Hands down, Alfred has one of toughest jobs

PULLMAN – Kenny Alfred has to adjust to change.

The Cougars’ starting center – he’s in his third year in the role – has had to get used to three sets of hands under center. Lest you think it’s easy, listen to Alfred.

“The shotgun is a little easier,” Alfred said earlier this week. “For some reason, it doesn’t really matter how tall the guy is, you just kind of monitor it and get it to the quarterback.

“But under center it can be the difference between snapping the ball into a brick wall and snapping it into a pillow. It’s an interesting difference.”

Alfred has had to deal with the difference three times, including last Saturday when he snapped to Marshall Lobbestael, someone he hadn’t practiced with much. There was a little fine-tuning needed.

“Little bit,” Alfred said. “But we made a little adjustment right when he came into the game and it worked out pretty well. Just a real quick on-the-fly kind of thing and we really didn’t have any problems with it at all.”

Looking for consistency

The offensive line will have to play better to protect Lobbestael. But the group is still in a state of flux.

Against Portland State, the Cougars started their fourth different offensive line in four games. Some of the change has been forced by injury – left guard Andrew Roxas suffered a knee sprain after week one, though he’ll probably return to the lineup Saturday – but most of the alterations are because of bad fits.

“We’ve moved a few around,” coach Paul Wulff said of the 10 offensive linemen who have played this season. “There are a couple, two-three kids, who are playing pretty consistent. And some kids who aren’t, right now. And it’s hurting our consistency as an offense.

“So we’re still trying to find some answers.”

This week Roxas and B.J. Guerra, a redshirt freshman who has yet to start, have shared the left guard spot. Vaughn Lesuma, who started two games at left tackle before moving inside against PSU, has been back at left tackle.

Still, Wulff isn’t sure whether even more changes are coming.

“If they’re blocking well, they won’t shuffle,” Wulff said. “If we’re not executing, we’ll shuffle.”

Quarterback mystery

The Ducks are also in quarterback flux right now, with starter Justin Roper out with a knee injury.

Jeremiah Masoli, a sophomore transfer from San Francisco CC, started against Boise State and completed 3 of 4 passes before leaving with an injury after a late hit.

Freshman Chris Harper relieved but didn’t throw a pass, although he ran nine times. Finally, on the last play of the third quarter, the redshirt was pulled off freshman Darron Thomas, who turned it loose.

Thomas passed 25 times, completing 13. He threw one interception along with three touchdowns, the longest of which was a 41-yard connection to Ed Dickson.

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti is playing it coy, but it looks like Masoli, who is OK, will start Saturday, with Thomas, who was involved in a traffic accident Wednesday night, his No. 1 backup.

“With their situation, I don’t think it really matters,” Wulff said about not knowing who would start.

Ducks can run

Oregon will bring a familiar offense into Martin Stadium on Saturday, the no-huddle, spread similar to the ones run by Oklahoma State and Baylor.

The Cougars’ defense stumbled against those, especially Baylor, giving up 426 yards rushing in that game, including 217 to quarterback Robert Griffin.

The Bears haven’t been as explosive as Oregon. The Ducks lead the Pac-10 in rushing (299.2 yards a game) and are fourth nationally, despite playing four different quarterbacks.

“Their strength, no matter what, is their running game,” Wulff said of the Ducks and their quarterback problems. “They have two phenomenal running backs (Jeremiah Johnson and LeGarrette Blount), so that’s an area where we obviously have to be very careful and do our best to control that.”

The Cougars are yielding 249.8 yards a game rushing, 10th in the conference and 117 – out of 119 – nationally.

Notes

Former Central Valley lineman C.E. Kaiser is a reserve offensive right tackle for the Ducks. … Wulff said defensive linemen Andy Mattingly and A’i Ahmu are healthier than they’ve been in weeks. That can’t be said of Kevin Kooyman, who is trying to recover from an ankle sprain suffered against Portland State. He’s day-to-day. Linebacker Cory Evans has not practiced all week and probably won’t play … Talking injuries, the Cougars have had 15 of the 24 starters penciled in at the beginning of fall camp miss time from injury or suspension. … The Cougars were pounded 53-7 last year in Eugene, but Wulff said he hadn’t heard any players talking about it or using it as motivation.