It's Darron Thomas time for the No. 11 Ducks

NCAA Football Betting Lines

09/03/2010 -

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -Darron Thomas seems to have it easy, making his debut as Oregon's starting quarterback at home and with the No. 11 Ducks heavily favored.

But it's quite the contrary.

When Thomas takes the field on Saturday against New Mexico, all eyes will be on whether the sophomore can lift Oregon out of the Jeremiah Masoli debacle and whether coach Chip Kelly did right in choosing him to start over senior Nate Costa.

Thomas' response? Bring it on.

``It's a good thing, because now you're in the spotlight,'' he said. ``I'm happy for it. It's good not to be in the back. I'm prepared for it and ready to go.''

Thomas played in five games as a true freshman in 2008, completing 16 of 33 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns. Called upon when Oregon was hit by a slew of injuries, Thomas came close to leading the Ducks on a come-from-behind victory against Boise State that season.

Thomas then redshirted the 2009 season.

Masoli led Oregon to a 10-3 record, the Pac-10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth last season. He was a possible Heisman Trophy candidate before his dramatic fall from grace.

Masoli was accused in the theft of a pair of laptops and a guitar from a campus fraternity house in January. He was suspended for this season after pleading guilty to a burglary charge, but was later stopped by police for a traffic violation and marijuana was found in the car.

As a result, Kelly kicked him off the team.

Masoli appealed to the NCAA to play as a walk-on this season at Mississippi, but he was turned down. The loss left Oregon without a clear starter. Thomas competed for the job against Costa throughout fall camp, before edging him in a scrimmage last week. While Costa is more of a traditional passer, Thomas is more of a threat on the ground, more in the mold of Dennis Dixon.

Adding to the pressure on Saturday will be the absence of running back LaMichael James, who is serving a one-game suspension after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge stemming from an altercation with an ex-girlfriend.

Last season James rushed for a team-high 1,546 yards, setting a new record for freshmen in the Pac-10. He averaged 6.7 yards and added 14 TDs to earn the league's freshman of the year.

Fellow sophomore Kenjon Barner will start in James' place on Saturday. Also a return specialist, Barner had 1,553 all-purpose yards last season.

By all accounts, Barner had a productive fall camp. Oregon coach Chip Kelly says he is ``just scratching the surface of what he can be.''

But even with the few uncertainties - new QB, no star running back - Oregon remains a force, selected to repeat as Pac-10 champions this season.

``It's back in business and we're ready to go for New Mexico,'' Thomas said. ``I'm ready for it to be an exciting day on Saturday.''

In contrast, the Lobos aren't feeling a whole lot of pressure. New Mexico went 1-11 last season as the team dealt with its own off-field troubles, including then-first year coach Mike Locksley's altercation with a former assistant.

Now, like Oregon, the Lobos are eager to move forward.

``When you play a team like Oregon and they're ranked No. 11 in the country, there's really no pressure on us,'' Locksley said. ``I think it's going to be to our benefit to go up there, play loose, have fun, take some opportunities and take advantage of some opportunities against a real good team.''

New Mexico, which has a spread offense similar to Oregon's, will start sophomore B.R. Holbrook at quarterback. He leads a group dominated by fellow sophomores, who lack experience but will likely gain it considerably on Saturday. The Lobos have a 4-3 defense led by Carmen Messina, who led the nation with 162 tackles last season.

New Mexico is 7-43 against ranked opponents. But the last time they played a Pac-10 opponent, they beat Arizona 36-28 in 2008.

``As I told our team, we realize the challenge the reigning Pac-10 champions present us, but we also know that we have to make them beat us,'' Locksley said. ``We need to do the things that we've talked about since January to ensure that we make a Pac-10 champion team like Oregon beat us and not help them.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

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