NCAA Football Oregon Ducks

Royce Freeman Key To Oregon Ducks Getting Back On Track

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By @atylerbrett

Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

There was plenty of panic in Eugene just a few weeks ago when the Oregon Ducks failed to defend their home turf against the Arizona Wildcats, losing their second straight game to Rich Rodriguez’s crew from Tucson. The usually high-powered Oregon offense struggled to find their footing and were stymied in a 31-24 defeat. The loss knocked the Ducks out of the top spot in the Pac-12 title race and threw a serious wrench in Oregon’s quest to qualify for the inaugural college football playoff. But since that Thursday night game, Oregon has regained their form. The Ducks are on a three-game winning streak since that upset loss with impressive showings against the UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, and the Cal Bears on Friday night. In each game, the Ducks have scored more than 40 points as their offense looks confident and competent in getting rolling and living up to their high-flying potential and getting Oregon right back into the mix for the Pac-12 title and the College Football Playoff. The biggest difference over the last three games has been the emergence of freshman running back Royce Freeman. At the beginning of the season, Oregon appeared to have one of the strongest backfields in the nation. With Byron Marshall, the leading returning rusher in the Pac-12 for 2014, and Thomas Tyner, a breakout freshman back in 2013, the Ducks appeared to have the one-two punch necessary to propel their running game to the next level this fall. While Marshall and Tyner have been excellent players for the Ducks, it has been the freshman Freeman that has distinguished himself in the loaded backfield for Oregon this season. Oregon has never been shy about finding touches for playmakers, even if they are making their collegiate debuts as freshman. Freeman offers a bigger body out of the backfield at 6-foot and 229 pounds with incredible explosiveness. His strong running style has helped him find some traction behind an offensive line for Oregon that has struggled to stay healthy, and given the Ducks a rushing presence between the tackles more consistently than Marshall (5-foot-10, 205 pounds) or Tyner (5-foot-11, 215 pounds). As a result, Freeman has assumed a featured role out of the backfield as the Oregon offense has found its footing. Over the last three games, the talented young back has paced the Oregon attack, rushing the ball 18, 29, and 22 times for 121, 169, and 112 yards respectively. His emergence as a work-horse back since the Ducks’ loss to Arizona has put him in clear control of the Oregon backfield. On the season, he leads the Ducks with 748 yards rushing on 136 carries with 13 rushing touchdowns as the only player on the team averaging more than 10 carries per game (he is averaging 17). That isn’t to say that the other backs have not been productive. Marshall has followed up his 1,000-yard rushing effort from last season by stepping up as a dynamic playmaker as a rusher and a receiver. Through eight games, he has been the team’s leading pass-catcher with 38 receptions for 521 yards and four touchdowns through the air to go along with his 306 yards rushing and team-high 8.27 yards per carry average. He’s an explosive weapon for the Ducks’ offense, much in the same vein as De’Anthony Thomas was for the last several seasons. Tyner has been a strong runner for the Ducks as well, currently second on the team with 66 carries in seven games. He’s churned out 279 yards on the season with a rushing touchdown as a dangerous change-of-pace option in the running game. Together, this trio makes up one of the deepest running back groups in the country, giving Oregon plenty of options to provide a spark to their running game. Freeman has simply risen above the rest this season to emerge as a leader despite his youth. There is no doubt that this team belongs to quarterback Marcus Mariota. The dual-threat signal caller is the clear leader of the team and a front-runner for the Heisman Trophy as one of college football’s best players. But as good as Mariota is, he can’t do it all by himself and the lack of a strong interior running game was making life difficult for one of the nation’s best athletes. That lack of running between the tackles coupled with (and partially caused by) a constantly rotating cast on the offensive line, and a strong Oregon team looked like they would once again fall short of competing for the national championship. But any doubt about the talent of this Oregon team in 2014 has been silenced by three straight strong showings against the Bruins, Huskies, and Bears. Not coincidentally, those three wins have also coincided with Freeman breaking out with his three best games as a college player. Getting that workhorse back to carry the load in the running game between the tackles and rack up the tough yards to keep the offense on the field has been the catalyst for the Ducks to put their best stretch of games on the field over the last few weeks and regain control of their own destiny for the Pac-12 title and a spot in the inaugural college football playoff. Oregon faces their biggest test of the season this week when the Stanford Cardinal come to Autzen Stadium in one of the most anticipated games on the Pac-12 schedule. Stanford has been a hurdle that the Ducks have struggled to get over in recent years as the Cardinal have shut Oregon down as they have dominated the Pac-12. Their physical brand of defense has created serious issues for the Ducks as they have dropped two straight games to their rivals from Palo Alto. For the Ducks to get over the hump and return to the top of the Pac-12 and stay in the hunt for the college football playoff, they will have to go toe-to-toe with Stanford’s physical defensive front and run the football between the tackles. That responsibility will undoubtedly fall on Freeman to churn out yardage on early downs and open up the playbook for Oregon to hit their big plays down the field and take some pressure off Mariota in the pocket. Winning the battle in the trenches with Freeman will not only help Oregon shake the Stanford monkey off their back this week, but it will set the tone for this Ducks team down the stretch as they make their run at the Pac-12 title and their spot in the college football playoff. The key to all of that rests on the young shoulders of running back Royce Freeman, who has distinguished himself as the man in a very talented Oregon backfield. The Ducks will go as far as he can carry them and he has shown the talent to carry them all the way to January. You can follow me on Twitter @ATylerBrett, on Facebook and on Google.

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