Who Are These Guys?

It was a solid effort by the hecklers. As the Oregon Ducks congregated in the tunnel before spilling onto the field at Washington's Husky Stadium last Saturday, a twenty-something fan sporting a purple bead necklace and an O? NO! button leaned over the railing and did his best to hurt their feelings. "Boise State!" he shouted, over and over.

"No punches today!" added his buddy in the purple Jake Locker jersey.

You couldn't blame them for trying to remind the visitors of their disastrous debut this season, a 19--8 defeat at Boise State made worse by an ugly postgame incident. Taunted by Broncos defensive end Byron Hout, Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount buckled Hout's knees with a right to the jaw. Blount then ensured his YouTube immortality by exchanging some adult words with Boise fans on his way off the field. A day later first-year Ducks coach Chip Kelly suspended Blount for the season.

After that, things had to get better for Oregon, for the simple reason that they could hardly get worse. One of the major surprises of the season is how much better the Ducks have been since essentially throwing up all over Boise's blue rug. Oregon's 43--19 dismantling of Washington last Saturday improved its record to 6--1 (4--0 in the Pac-10), bumped its BCS ranking to 10th and set up one of the biggest showdowns the conference has seen in years. Eight weeks after their no-show in Idaho the Ducks will welcome No. 5 USC (6--1, 3--1) to Autzen Stadium on Halloween night, and the winner will gain the inside track to the Rose Bowl.

Making this run all the more remarkable is the fact that the Ducks are doing it largely with defense. After finishing last season 83rd in the country in total D, Oregon is 19th this year. On offense, meanwhile, dual-threat quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, god-awful in the opener, improved to merely erratic in Oregon's wins over Purdue and Utah before turning in a virtuoso performance in the Ducks' 42--3 beatdown of Cal, during which he completed 21 of 25 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. To be fair, the stocky junior's early-season struggles were directly related to a green offensive line and to the fact that he lacks a marquee wideout.

Blount, who ran for 1,002 yards as a junior last season, is toiling on the scout team. "He's making our lives hell," says strong safety Javes Lewis. "Some days we just have to tell him to calm down." But Blount's absence has led to the discovery of redshirt freshman LaMichael James, a smaller, speedier back who broke loose for 154 yards and two TDs against the Huskies.

Cheering from the sideline, on crutches, was Oregon's best player, cornerback Walter Thurmond III, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Cal. His backup, Willie Glasper, was lost for the season when he blew out a knee in practice 10 days later. They commiserated in the training room with starting free safety T.J. Ward, who missed five games with a bum ankle. But even with a secondary that could well be nicknamed the Replacements, Oregon leads the Pac-10 in pass defense.

These Ducks embrace their identity as a resilient band of no-names, unconcerned with who gets credit. "All the superstars went to USC," says middle linebacker Casey Matthews, younger brother of former Trojans linebacker Clay Matthews, now starting as a rookie in Green Bay. "We're just a bunch of guys working together, all on the same page, all playing for each other." An example of that egalitarianism on the turf: In Oregon's rout of California no defender had more than five tackles, but 19 Ducks had more than one and fewer than five. "You never know who it's going to be," says tight end Ed Dickson, "but there's always some guy who makes a play when we need it."

On Saturday it was onetime walk-on and special teams commando Rory Cavaille (kuh-VIE-aye), whose blocked punt early in the second quarter resulted in a touchdown and roused Oregon from its early torpor. In keeping with this team's ethos of anonymity, a postgame radio interviewer thanked the hero for his time, then reminded his audience, "That was Rory Cavaille.... I think I pronounced that correctly."

The announcer got it right, just as Kelly had gotten it right two nights earlier when he said at a team meeting, "We have a huge advantage in special teams, and it's going to pay off for us, and it's going to be the difference in the ball game." This was after he had exhorted the defense to "play one inch out of control—don't blink," and before he paid the team this compliment: "You guys prepare better than anyone I've ever been around, and that's where your confidence comes from. I've told you before: Pressure is what you feel when you don't know what you're doing." Kelly wrapped it up with a quote from Aristotle—"not the Big Aristotle: This ain't Shaq, boys. This is the real Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 384 to 322 B.C. 'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, it is a habit.'"