Oregon QB Darron Thomas, Ducks' hurry-up offense could give Auburn Tigers fits in BCS title game

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Oregon's Darron Thomas has no problem being the other quarterback in Monday night's BCS Championship Game.

Let Heisman winner Cam Newton hog the spotlight and shoulder all the pressure, he says.

"I've just got to come out and do my thing," the 6-3, 212-pound redshirt sophomore said. "I gotta show by example. I'm not going to talk about it. ... I'm happy to be overlooked, because he's got a lot of pressure on him. There's a lot of talk about him; he's the Heisman Trophy winner. This way I can climb under the radar and focus on the game."

Thomas has stepped in for Jeremiah Masoli, who started in last year's Rose Bowl but was booted off the team last spring. He's been an upgrade, directing Chip Kelly's complex spread offense. Thomas has thrown for 2,518 yards and 28 touchdown passes and rushed for an additional 485 with five touchdowns. The Duck offense is averaging 43.3 points and 537.5 yards a game and has scored 31 of its 75 touchdowns on drives of five plays or less.

The Ducks pride themselves on their helter skelter approach - running an offensive play every 13 seconds and watching opposing defenses wilt in the second half.

"We see guys getting gassed," Thomas said. "That's working with our tempo and things like that. That's what we want to come out and do. It happens a lot in the second half because we wear teams down. When it happens, we start to get more amped and go faster."

Auburn is favored by three points, but Oregon's hurry-up offense will be the biggest factor for the top-ranked Tigers (13-0) to overcome as they attempt to become the fifth consecutive SEC team to win a national championship. Auburn's massive 6-5, 298-pound defensive tackle Nick Fairley has been quick to dismiss the speed factor, saying he goes against Oregon's fast-paced offense every day in practice. But it is unrealistic to think the Tigers can simulate what the Ducks do under game conditions.

"We won't know the true speed of everything until we actually get out there and see how fast the ball is spotted," Auburn coach Gene Chizik admitted. "We're anticipating it being very quick obviously from the things we've heard. But we're prepared for that. We're preparing to make substitutions. We've thought through everything extremely thoroughly."

There is also the issue of falling behind early. Auburn has been forced to come back from deficits eight times already this year. Against Oregon, falling into a hole early could be fatal.

"We just feel like nobody can stop us but ourselves," Thomas said.

Thomas nearly took his considerable talents to the SEC. The former Aldine High star from Houston looked like he was headed to LSU. He had relatives in the state, had attended LSU's summer camp for two years and his mother, Latina, wanted him to play there.

Thomas verbally committed to Les Miles as a quarterback but became concerned when the LSU coach continued to recruit other prospects at the position. Then he saw his position on the recruiting websites change from quarterback to athlete.

When Thomas and his high school coach Bob Jones visited Baton Rouge to watch LSU beat Arkansas 50-48 in triple overtime in November 2007, Jones offered Miles some friendly advice, telling him not to refer to Thomas as "an athlete."

But that was one of the first things Miles did, blowing up his chances in the process.

"I didn't want to go to LSU anymore," Thomas said.

Oregon was a different story. Kelly saw Thomas as a natural playmaker at his natural position. Thomas took steps to enroll early so he could participate in spring drills.

Thomas took night classes during the fall of his senior year, rushing from practice to a local Target where he took a job rounding up shopping carts and cleaning bathrooms before taking extra courses so he could graduate in December and get to Eugene.

He has been in a hurry ever since.

"This is the biggest game of our lives," Thomas said. "Nobody on our team has been in a game like this. Coach (Kelly) tells us every day that this is a lifetime opportunity."