By Rob Moseley

Editor, GoDucks.com

Venue: Moshofsky Center

Format: Full pads

Oregon's defense on Saturday will face a California offense that averages 41 pass attempts per game. That's sixth-highest in the country, but based on what the Ducks faced over the previous month, that shouldn't feel like a particularly heavy workload for the UO pass defense.

No team in the country defended more passes per game in October than the 50.5 the Ducks faced on average. Oregon shut down the run at Colorado, leading to 42 passes by the Buffaloes; faced 75 attempts by going to double overtime against the nation's most pass-heavy offense, Washington State; and saw another 53 in last week's triple-overtime victory at Arizona State.

All those pass attempts meant ample opportunity for Oregon to pressure the quarterback. The UO defensive front responded with 21 sacks in the four October games, an average of 5.25 per game that was highest in the country for the month (as a per-game average, not per pass attempt faced).

Oregon had just five sacks through four September games, and more than quadrupled that output in October despite only seeing about 25 percent more passing attempts.

“The production in that area has improved; unfortunately as a coach you're always looking for more, that's just our nature,” UO defensive coordinator Don Pellum said. “Are we happy with those plays? Yes, because those plays had an impact on the game. ... At the same time, there's more plays out there. What we're trying to do right now is keep the positives, and add some more.”

Perhaps not coincidentally, Oregon's huge jump in quarterback pressure followed Pellum's efforts to simplify the defensive schemes in the wake of the 42-point loss to Utah. At the time of the simplification, the most glaring issue was miscommunication in the secondary. But it's clear the defensive line has benefitted as well.

Neither Henry Mondeaux nor Alex Balducci had a sack in September, yet each was in on a sack in every October game.

“When we kind of changed our defense up to be more simple, it opened up a lot of things,” Mondeaux said. “And running more four-man rush has helped out a lot of us. Other guys have gotten sacks in the last few games, so that was a big thing.”

The Ducks had five sacks at ASU despite playing much of the game without their leading sack producer last season, outside linebacker Christian French. In his place, Eddie Heard got the most extensive meaningful action of his career at outside linebacker.

Heard is a junior college transfer who redshirted last season. He finished with one tackle at ASU, in about a dozen snaps.

“He did a nice job with his run fits,” Pellum said. “The one thing Eddie brings is, Eddie's 260 pounds. Versus the pulling guards, he was good because he's stout. He wasn't tested in some other areas, but we needed him, and he hadn't performed in that role so we didn't know quite what to expect, and he was spot-on.”

Other highlights: In the clutch drill to start practice, Vernon Adams Jr. twice moved the chains with completions to Dwayne Stanford before dropping an absolute dime to Devon Allen for a touchdown from about 30 yards out. Jeff Lockie moved the twos downfield with completions to Johnny Mundt and Taj Griffin, but the possession ended when Malik Lovette picked off a pass on a broken play due to miscommunication with a receiver. … Tyree Robinson, Ugo Amadi and Johnny Ragin III broke up passes in 1-on-1 drills in the end zone. Jalen Brown ran a sharp route to break free for a TD reception, and Bralon Addison caught a ball from Lockie right at the back of the end zone, a la last week at ASU. …

When the travel squad went head-to-head, the offense had the two biggest highlights with a long catch-and-run by Alex Ofodile, of a pass from Taylor Alie, and a long run by Royce Freeman on the very next play. … During the defensive red-zone period against scouts, Robinson broke up a pass intended for Ofodile, and Arrion Springs broke up another ball. That said, the scouts were able to convert more chances than usual, with the combination of Morgan Mahalak and Jeff Bieber connecting for three or four touchdowns. … In the offense's red-zone period, Adams threw no less than four touchdown passes to four different receivers, and Kani Benoit ran for a couple scores.

Other observations: During the clutch drill, Freeman broke free for a long run but running backs coach Gary Campbell – who officiates those scenarios – blew the play dead just past the line of scrimmage. Scott Frost chirped at him, “That's a bad call, ref!” … About a half-dozen NFL scouts were on hand, and most took a keen interest in the defensive linemen during position drills.