Anthony Brown "expected to be OK" after leaving Ducks' win with injury

Oregon starting quarterback Anthony Brown took a couple of big hits near the end of the first half of Oregon’s 48-7 win over Stony Brook Saturday.

When the second half began, the senior signal-caller did not emerge from the locker room with his Oregon teammates, and he did not play again for the rest of the game. Brown was not seen on the sideline during the second half, and there was no in-game announcement regarding his status.

For a team that is already so snake-bitten by injuries, losing Brown was a jarring turn of events. But according to Oregon coach Mario Cristobal, Brown should be good to go for next weekend’s Pac-12 opener against Arizona.

“He took a pretty good shot there at the end of the half,” Cristobal said. “We were just making sure he was okay.

“We expect him to be OK and he looks good so we expect him to be healthy for the week.”

Brown was 14-for-18 with 159 passing yards and a touchdown on the night. Cristobal said he “may have been available” for the second half, but went on to say that Oregon will not play guys who are injured.

Cristobal declined to comment further on Brown’s status, and he said he isn’t exactly sure which play Brown was injured on.

Thompson gets his shot

Ty Thompson came on to replace Brown in the second half and delivered a rock-solid college debut. The true freshman went 6-for-9 with 82 yards and two touchdowns. Those two scores both came on connections with true freshman; Thompson linked up with Dont’e Thronton for a 54-yard score, and then a 1-yard score with tight end Terrance Ferguson.

“I thought Ty was very cool. He didn’t flinch at all,” Cristobal said. “I’ve seen sometimes quarterbacks turn when you tap them on the shoulder and their eyes get big. That wasn’t the case with him at all.

“There was no flinching. He knows the offense — he is very composed and very confident.

“He did a really nice job.”

Once Oregon has built up a large enough lead, redshirt freshman Jay Butterfield came on to replace Thompson. Also playing in his first game for the Ducks, Butterfield went 2-for-3 passing for 22 yards.

The battle for Oregon’s backup quarterback spot was a close one throughout preseason camp. Thompson, Butterfield, and redshirt freshman Robby Ashford were all in the mix.

When asked what exactly Thompson did to win the backup job, Cristobal did not go into specifics. But he reiterated that all three of Oregon’s young quarterbacks have performed really well and made it difficult for he and his staff to pick one of them.

“It is a very close competition. When you are in the season, you have got to go with certain guys because there are only a certain amount of reps, and that’s what practice is,” Cristobal said. “You can’t divvy it up in a three or four-way pie, it just doesn’t work.

“So, it was really, really close. That is the best way to put it. I can’t say that anyone did anything poorly, all the guys did really, really well. It was very tight and Ty Thompson got the nod.”