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Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota leaps by a Stanford safety, Kyle Olugbode, in the Nov. 1 victory against the Stanford Cardinal.

(The Associated Press)

Yelling during college football games is part of a fan's job. You cheer when your team scores a touchdown, you shout when the defense makes a goal-line stand. And when the ref blows a call? There are few things more satisfying than the cathartic camaraderie of leaping to your feet with 50,000 of your closest football friends, pointing at the video replay and barking that the ref .... needs new glasses.

Sure there are always a handful of fans who take things too far. But what if it's almost an entire stadium's worth?

That was the scene at the Oregon Ducks home game against the Stanford Cardinal for a few forgettable moments last Saturday. With just over eight minutes left to go in the first half, Stanford safety Kyle Olugbode, took a fierce headlong dive in an unsuccessful grab at Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota.

As Mariota slipped past him, Olugbode sailed out of bounds with full frontal impact, his legs briefly tangled with another teammate's. As hits and tumbles go, it didn't seem that bad -- at least not from the stands, where the regular collisions of 225-pound masses in motion come across more like cartoon violence rather than a painful testing of Newtonian physics.

But the fall was bad enough to shake up Olugbode, who remained on the ground long after the play. And Ducks fans? Many of them erupted into boos that echoed around the stadium.

First, a little history. Ducks fans have long suspected that the hurry-up offense popularized by former coach Chip Kelly led some teams to fake injuries in order to buy their defense some breathing room without having to burn a timeout. After the break in action to attend to the alleged injury, the player would often slip back into the defensive lineup just a play or two later.

And fans got some proof of that with the theatrical performance by a University of California at Berkeley defensive player in 2010. After a tackle, he gets up, apparently fine. He looks over at the sideline and then drops to the ground in dramatic fashion. It's on YouTube and it's awesome.

But again, that was 2010, as in four years ago. Many teams in college football – as well as Oregon's Pac-12 competitors – not only have adapted to hurry-up offenses, but they have adopted them as well. There's just not the same kind of competitive advantage now.

Not to mention, just a few minutes earlier, the crowd had quieted down as trainers attended to an injured Ducks defensive player, Arik Armstead, who lay on the ground. Fans clapped as he got to his feet and was helped to the sideline.

You would think that Armstead's injury might be fresh in fans' minds. You would think that fans would recall how many injuries this program has had this year -- not because anyone was faking, but because football, as fun as it is to watch, can be brutal, even catastrophic, to those who are playing it.

You might even think that common decency dictates you should not boo a college senior who just sprinted into a bellyflop onto the turf – even if he does play for the enemy of the day.

Many at the stadium that day might not yet have heard of the devastating, season-ending injuries suffered Saturday by Washington State University quarterback Connor Halliday or Ole Miss' wide receiver Laquon Treadwell. But they are well aware of the often severe injuries sustained by football players – including college players, who are unpaid.

As for Olugbode? He didn't return to play for that series or the next Stanford defensive series. He finally came back out on the field after halftime.

To be fair, many fans scolded others for their booing, but the catcalls as Olugbode lay on the ground were so loud that Autzen announcer Don Essig got on the loudspeaker. Essig, known for his pronouncement before each game that "it never rains at Autzen Stadium," reminded fans that we don't boo injured players. Unfortunately on that wet Saturday night, that's two things he got wrong.

- Helen Jung