Who gets the start boys

[Tray Dub]

I honestly think this is another team's fan trying to start a QB controversy. This is the guy's first post and his name is 'costa4heisman'? Nice try (but not really).

[northbeachsf]

Ridiculous question, I agree. One poster stated that this is Masoli's job to lose and that he is going to have to lose it by playing poorly during a game or games. I totally agree with this. You never yank a guy who lead you to 10 wins the season before, no matter how bad he plays and how good his backup plays in practice. This is why Masoli should and will start against BSU. However, I think the real question is:

"Is Masoli going to retain the starting position for the entire year, assuming he stays healthy?"

Masoli has two issues in my opinion that could cost him the starting job at some point this season. He will need to fix these issues if he wants to hold the starting job for the entire season:
1) He was very inconsistent last season. He did improve dramatically from the first half of the season to the last few games, but still had problems with consistentcy. You could argue that the only 'complete' game that Masoli put together last season was Civil War. Everyone is quick to point out that Masoli was the man in the Holiday Bowl (he was Superman in the second half of that game); however, if you have not watched the first half of the Holiday Bowl in a while, go back and watch it again. He was horrible in the first half of that game.
2) Masoli needs to be able to control his velocity and touch on the ball. It seemed to improve the last few games of the season and I think this is the reason for the big improvement that we saw. However, he still occasionally gets excited (see first half of the bowl game) and fires a 5 yard screen pass with the same veloicty as a 30 yard post.

Which brings up the next question:
"So what are the chances that Costa will overtake Masoli at some point during the season?"

I actually believe that Costa is going to get his chance to start some games and play some significant minutes this season for a few reasons. Based on what I have read, Masoli is still struggling with consistency during fall camp. He was 5-18 during the most recent open scrimmage. Those type of numbers are not going to be good enough for him to keep the starting job. Remember Costa was the clear cut starter last year before the injury and his play in practice has been stellar. While the stellar play by Costa during fall camp is not going to bump Masoli from starting the BSU game, it will make the decision much easier to pull Masoli if he is inconsistent during the first few games. I expect that Oregon's offense is going to struggle with a rebuilt offense line, especially during the first month of the season, as it will take them some time to gel. That is going to put even more pressure on Masoli to make plays. Combine that with a brutal September schedule and I see Oregon going 2-2 and losing the 4th game of the season against Cal with Masoli struggling (partly because of offensive line play).

My prediction is that Costa is going to get his shot against WSU. Before you rip me, keep in mind that this is just my prediction of what is GOING to happen, not what I THINK should happen. I hope that Masoli puts it all together in the next few weeks and the issue of changing QBs during the season is never an issue, but I think that there is probably a slim chance of that happening.

Oregon 8-4 this season.

[wheaton4prez]

I think chances are quite good that Costa will see the field this year. That could be due to injury (hopefully an insignificant one they are being cautious with or something) or I could see him out there just to give different looks or gadget plays.

[stewbertwilloughby]

The only chance Costa see's the field is if we're blowing out the other team or god forbid, a significant injury. If Masoli just falls on his face for a few games, we might see Costa, but I don't see Masoli doing poor enough to get benched. But to say there is "a good chance" that Costa will play isn't very realistic when we have an established starting QB.

[dthomas=ddixon]

Dumbest. Thread. Ever.

Masoli leads this team to a ten win season last year while Costa can't make it a month without tearing his ACL....and you some of you fools want Costa to be the starter....HAHAHAHA.

[UOducksTK1]

Masoli earned the starting role and is easily our starting QB. But if Masoli struggles, I'd like to see Costa get in to see what he can do.

[GoDucksIn09]

I agree this thread is totally ridiculous. Yes Masoli has been incosistent at times. He has showed a lot of improvement and leadership this summer going into the fall. He is defnitely the starter without a doubt. This Masoli is a gamer. I remember him being booed last year at a point when he was struggling and what did he do.. he led his team to victory. He didnt go into a shell.. he didnt lose his composure he didnt faulter.. no he played through it and led the ducks to a Victory.. not only in that game against Stanford.. but also against Arizona.. Oregon State and Oklahoma State and made a believer out of me. If we bench him after his composure and gaemanship we are the fools. I do not know if he will win every game.. but I am sticking by him.

Costa is a great player and think he will have oppurtunities hopefully not because of injury. I have no doubt he is a good player and could lead the Ducks to victory.. but Masoli is our qb plain and simple. Win or lose.. I am behind him.

[woundedknees]

My only real concern with Masoli is that he is so determined to whip BSU, he could get over-hyped for that game and lose concentration.

Costa should get reasonable playing time. IMO, the D will play well enough to balance the offense and eliminate some of the question marks concerning the ability of this team to put opponents away, and not only protect a lead, but build on it late in the game.

[duckgrad99]

At least this season, I take comfort in knowing that the ducks have a viable option if their #1 qb should go down.

[VinnyKnuckles]

He was 5-18 during the most recent open scrimmage. Those type of numbers are not going to be good enough for him to keep the starting job.

He was 5-13, not 5-18.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but it is an exercise in futility to over analyze scrimmage statistics and try to determine which player is better simply by looking at numbers. For a whole variety of reasons that the casual observer may not be aware of, they can be very misleading.

If it makes people feel any better, Oregon State's starting quarterback was 6-14 with 1 interception in their scrimmage. Prior to the scrimmage, Riley said that Canfield was having the most accurate camp by a QB ever. The Beavers' backup QB (soon to be 3rd string when Moevao returns) had better numbers, going against the 2nd string defense. Lots of similarities there.

[wheaton4prez]

The only chance Costa see's the field is if we're blowing out the other team or god forbid, a significant injury. If Masoli just falls on his face for a few games, we might see Costa, but I don't see Masoli doing poor enough to get benched. But to say there is "a good chance" that Costa will play isn't very realistic when we have an established starting QB.

Masoli was pretty well established when they put Thomas in here and there.

[HugeInTheEug]

this poll is fraudulent.

It should be Costa vs. Thomas

[stewbertwilloughby]

The only chance Costa see's the field is if we're blowing out the other team or god forbid, a significant injury. If Masoli just falls on his face for a few games, we might see Costa, but I don't see Masoli doing poor enough to get benched. But to say there is "a good chance" that Costa will play isn't very realistic when we have an established starting QB.

Masoli was pretty well established when they put Thomas in here and there.

Thomas went into the BSU game as a last resort when Masoli went down. He went into the Washingtion State game when we were up by 40 to get him experience. The only other time he saw the field was the one (awesome) play in the Civil War. I'm not saying Kelly and Helfrich won't try some trickery putting Costa in, but it won't happen every game.

[RuhlandAsherBestEver]

We have the luxury of having two very good Qb's. My friend who recently played for the
Ducks has said over and over that Costa is the real deal and a true leader. He has stated
that if not for the injuries there would be no question it would be Costa. With that being said
you have to start masoli based on what he did for us last year. I just hope the team doesn't
split over who they want to follow.

[dd10snoop28]

Just gonna point out some facts here.

Costa has been outplaying Masoli in camp, if this is open competition then why wouldn't Costa get the start?
Masoli was 7-3 as a starter last year, and barely gave us wins over Stanford/Arizona/UCLA.


Masoli should still start no question about it, but people seem to think that it's Masoli and nothing else.
Masoli had a couple some good games and some real bad games, IMO the Heisman talk is pretty ridiculous.