SEATTLE — During a summer of minor league baseball, Dennis Dixon learned a thing or two about failure. Lessons, the Oregon quarterback said, that would carry over to his senior season of football.
Through six games, however, Dixon and Oregon’s spread-option offense haven’t had to deal much with failure. The seventh-ranked Ducks rank first in the conference in scoring offense (45.2 points per game), rushing offense (266 yards per game), and total offense (532.5 yards per game). Their rushing total is also the fourth best in the nation.
Dixon, who spent his summer playing outfield in the Atlanta Braves organization after being drafted in the fifth round of June’s draft, has been equally impressive, completing 70 percent of his passes for 1,532 yards, 15 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He ranks first in the Pac-10 in passing efficiency and in total offense.
Dixon is hardly alone in putting up big numbers. Running back Jonathan Stewart is second in the Pac-10 with 114.8 rushing yards per game, and is averaging seven yards per carry. The Ducks also have a talented group of receivers led by junior Jaison Williams, but injuries to two starters have hurt their depth at that position.
“They are extremely explosive on offense, they have great skill at all of the positions, and it almost appears as if their quarterback is playing like he’s playing playground football, where he’s by himself out there and he’s just kind of running around and having fun and getting things done,” said Washington coach Tyrone Willingham.
Dixon provides a pass and run threat that the Huskies are hoping to get out of Jake Locker sometime soon. While his 324 rushing yards are less than Locker’s 459, both quarterbacks have six rushing touchdowns and are big-play threats anytime they run. The biggest difference between the two right now is in the passing game, where Locker has struggled with his consistency, completing 49.1 percent of his passes while throwing eight interceptions.
Dixon also started last season strong, but struggled late in the season as the Ducks lost their final four games. He finished with 14 interceptions, a number that he seems unlikely to match this season.
“He’s just much more confident and much more consistent,” said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti. “Give some credit to [first-year offensive coordinator] Chip Kelly for his development.”
Having not played baseball since high school, Dixon was still drafted in the fifth round, and decided to play during the summer until the start of fall camp. Dixon said he still found plenty of time for football, making sure to study film and throw every day. In 28 games in rookie ball and at the Class A level, Dixon hit just .176 in 74 at bats.
“It just shows what there is outside of football, and once you get back you just love it 10 times more than you did before,” he said. “Another thing I got out of it is that you can’t start with success, you’ve got to work your way up.”
As for his struggles at the plate, Dixon said those taught him lessons he can carry over to football.
“It just tells you that you can’t be great at everything for the first time,” he said. “You can go 0-for-3 in baseball, and I can relate that to football. You can go 0-for-3 in a series, or even throw an interception, it’s how you react afterwards.”
The thing is though, Dixon is rarely going 0-for-3 or throwing interceptions on the football field. Bellotti says a lot of Dixon’s success is due simply to more time in Oregon’s offense.
Bellotti introduced the spread to Oregon three years ago after seeing it work so well at other schools. Over time, it has made the Ducks one of the Pac-10’s best offenses.
“The genesis of this was about five years ago,” said Bellotti. “I watched Northwestern and Bowling Green do some things and turn around programs utilizing this offense. And I watched them against people in the Big Ten, I watched them play against Arizona State, and they moved the football very well. And then we saw what Urban Meyer did at Utah. We actually played Utah, they beat Cal, they beat us, and I said, ‘There’s something to that that is difficult for a defense to defend.’”
It took Bellotti a while from when he became enamored with the offense to actually implement it, however.
“I tried to get my offensive staff excited and interested and I couldn’t,” he said. “They were a little bit too grounded in what they had done, and we’d had success. And yet I think sometimes you have to understand that if you’re not changing and finding new ways to attack defenses, they’re finding ways to stop you. Finally I made the decision that we were going to do that three years ago and I think it has paid dividends for us.”
Washington has also implemented the spread-option offense, but the Huskies still use other offenses, while Oregon uses the spread almost exclusively. Washington offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said his team’s decision to embrace the spread offense was a simple one.
“When you’ve got a kid like Jake Locker, you’re crazy not to put the ball in his hands and let him do this stuff,” he said.
On Saturday, two spread offenses, one dominant and one hoping to be, and two athletic quarterbacks, one polished and one hoping to be, will try to put on a show at Husky Stadium. Dixon and the Ducks will try to stay on their offensive roll, while the Huskies hope to finally let him use a few of the lessons he learned in the offseason.
Contact Herald writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com/huskiesblog
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
