Oregon Ducks play UCLA Bruins

Reserve defensive linemen T.J. Daniel (right) and Tui Talia (center) buffeted starters such as Alex Balducci (left) along the line against UCLA on Saturday with starter Arik Armstead out with an ankle injury.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

EUGENE -- When the left ankle of Oregon's Arik Armstead "didn't feel right" in warm-ups last Saturday, and he was held out of his first college game, his absence gave his fellow defensive linemen an opening to stick a 6-foot-8 lineman-sized asterisk next to their performance.



Instead, their play in the junior's stead during a 42-30 win against UCLA gave Oregon a few reasons to believe in the line's depth.



"We had a good game plan going into the game and they executed it the best they could," Armstead said Monday, without offering an update on his status for Saturday's game against Washington (5 p.m., FOX Sports 1). "Made a couple mistakes but everybody makes mistakes. They kept fighting and playing hard and got the job done."



Without the 295-pound Armstead, a defensive end in Oregon's 3-4 scheme, Oregon played 6-foot-4, 290-pound Sam Kamp extensively alongside end DeForest Buckner and nose tackle Alex Balducci, the regular staples at starter.



Behind Kamp, a junior nose tackle, came a steady rotation of backups in junior end Tui Talia, sophomore tackle T.J. Daniel, and freshmen Henry Mondeaux, an end, and Austin Maloata, a nose tackle. Those five combined for nine tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.



(Even a former defensive lineman got involved, in a way: Stetzon Bair, now an offensive tackle, blocked on a third-quarter Duck touchdown.)



It isn't that the backups were new to the scene; each has played extensively this season because of Oregon's eight-man rotation. It's that after the line played inconsistently without Armstead for the second half of a loss to Arizona on Oct. 2 -- the day after the defeat UO coach Mark Helfrich said of the line, "A lot of guys had eyes in too many spots" -- those same reserves rebounded and plugged gaps.



"They've played tough and disciplined and they all got to play," defensive line coach Ron Aiken said. "With Sam playing for Armstead it meant Austin played nose. A lot of them were in the game as they've been in before, in critical times, so it wasn't anything different for them. It was just that Arik wasn't there."



Washington's offensive line, the Ducks' target on Saturday, has endured its own shuffle. Senior right tackle Ben Riva (knee, ankle) has missed most the season. Colin Tanigawa has become UW's solid center despite playing right guard in every regular-season game in 2013 and left guard in the Fight Hunger Bowl.



To Aiken's point that it felt like just another day for his rotation, there was another marker of consistency against the Bruins -- albeit a frustrating one.



As they have all fall, the Ducks' tall defensive linemen continue to pop up at full height at the snap, rather than explode forward like a sprinter coming out of the blocks. Playing with a low pad level has been a primary point of emphasis for Aiken since he arrived in the winter of 2013 and saw his unit included players who stood anywhere from 6-8 to 6-4.



"Everybody wants to straighten their legs out and when you do that the offensive linemen are in your chest," Aiken said. "You've got to play with some bend in your knee.



"At times, DeForest (plays low the best), at times Alex and Arik -- at times. Because everybody wants to peek. That's what you've got to drill into them is do your job, you don't have to peek. People want to find the ball and if you do that at the wrong time you'll be on your back."



When a defender ends up on his back, Aiken pins it on hesitating too long to make the play. And it's with hesitation that one could view the still developing accomplishments of the line, too.



The Ducks allowed 328 rush yards to the Bruins and two 100-yard rushers in Paul Perkins and Brett Hundley. The Bruins' 6.1 yards per rush were much higher than the 4.3 yards Oregon opponents have averaged this season.



Defensive coordinator Don Pellum said many of Hundley's gains were created by coverage miscues, but Oregon's line couldn't track him down, either.



"The biggest thing was we were playing some coverage where we had everyone back, everyone off into the coverages and when he saw that no one was under cover (Hundley) took off running," Pellum said Saturday. "In the second half we played more zones and changed up how we were rushing, so those lanes weren't there."



Though a healthy rotation along the line is nothing remarkable for the Ducks, developing enough players to keep one going was an offseason challenge.



The Ducks had plenty of bodies to choose from last spring, but determining whether any of them could make a difference was a question without an answer.



Though there still isn't consensus about how good a run-stopping line this will be, players like Daniel make Oregon's potential sunnier.



Daniel, converted to the line from tight end three months after Aiken arrived in 2013. He's added 21 pounds, to 270, and a whole lot of savvy to his new position since the switch.



"I think he's taken a giant step," Aiken said. "What he's learning to do now is play faster. When he first got there he hesitated, and you're not sure of anything. ... (Kamp) knows the defense a little more than T.J. does, been there a little bit longer, but T.J. is catching up."



-- Andrew Greif | @andrewgreif