SAN ANTONIO -- All-American TCU wide receiver Josh Doctson won't have enough time to recover from wrist surgery to participate in the Jan. 2 Alamo Bowl, news that should be considered a holiday gift for a porous Oregon Ducks defense.



Doctson was a former walk-on who in his senior season became a consensus All-American after leading the nation with 132.7 yards per game to go with 14 touchdowns and 79 receptions, all of which are TCU single-season records.

TCU coach Gary Patterson said disappointment was the wrong way to look at Doctson's absence.

"Oh, no," Patterson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "If you become disappointed, then you're not trusting the rest of your group."

Doctson suffered a wrist injury Nov. 7 at Oklahoma State and has undergone two procedures since but won't be ready in time to face a Ducks defense that ranks 95th against the pass.



"It kind of eases up the pressure on the secondary and the whole defense in general," senior defensive end DeForest Buckner said. "It's kind of a benefit for us and we just have to take advantage of something like that."



Regardless of the final score Oregon will set a new school record for points allowed after the Alamo Bowl, breaking the 1977 squad's mark of 33.4 points per game. UO ranks 113th in that regard and 100th or lower in seven defensive categories overall, though a bright spot has been its pressure with 3.0 sacks per game, which ranks 10th.



"After the Arizona State game (we) made some true progress and through the first half of the Oregon State game we were playing a lot better and then the second half of the Oregon State game kind of shut it down," UO coach Mark Helfrich said. "That's first and foremost on me but then on everybody else kind of realizing that can't happen. That can't happen from the opening kick in a game like this, that can't happen in a rep of a practice or meeting or any session when you prepare for a team like this.



"It goes back to the fundamentals of tackling, of identifying things, communicating and executing."



Yet the Ducks aren't getting off easy due to Doctson's absence.



Quarterback Trevone Boykin will be completely healthy after he'd suffered an ankle injury in November and still has several fast receivers he can target. With 612 rushing yards and 3,575 passing yards this season Boykin averages 380.6 yards per game and finished tied for ninth in Heisman Trophy voting, falling out of the main contenders due to his injury. He has passed for 31 touchdowns against 10 interceptions.



"There's not really anybody like him in the Pac-12 this year," Helfrich said. "He's not a huge guy in stature as a passer and what they do but then he can really throw it and really run. ... He runs a little bit more powerfully than people, maybe than you go into with those preconceived notions. But he's an elite passer, an elite runner and they have a great system."



No news yet on who will call plays



Two weeks after indicating either he or wide receivers coach Matt Lubick would call Oregon's offensive plays in the bow lgame, Helfrich did not say who it will be Saturday.



"We'll talk about that in the next couple days," he said. "It's gone really well. Our game plan is in and there's at this point, like we talked about last week, you have to fight the urge to add. Coaches say, 'what if this happens or what if that happens' or if there's this great idea in the 11th hour. You have to go with what your guys do well and do it with confidence."



Oregon has been without an offensive coordinator since Scott Frost departed Nov. 29 to become Central Florida's head coach. Lubick has been moved into a quasi-coordinator role in the interim and has become more involved in creating an overall game plan, though both he and Helfrich stressed it's already a collaborative process between all offensive coaches.



Lubick joined Helfrich's first staff in 2013.



Ducks are glad to be here



A year ago, the Ducks visited Texas with a national championship on the line.



This year, the highest the stakes go is extending its streak of 10-win seasons to eight.



No one would admit to any dimmed enthusiasm, however, for the matchup with No. 11 TCU (10-2), which finished third in the Big 12 Conference.



"We're going to do the best with what we've got," said sophomore running back Royce Freeman, who is 99 yards from tying Oregon's single-season rushing record of 1,805 yards set by LaMike James in 2011. "A lot of the guys still want to play and go out strong and we want to put out the seniors strong and whoever else is leaving. So we're not thinking about the stakes of the game; we're just thinking about it as another game we have to handle business."



Buckner is one of those seniors playing his final game. The Pac-12 Conference's defensive player of the year reiterated the opinion of several from both the Ducks' and Horned Frogs' sides since the matchup was announced in early December.



"A lot of people had this game as a semifinal game in the playoffs earlier on in the season," Buckner said. "Being able to finish off the year against a team like TCU is going to be a really fun one."



-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif