Eugene, Oregon is an unusual place.  It is a fairly liberal college town with a blue collar, mill working history.  It has a strong Norwegian/German heritage with free-thinking Ken Kesey-esque underpinnings.

However, there is no denying that the town is decidedly green.  Green trees, green grass, and the dark metallic green of a University of Oregon football helmet.

And every Saturday in the fall and early winter, the good people of Eugene, Oregon are keenly interested in how the players wearing those dark green football helmets are doing on the football field.  It is college football season again in the Great Northwest, and the hopes of an entire city rest on the fortunes of its collegiate gridiron squad.   

And if Week 1 is any indication of what lies ahead for Oregon football in 2006, it may be a season to remember in Eugene.

Opponent: Stanford

Result: Win, 48-10

Location: (H) - Autzen Stadium, Eugene, Oregon

The Good

A 38-point thrashing of a conference opponent is about as good as it gets for a home opener.  And Oregon's 48-10 bare knuckle beat down of Stanford this past Saturday answered a lot of the preseason questions about the team emphatically.

Specifically, the Ducks proved that speed kills and that Oregon's impressive speed on both sides of the ball was definitely lethal to a slow-footed opponent like Stanford.  In fact, the Ducks' speed killed the Cardinal to the tune of 534 yards of total offense, with 293 of those yards earned on the ground with a devastating rushing attack.

Believe the hype.  Highly touted sophomore RB Jonathan Stewart simply exploded against Stanford.  His impressive speed and power translated into 168 yards on 22 carries (a 7.6 per carry average).  Stewart also showed his versatility by returning a kickoff 54 yards that set up an Oregon TD ten plays later.  Fittingly, it was Stewart who scored that TD with a one-yard burst into the end zone.

Kellen who?  Although Kellen Clemens was a terrific QB in the Oregon program, junior signal caller Dennis Dixon proved that there is life after Clemens (who has since graduated and was drafted by the NY Jets this past summer).  Dixon ran Oregon's intricate spread offense brilliantly, completing 21 of 30 passes for 236 yards with one TD and no picks.  In addition, Dixon used his speed to scramble out of trouble, aggravating a frustrated Stanford defense even further.  The prime example occurring when Dixon scored on a 2-yard run in the 3rd quarter by faking out two defenders who had drawn a bead on him and diving for the score before the rest of the pursuit could catch up.

Defensively, the Ducks held Stanford to 324 yards and 10 points.  The team's inexperienced cornerbacks showed some inconsistency but never looked completely overmatched.  The run defense was stout, holding the Cardinal to 100 yards rushing on 35 carries (a 2.9 per carry average), and ILB Brent Haberly continued to be the heart of the defense with non-stop effort and intensity.  In fact, the entire Duck defense was not bashful about lowering the boom on the opposition.  A number of highlight reel hits punctuated the effort.

Special teams play looked much improved.  Last season, special teams were a definite weakness.  Against Stanford, return coverage was solid, K Paul Martinez booted a pair of field goals, Stewart broke off that long kickoff return, and a blocked Stanford field goal attempt was returned for a TD and capped the day's scoring with an exclamation point.  Only a bad penalty on a Stanford punt counted as a negative.

The Bad

Not much went wrong for Oregon in their opener.

However, the team did commit 9 penalties for 120 yards.  The most damaging miscue, an inexcusable "12-men-on-the-field" infraction on a Stanford punt, led to a Cardinal first down and, ultimately, their only TD of the game.

The relatively inexperienced secondary (particularly the young corners) made some early coverage mistakes and showed some inconsistency.  The pass rush wasn't particularly strong, either.  Although the Oregon D dropped Stanford QB Trent Edwards twice, they also afforded him a lot of time in the pocket on most plays and couldn't contain his scrambling, as Edwards gained 33 yards running, roughly a third of Stanford's entire total for the day.

Top Duck

Stewart.  He looked like he had a different gear than everybody else on the field.  If the Ducks were hoping for a game-breaking threat to pair with Dennis Dixon, they found one in Stewart.  The speed and power combo he showed off against Stanford should take him to the elite level of college running backs.

Having said that, he left the game in the 4th quarter with an apparent ankle injury.  However, he was able to walk off the field on his own, and early speculation has been that the injury isn't serious.

Summary

A dominant win against a conference opponent is just what Oregon needed as the schedule will do them no favors after this.  Next week, a scary road game against giant-killer Fresno State is looming (remember that they gave then-#1 USC all that they could handle at the Coliseum last year).  After that, a tough home game against #15 Oklahoma and Heisman candidate Adrian Peterson.

But the 48-10 thrashing of Stanford did serve notice that the Ducks are a good team, and that opponents had better respect Oregon's speed or find themselves, as Stanford did, staring at the back of Duck jerseys all day long.

Next Game

September 9.  At Fresno State.