For the first time in its program history, the Stony Brook Seawolves will play a Pac-12 school.
Unfortunately for them, it’ll be against the No. 4 team in the nation.
Oregon is coming off its biggest regular-season road victory with the Ducks’ stunning 35-28 win over then-No. 3 Ohio State.
Now they get to come home to a game against an FCS team as a tune-up before the conference season gets underway.
The cupcake couldn’t have come at a better time for the Ducks as they’ve been hit with the injury bug after the first two games. Defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux is nursing a sprained ankle and linebacker Justin Flowe is out for the regular season with a foot injury.
Head coach Mario Cristobal wouldn’t say if Thibodeaux would play against the Seawolves, but considering the Ducks task this week with a lesser opponent, and with Arizona looming next week, it wouldn’t surprising if Cristobal decides to sit his future first-round NFL draft pick for another week.
Playing an FCS school will, or at least should, give the Ducks coaching staff a look at what some of their backups look like in actual game situations, especially at quarterback.
Anthony Brown was able to quell any speculation of freshman Ty Thompson or Jay Butterfield battling the super senior for playing duties after his outstanding performance in Columbus.
So, if offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead wants to see if those two can handle the offense if something should happen to Brown, this might be the perfect opportunity to get a good look.
But, it’s not just the quarterback position Moorhead is interested in when it comes to depth, it’s pretty certain he’d like to see other areas of his offense get game action, including tailback.
C.J Verdell and Travis Dye have had all the carries thus far.
That is likely to change on Saturday if the Ducks build a considerable lead. If that should happen, Moorhead and his offensive staff would like to freshmen Seven McGee and Trey Benson get some carries.
The wide receiver position could also use some work as they also haven’t been relied upon too much in the first two games. Even against Ohio State, the Ducks didn’t need to have a down-field threat. A total of 11 Ducks caught 17 of Brown’s completions.
As for Stony Brook, they will present an offense similar to what Chip Kelly ran at Oregon.
The Seawolves have an experienced tailback, Ty Son Lawson, who just racked up 1,000 career yards on the ground in their most recent win – a 24-3 drubbing of Colgate.
The Seawolves will also bring in an experienced defense to face Oregon with just one freshman at linebacker.
The rest of the 10 defensive starters are either redshirt juniors or seniors.
They’ve seen nearly every offense while at Stony Brook, but they definitely haven’t seen the size and speed the Ducks will show them on Saturday.
The contest is set for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff televised on the Pac-12 Network.
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