Oregon Ducks - Houston Cougars Pregame Notes

The Ducks have amassed a 25-1 record in non-conference games in Autzen Stadium during Mike Bellotti’s head coaching tenure.

Photo courtesy: goducks.com

EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon hosts Houston in the season opener for both schools on Saturday at Autzen Stadium. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. PDT.

THE SERIES

The Ducks and Cougars have matched up twice before, with Oregon prevailing on both occasions - once in Eugene in 1983 (15-14) and more recently at Houston in the 2005 season opener (38-24).

SEASON OPENERS

• The Ducks have won 20 of their last 23 season openers, including last season’s 48-10 home victory over Stanford.

• Oregon is 2-0 in games played on September 1, defeating Wisconsin, 31-28, as part of 2001’s 11-win campaign, and upending Houston in 2005, when the Ducks finished 10-2.

• Oregon is 10-2 in season openers under head coach Mike Bellotti and has outscored its opponents, 396-243, in those 12 contests.

• UO is 13-7 when opening the season at Autzen Stadium and 7-2 in home openers under Bellotti.

• Oregon’s largest point total and margin of victory in a season opener was a 97-0 drubbing of Willamette on Oct. 7, 1916 under head coach Hugo Bezdek.

• The last overtime game in a season-opener for the Ducks was a 30-27 win at Fresno State, Aug. 31, 1996 - the first year the overtime rule was put into effect.

• Oregon last won by shutout in its opener Sept. 10, 1988 vs. Long Beach State (49-0).

• UO’s last loss in a home and season opener was against Indiana, 30-24, on Sept. 11, 2004.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS

The Ducks have amassed a 25-1 record in non-conference games in Autzen Stadium during Mike Bellotti’s head coaching tenure.

Their lone home loss during that span was dealt by Indiana (30-24) to open the 2004 season.

Overall, Oregon has accumulated a 34-5 non-league slate in Bellotti’s previous 12 years at the helm.

ABOUT THE COUGARS

Houston begins the 2007 season fresh on the heels of its first undisputed Conference USA championship since 1978 and a berth in the Liberty Bowl against South Carolina.

Once again, it is picked as favorites to repeat as league West Division winners in a pre-season vote of league coaches.

The Cougars ended the year with a mark of 10-4 overall, dropping a 44-36 thriller to the Gamecocks in their season finale. Houston went 7-1 in the Conference USA West Division.

UH sported a well-balanced offensive attack in 2006, scoring 29 TDs on the ground and 30 through the air.

The Cougars outscored opponents by an average of 33.0 to 23.5, and outgained the opposition 446.1 yards to 251.4.

Houston posted a plus-9 turnover margin and converted 88 percent (50-57) of redzoone opportunities into points.

The Cougars return eight starters on each side of the ball, but will take the field at Autzen Stadium with a new starting quarterback after the graduation of C-USA Offensive Player of the Year and second-round NFL draft pick (36th overall) Kevin Kolb.

The four-year starter leaves massive shoes to fill after passing for 12,964 yards and 85 touchdowns in his college career.

The job will go to either SO Blake Joseph - who has six completions and one interception in eight career attempts - or RS FR Case Keenum.

Houston will likely lean heavily on senior all-purpose back Anthony Alridge to make up for inexperience at the quarterback position.

Alridge switched from part-time wideout to full-time running back midway through 2006 and led the nation with an average of 10.1 yards per carry, gaining 956 yards on the ground.

For C-USA Coach of the Year Art Briles, 2007 will be his fifth season at UH and first without Kolb.

Briles has put together three winning seasons at the Cougar helm, compiling an overall mark of 26-24.

OREGON VS. HOUSTON THUMBNAILS

• UO SR QB Dennis Dixon’s first collegiate TD came on a 1 yd run against Houston on Sept. 1, 2005.

• Dixon and SR WR Garren Strong (2-pt conversion) are the only two Ducks remaining who were directly involved in scoring plays during that meeting with UH.

• 103 of 117 players listed on Houston’s roster heading into fall camp were from Texas - an 88-percent majority.

• Both schools will be debuting a new punter with JC transfer Josh Syria (pronounced SY-REE) punting for the Ducks. Either redshirt FR Tommy Skinner or SO newcomer Chase Turner will be receiving long snaps for UH.

• UH touts its defensive line as the strength of the team’s defense. Anchoring the line are a pair of juniors, DT Eli Ash and second team All-Conference DE Phillip Hunt.

• Six current Ducks started the team’s last game against Houston - four on offense (Max Unger LT, Josh Tschirgi LG, Geoff Schwartz RT, Cameron Colvin WR) and two on defense (A.J. Tuitele WLB, Patrick Chung ROV).

• Both schools are on four-game winless streaks in bowl games, but UO’s has come in a five year stretch while the Cougars drought goes back 23 seasons.

DEAN OF THE PAC-10

Not only does 13th-year head coach Mike Bellotti resume his role as the longest-tenured football mentor in the conference, he stands as one of its most successful.

Surpassed only by USC in overall wins in the Pacific-10 Conference during his Oregon tenure (97-48), he is among an elite collection of all-time conference coaches who have won 60 or more league games during their illustrious careers in the loop currently known as the Pac-10.

Only nine conference brethren have ever achieved that milestone as Bellotti is tied for eighth on the Pac-10’s all-time list of league coaching victories (60-37) with former Arizona coach Dick Tomey.

That record places him 17th on the league’s career winning percentage list in Pac-10 games (.619).

CLIMBING THE LADDER

Mike Bellotti became the winningest football coach in the history of the University of Oregon last season, with his 97 wins surpassing the 91 victories secured by Rich Brooks (1977-94).

Only Hugo Bezdek (.727%—1906, 1913-17) has accumulated a better winning percentage than Bellotti’s .669 percent (97-48) among his peers who have coached the Ducks a minimum of three seasons.

NEARING THE CENTURY MARK

Oregon’s Mike Bellotti is about to join a select number of coaches who have accumulated 100 or more wins at one school in the Pac-8/Pac-10 Conference.

Leading the way is Washington’s Don James, who tallied a 153-57-2 mark (1975-92) in 18 seasons in Seattle.

The other four were UCLA’s Terry Donahue (151-74-8; 1976-95), as well as USC’s John McKay (127-40-8; 1960-75), Howard Jones (121-36-13; 1925-40) and John Robinson (104-35-4; 1976-82, 1993-97).

Tommy Prothro did combine for a 104-55-5 record at Oregon State (1955-64) and UCLA (1965-70), but 63 wins were the most posted at one school (OSU).

Frank Kush acquired a 176-54-1 ledger in 22 seasons at Arizona State but only 12 of those wins occurred after the Sun Devils became a part of the Pac-10 in 1978.

CONFERENCE LEADERS

Last season, the Ducks finished the year leading the Pac-10 in rushing offense (182.2 avg.) for the first time since 1955, total offense (423.2 avg.) for the first time since records were made available in 1954, and in pass defense (173.5 avg.) for the second time in as many years.

Prior to that, Oregon had not led the league in pass defense since 1967.

It also paced the Pac-10 in total defense in 2005.

Individually, Jonathan Stewart led the league in kickoff returns (28.1 avg.) for the second year in a row.

STAFF CHANGES

Chip Kelly is in his first year as the program’s sixth offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under head coach Mike Bellotti.

Kelly spent the past eight seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at New Hampshire, with the Wildcats finishing second in the NCAA’s Championship Subdivision (I-AA) in total offense (493.5), third in scoring (41.7) and fifth in passing (300.1 avg.) in 2005.

He replaces Gary Crowton, who departed to assume the same role at LSU.

In addition, former Oregon special teams coordinator/tight ends coach (1995-2000) Tom Osborne returns to Eugene in his same capacity after spending the past six years at Arizona State.

TRIAL BY FIRE

Head coach Mike Bellotti has often professed to incoming freshmen that they come to camp ready to play during their first season.

That could be no more true than this year when as many as 11 newcomers have been identified as possibilities to take the field as first-year freshmen before 2007 is over.

Heading into the season opener, four of them grace Oregon’s two-deep -- WR Drew Davis, CB Talmadge Jackson III, LB Casey Matthews and PK Daniel Padilla.

Three true freshmen played for the Ducks last season (QB Nate Costa, RB Andre Crenshaw and WR Derrick Jones), with the most first-year collegians to play in Bellotti’s first 12 seasons being seven (2004).

CONTINUITY

Of the Ducks’ 10 coaches, five of them have coached at Oregon for a minimum of 15 years.

MOST EXPERIENCED

Despite the loss of two starters from last year’s offensive line, that area remains as the one that boasts of the most experience heading into the fall.

Junior Max Unger (as well as junior rover Patrick Chung) both have started all 25 games in which the Ducks have played the past two years when they were redshirt freshmen.

But next in line are senior offensive linemen Geoff Schwartz and Josh Tschirgi, who have been in the starting lineup for 23 and 22 games, respectively.

GROUND GAME

Oregon’s 26 rushing touchdowns in 2006 equaled the school record for most TDs scored on the ground (26 in 1996).

That compared to only 16 rushing scores the previous year and marked the first time in four seasons the Ducks had run into the end zone on as many as 20 occasions.

Much of that credit belongs to Jonathan Stewart, who has run for 20 touchdowns in his first two years.

RETURNING HONOREES

Six Oregon returnees came away from last season receiving honors for their play and are expected to be among the team’s leaders for the coming year. Ironically, all are underclassmen.

Below is a list of Oregon’s 2005 honorees returning.

Jairus Byrd

• Pac-10 Conference honorable mention

• Pac-10 co-Freshman of the Year

• 1st-team Freshman All-America

(Rivals.com)

• 2nd-team Freshman All-America

(The Sporting News)

• Pac-10 All-Freshman first team

(The Sporting News)

Patrick Chung

• Pac-10 Conference honorable mention

Jonathan Stewart

• Pac-10 Conference 2nd Team

Walter Thurmond III

• Pac-10 Conference honorable mention

• 2nd-team Freshman All-America

(Rivals.com)

• 3rd-team Freshman All-America

(The Sporting News)

• Pac-10 All-Freshman first team

(The Sporting News)

Max Unger

• Pac-10 Conference 2nd team

Jaison Williams

• Pac-10 Conference honorable mention

• 2006 Biletnikoff Award semi-finalist

WATCH OUT FOR STEWART

Junior running back Jonathan Stewart is one of six Pac-10 players on the first Watch List for the 71st Maxwell Award, which has annually been presented to the nation’s outstanding collegiate football player since 1937.

ADD DIXON TO THE LIST

Senior Dennis Dixon is one of 35 quarterbacks included on the Watch List for the 2007 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, presented annually the nation’s best college quarterback. Dixon was one of four nominees named from the Pac-10.

COLLEGE GRADUATES

Four Oregon seniors will take to the football field this fall as college graduates, while one other already has completed his requirements in his major and is expected to graduate by the end of the fall term.

Quarterback Brady Leaf (political science/business minor), long snapper Eric Steimer (political science), offensive guard Josh Tschirgi (political science) and strongside linebacker A.J. Tuitele (political science) already have earned their undergraduate degrees, while quarterback Dennis Dixon (sociology) will do so by the end of December.

THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT

One was hailed as one of Oregon’s biggest recruiting coups in recent history as one of the nation’s top running back recruits.

The other received barely a mention other than from those in the know.

Yet the tandem of Jonathan Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson has become Oregon’s best one-two punch since 2001.

While it was Stewart who rushed for 981 yards a year ago, it was Johnson’s 6.3-yard per-carry average that bettered Stewart’s 5.4 average.

Stewart may have scored 11 touchdowns on the season but Johnson was close behind with 10 scores.

Stewart finished second in league in all-purpose yards (136.2) but Johnson wasn’t far behind, ranking ninth in the league (92.2).

TURNOVER TURNAROUND

Mike Bellotti has long professed that turnover margin is the most important stat in college football and last year’s team did its best to prove his point.

In 2005, Oregon finished the season ranked 10th in the country in turnover margin, taking the football away from the opposition 13 more times than it was giving it up, or falling on the +1.08 side of the ledger per game.

The Ducks coughed the ball up 19 times while benefiting from opponents giving it away on 32 occasions.

Included was Oregon’s national finish of second in the country in interceptions (23). That barometer took a turn for the worst in 2006 as the Ducks finished 109th nationally in turnover margin (-0.77 avg.), giving the ball away 32 times while benefiting from only 22 takeaways.

Only seven schools in the country suffered from throwing more than Oregon’s 18 interceptions.

Unfortunately, the generous mood cost the Ducks on the scoreboard. They generated 46 points (5 TDs, 4 FGs) from the opposition’s miscues while yielding 143 points (18 TDs, 6 FGs) from their own turnovers.

That amounts to 41 percent of Oregon’s total points allowed, or the equivalent of giving away 11 points per game.

ON THE DIAMOND

Despite not playing baseball since the summer of 2003, quarterback Dennis Dixon was a fifth-round choice of the Atlanta Braves (168th overall) in this summer’s Amateur Baseball Draft.

Dixon, who turned down an offer to play for the Cincinnati Reds when he was picked in the 20th round in the 2003 draft, returned to Eugene one week prior to the start of fall camp.

He began the summer playing for the Gulf Coast Braves in Kissimmee, Fla., before finishing his summer stint with the Danville (VA) Braves.

In 28 games, the outfielder accumulated 13 hits in 74 at bats, accounted for eight runs scored and seven RBIs, while stealing five bases without being thrown out.

Finishing with a .188 average in Florida, he connected for five hits in his last 12 at bats before spending a final week in Virginia.

Although Oregon has not fielded a baseball team since 1981, Dixon isn’t the Ducks’ first quarterback to pursue a baseball career.

Chris Miller spent the summer of 1986 playing baseball in the Seattle Mariners’ organization before returning to earn first-team all-conference honors on the football field for the second year in a row.

THE KEY TO VICTORY

Jonathan Stewart managed to eclipse the 100-yard rushing pinnacle in five games as a sophomore.

On those occasions the Ducks remained unbeaten. When Stewart was held below 100 yards, Oregon could do no better than a 2-6 mark.

DIXON ON PACE

Quarterback Dennis Dixon has made tremendous strides over the years in his accuracy, completing better than 66 percent of his throws as a sophomore.

While his numbers from a year ago may not have matched his 2005 output, his 61.7 percent career accuracy rate (272-441) is still on pace to better Kellen Clemens’ career school record of 61.0 percent.

UP FOR GRABS

On only one occasion in school history (1998) have Oregon’s receivers accumulated more 100-yard receiving efforts than a year ago when three players combined for eight games reaching the century mark.

Junior Jaison Williams was responsible for five of them while senior Brian Paysinger added one.

Williams’ numbers were good enough for 19th in the country in both receptions per game (5.67) and yards per game (82.0).

PROTECTING THE QUARTERBACK

Oregon’s 16 quarterback sacks allowed a year ago was good enough to rank second in the Pac-10 as well as tied for 12th in the country.

That’s a far cry from the 41 QB sacks the Ducks allowed in 2004.

In the 12 seasons under Mike Bellotti’s watch, Oregon has ranked among the conference’s top three finishers in fewest sacks allowed on seven occasions, including leading the league five times.

SECOND TO NONE

Individual standouts in the secondary have been one of Oregon’s strong suits over the years, with a collection of defensive backs that led the Ducks to the Rose Bowl in 1994 among the best.

Four of standouts that played on that team were eventually drafted into the NFL, spanning from senior All-Americans Chad Cota and Herman O’Berry, and junior Alex Molden to freshman Kenny Wheaton.

Cornerbacks Rashad Bauman and Steve Smith were multiple year-all conference honorees in the early years of this decade. If last year is an accurate indication, a current contingent of standout defensive backs may rival those groups.

Junior rover Patrick Chung returns as the leader of the group as has finished among his team’s top three tacklers in each of his first two seasons.

Seldom has Oregon enjoyed the exploits from a pair of young cornerbacks any more than Jairus Byrd and Walter Thurmond III, who helped Oregon lead the Pac-10 in pass defense last year as redshirt freshmen.

Byrd finished third in the league in interceptions (5) and Chung tied for seventh (4), while Byrd (12) and Chung (10) ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, in passes defended.

NFL PEDIGREE

No fewer than four Oregon players have fathers who played in the National Football League, with the names of their fathers and their NFL career listed in parenthesis.

Included are Jairus Byrd (Gill Byrd, DB - San Diego, 1983-92), Erik Elshire (Neil Elshire, DE - Minnesota, 1981-86), Matthew Harper (Willie Harper, DE - San Francisco, 1973-83) and Casey Matthews (Clay Matthews, LB - Cleveland and Atlanta, 1978-96).

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

Oregon’s 12 2007 opponents accumulated an 88-65 record (.575) a year ago, with seven of the foes advancing to bowl games.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

The Ducks are assured of playing in front of their largest crowd in school history when they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to face Michigan on Sept. 8.

Michigan Stadium lists a capacity of 107, 501. The largest crowd Oregon has played in front of to date was in the 1995 Rose Bowl when 102,247 spectators watched the Pacific-10 Conference champions face Penn State.

CONSECUTIVE SELLOUTS

Oregon begins the 2007 season sporting 48 consecutive sellouts., extending back to the 1999 season.

The last game that fell short of a sellout was vs. Nevada (41,374) on Sept. 18.

USC came to Autzen Stadium the following week, with the Ducks prevailing in a triple-overtime thriller.

RECORD TICKET SALES

Oregon has established a record for season-ticket sales for the 10th year in a row.

The Ducks already have sold 43,242 tickets on a season basis, exceeding last year’s mark in excess of 42,600 season tickets.

A year ago, the school averaged 58,378 fans per game in a stadium that boasts a capacity of 54,000.

Single-game tickets still remain for Oregon home games vs. Houston, Fresno State and Arizona State.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports