The offensive line received a lot of criticism after their sub-par performance in Oregon’s 24-14 win over Idaho.
But the unit was missing a key cog in Matthew Bedford, the big 6-foot-6, 315-pound transfer from Indiana.
In Dan Lanning’s weekly Monday press conference, the Oregon head coach said he is optimistic that Bedford will be ready to play in the upcoming game with Boise State.
The same was said about wide receiver Gary Bryant, Jr., who also missed the season opener with the Vandals. Oregon ha trouble throwing the ball down the field as receivers besides Tez Johnson were unable to get consistently open for quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Having an extra weapon like Bryant is going to be needed against the Broncos.
If Bedford is able to return for Saturday’s game, it will be interesting to see how the offensive line shuffles around. In theory, Bedford would step in at RG, moving Iapani Laloulu back to C, and taking Charlie Pickard out of the rotation, but we will need to see how the team operates in practice this week before making any assumptions.
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