Now at 4-0 Mark Helfrich and the Oregon Ducks head into the heart of the season with two road matchups upcoming at Colorado and 16th-ranked Washington. Additionally, this week’s trip to Boulder will be Helfrich’s first as a head coach in a familiar setting. From 2006 until 2008 Helfrich was the offensive coordinator for the Buffaloes before joining Chip Kelly’s staff.
“Colorado’s a unique place. I still have a lot of friends there,” Helfrich said after practice early Monday morning. Reflecting back, Helfrich remembers a game in which Colorado upset the then third-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in 2007 as one of his fondest football memories during his time there.
“It’s a great place to play, a lot of passion from the student body.”
At 2-1, Colorado is in the beginning of a rebuilding process with newly-acquired Head Coach Mike MacIntyre and the program has displayed clear improvements through three games. MacIntyre landed the job at Boulder last December after leading San Jose State from a one-win season in 2010 to a 10-win season in 2012. Now MacIntyre finds himself with the same challenge after the Buffaloes finished 2012 with a 1-11 record.
As the Ducks go about preparing this week, the number one question will be involving the health of De’Anthony Thomas. However, both Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner showed on Saturday that the offense can continue rolling without him. The two combined for 224 yards rushing on 32 carries and found the end zone three times. Tyner saw an increase in workload with Thomas out and executed efficiently, rushing for 92 yards on 13 carries. Amidst all the preseason hype circulating him, the true-freshman running back continues to grow as a complete player and showed the type of future that could be in store on Saturday.
“He’s still one of those guys that gets a little bit faster, get’s a little bit more confident,” Helfrich said. “When he feels good about it he can roll. Putting that all together into the context of being a complete back — his future is unlimited.”
As familiar a place Colorado is to Helfrich, for the rest of the personnel, playing at an elevation of 5,360 feet at Folsom Field presents an unrecognized obstacle. That being said, Helfrich believes it should not have any large influence on the players.
“It is what it is. Coach Helfrich says it shouldn’t affect us so I’m going to take his word for it,” Marcus Mariota added.