justinroper_crop.jpgWashington (4-9 in 2007) @ Oregon (9-4 in 2007), 7pm, FSN. Oregon favored by 14.

After dual-threat QB Nate Costa reinjured his knee in practice last week (he’ll miss 8-10 weeks at least), Justin Roper (left) is the Ducks’ starter, and, as Ted Miller wrote: “That means the ‘option’ part of the ’spread-option’ will be much more limited.”

Roper is, as mentioned before in this space, a pro-style quarterback, not a runner like Costa. The Ducks offense is very different with him on the field that it was with Dennis Dixon or would’ve been with Costa. Dixon had as many as 17 carries last season while he was healthy. In the one full game Roper played, the Sun Bowl against South Florida, he had just three carries.

Losing Costa for the opener is bad timing for the Ducks–and that bad timing could show up on the field, too.

As Adam Jude wrote in the September issue of the magazine (at the printer right now!), timing is critical in Oregon’s offense. In their frequently-used zone-read play, the QB sticks the ball into the RB’s stomach, then pulls it out depending on how the defense reacts to the fake. Obviously, this intricate step depends on the RB arriving at just the right time, and clamping down the ball (or not) at just the right time.

Against Washington Roper will run this offense with, primarily, Jeremiah Johnson and LaGarrette Blount, two players he’s never handed a football to in a game situation.

The question is, how long will it take for Roper, Johnson and Blount to get the familiarity that Dixon and Stewart had? Did they form it already, in fall practice? Will it take them part of the first game of the year? Or all of it? Or, as with Dixon and Stewart, might it take as much as a season together for the offense to finally start firing.

Or perhaps the Oregon staff will do what they did in the South Florida game, and feature the zone-read considerably less. It worked–the Ducks dominated the Bulls, winning 56-21.

And after running for 465 yards against the Huskies last year, it seems like they could at least get 300 against a Husky defense that–missing three of its top four D-linemen and top tackler E.J. Savannah–is arguably worse off now.

Certainly the oddsmakers think so–they’ve made the Ducks a two-touchdown favorite.