Oregon will be without starting center Jake Hanson when they face Utah on Saturday in Salt Lake City. It's not because Hanson, a three-year stater, is hurt or has been passed up on the depth chart, it's because Hanson was flagged for an offensive targeting call in the third quarter of Oregon's 42-21 win over UCLA on Saturday.

The penalty was the lone yellow flag dropped on the Ducks in the win, but boy was it a big one. Hanson was whistled for the infraction on a crucial block that sprung Jaylon Redd for a touchdown run on a reverse during the third quarter. The flag not only wiped six points from the scoreboard, but will also cost Hanson the first half of this weekend's game, as it transpired during the second half of the game.

Head coach Mario Cristobal said during Monday's press conference that there's not a lot he can do to prevent Hanson's penalty.

“You don’t see him leading with the crown of the helmet," he said. "You don’t see him trying to launch. He’s really trying to do it the right way. It just so happens that with the speed of the game sometimes it happens.

“He’s doing what he does. Minus the fact that it winds up being a targeting penalty, it was a great block on a really good design, but it unfortunately resulted in an ejection."

The Ducks are expected to utilize the same offensive line rotation this week these used following Hanson's ejection for the first 30 minutes in Salt Lake City. In that instant, they slid left tackle Calvin Throckmorton to center, and brought in true freshman Steven Jones to protect Justin Herbert's blindside. Jones is credited with playing 44 snaps on Saturday, 11 times what he'd done during the team's previous eight games.

“Steven Jones did a really nice job," Cristobal said of the 6-foot-7 and 375 pounder. "The first couple plays you could tell he was a little bit nervous. There’s no excuse to be nervous on your first play in front of 60,000 people.

“Once he settled in, he did what we felt he could do. He played with power and he’d played with poise and with balance. He created some room in the run game. He did a really nice job in protection. There’s a couple technical things we’d like to have back, but he played hard."

Jones was a high four-star recruit in the 2018 class. He is likely to become the second true freshman to start a game at left tackle this season. Penei Sewell started the team's first six games of the season before suffering an injury.

Cristobal did add that the Ducks continued to rotate and reshuffle the offensive line during Sunday's first practice in prep for Utah.

"It’s a bit like musical chairs for them in practice," he said. "We move these guys around a bunch. At some point in time, they’re going to have to perform in that situation. It was good to see them respond like they did and keep going."