dixon out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL and its accompanying surgery, things in Eugene have gone from bright to bleak.
Oregon fans nationwide cringed right along with their starting quarterback as Heisman Trophy candidate Dennis Dixon crumpled to the ground in the first quarter of Thursday night's Pac-10 matchup with Arizona. On an option play with about five minutes remaining in the opening stanza, Dixon tried to plant but his knee buckled and he fell, untouched, to the turf, having sprained the same knee that he hurt Nov. 3 against Arizona State. With backup Brady Leaf under center, the Ducks would never recover, dropping a 34-24 decision to Arizona and, just as importantly, fearing the loss of their franchise player for the rest of the season.
Oregon may be flying high after handing Arizona State its first loss of the season and securing a No. 3 BCS ranking, but there are plenty of lame Ducks on this squad. Aside from Dennis Dixon's can't-be-that-bad twisted knee that kept him off the field for the final minutes of Saturday's win, junior middle linebacker John Bacon is the seventh big-time contributor to go down this season, as he tore his ACL on Saturday and will miss the rest of the year. Luckily, the Ducks' talent pool is deep enough to survive the injury barrage, at least for now.
Oregon put together an impressive performance to hand Arizona State a 35-23 loss in Saturday's big-time Pac-10 matchup, but Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon was not part of the last few minutes. Dixon left the game when he appeared to hurt his left leg after being tackled on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter. Holding a comfortable 35-16 lead, Dixon stayed on the sideline for the remainder of the contest, but had his helmet on. Brady Leaf stepped in under center after Dixon went out.
Oregon should be feeling pretty good - the team is coming off of a big win in a week when perhaps its biggest Pac-10 competition, Cal, lost in embarrassing fashion, vaulting Oregon into seventh place in the AP poll and 10th in the first batch of BCS rankings. Except the team is feeling pretty awful, because its No. 2 running back, sophomore Jeremiah Johnson, will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, as will its No. 2 receiver, Cameron Colvin, after breaking his ankle in Saturday's win over Washington State.
Week 5 is upon us and with conference matchups heating up around the country, the injury tally is climbing faster than Tim Tebow's Heisman rating. From No. 1 USC to No. 25-wanna-be Miami, everyone is dealing with something injury-related this week, but some news has been better than others.
