Were it not for all the other wackiness in College Football this season, the collapses of California and Oregon Football would be among this year's major story lines. As both teams were poised to take over the number-one ranking in the country, their quarterbacks suffered injuries which sent their seasons on a downward spiral.Oregon infamously refused to disclose the status of Dennis Dixon's knee during the bye week between games against Arizona State and Arizona, only to have their national championship hopes dislocated against the Wildcats.
But hiding a quarterback injury wasn't exclusive to the Ducks. California quarterback Nate Longshore played the nearly the whole season with a chipped bone in his ankle--hobbling him ever since the Bears beat the Ducks. Bears coach Jeff Tedford admitted yesterday, "There's a little chip in the back part of it there. I didn't get that it was a broken ankle. But Nate had talked to me about a little chip that was in the back there."
Since Longshore's injury, Cal won only one game out of seven.
But quarterback injuries have defined the Pac Ten season in 2007. Karl Dorrell most likely lost his job because his two quarterbacks--Ben Olson and Pat Cowan--were injured for most of the season, and John David Booty's broken middle finger led him to throw four interceptions in the second half against Stanford, costing the Trojans a bid in the BCS title game.
Perhaps the secret to Arizona State's miraculous turnaround in 2007 was that Rudy Carpenter stayed healthy all year.
