‘Other’ QB in BCS finale gladly flies under radar
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.
I suppose this is what it felt like to be a great actor in the 1930s not named Spencer Tracy. Or how it feels to be a track star running the same events as Usain Bolt. Or to land your first professional singing gig down the street from where Andrea Bocelli is holding a concert.
They made a movie recently about the other guys.
Darron Thomas is one in this Bowl Championship Series title game. He’s the other quarterback.
Oregon football isn’t here without Thomas emerging this season. Probably doesn’t get close. It doesn’t run with the same frantic pace, get lined up in the same rapid manner, score points at the same breakneck mark, sprint to this championship in such a dominating manner.
It also won’t beat Auburn at University of Phoenix Stadium on Monday night if Thomas doesn’t play well.
He’s that important.
He’s just not the guy here.
"The other guy won the Heisman Trophy," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "So I would consider (Thomas) the other quarterback, too. Cam Newton is the best college football player in the country. Darron understands his role here. He knows who we are playing against on the other side.
"But you can’t be a riverboat gambler (on offense) if you’re coaching the Little Giants. … When we recruited Darron, his athleticism jumped out. We want an athletic quarterback. We want a quarterback who can run, not a running back who can throw."
Imagine being a school principal trying to assemble countless students shortly after the fire alarm sounds, to maintain composure and still lead in such a frenzied environment. Imagine doing it 80 or so times over 60 minutes and not being the vocal type.
Thomas doesn’t have a future as a filibusterer but has discovered enough ways to communicate that allow Oregon to play football as others race cars. You don’t average nearly 50 points and 538 yards if your quarterback is a mute.
Someone has to get those linemen in place, the nation’s best running back (LaMichael James) the ball, a deep group of receivers enough catches. Someone has to control the chaos.
Thomas — born and raised in Texas — has done all that and still accounted for 33 touchdowns on a team that prefers to run a play every 13 seconds.
He is just a sophomore with 17 games of Division I experience, a former Louisiana State commit who was pulled out of a redshirt season in the fourth game of the 2008 season. Thomas immediately threw for three touchdowns in nearly rallying Oregon from 24 points down against Boise State.
"He came out after throwing the first one, and I asked him what the coverage was," Kelly said. "He said, ‘Coach, I have no idea.’ He didn’t know what he didn’t know. He was just out there winging it.
"But people forget, he has been with us three years. He didn’t just arrive. But to watch him get better and better is a credit to his hard work."
Thomas owns the opportunity to lead Oregon into a national championship game because a friend lost his, because Jeremiah Masoli was dismissed from the program after off-field incidents involving burglary and marijuana possession. Masoli went from a Heisman Trophy candidate in Eugene to gone. Thomas went from a projected backup who sat out the 2009 season to directing one of the great offenses in college history.
Funny, they released a nine-page summary of quotes from Thomas here this week, and within them he didn’t say much of anything. He talked about tempo a lot, about pace, about knowing when opposing defensive players begin to look as if they just completed the Ironman triathlon wearing a parka and cowboy boots, about that being the signal to play even faster and bury people.
Thomas mentioned some of the plays Auburn defensive star Nick Fairley makes are dirty, but it was a statement mixed with several compliments and far too magnified nationally given its delivery and context. Of the nine pages, it took up two sentences. Really. It was nothing.
Mostly, Darron Thomas has been exactly what you would expect from the other guy, the other quarterback, in such an enormous game featuring such a hyped player as Newton.
Pretty ordinary.
Fortunately for Oregon, its quarterback is anything but when on the field.
"Not really worried about being the other guy," Thomas said. "It lets me fly under the radar all week and stay mentally prepared.
"It is what I have done all year. It’s the way I like it. I’m just keeping my eye on the prize and not thinking about anything else."
Auburn beware.
The other guy is pretty good, too.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM.
