Oregon OC Joe Moorhead involved in game-planning vs Cal, status for Friday unknown
The No. 9 ranked Oregon Ducks offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is back in Eugene after a medical emergency last weekend and is now helping the Ducks game-plan for California this Friday. Will he be available to coach in the game?
Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal confirmed that Moorhead is involved with the offensive game-planning, but his status for coaching in the actual game on Friday isn’t known just yet. Moorhead reportedly underwent surgery in the Bay Area and later returned to Eugene days after the team returned. A report by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman on Sunday said he would be coaching.
“He’s trying to. I know he’s healing up,” said Cristobal. “Certainly first and foremost we want to be healthy, to be well, he’s progressing. He’s certainly involved with what we have planned just like last week, the game plan doesn’t change. We have an offense, we’re not going to scrap it by the middle of the year. He is healing up, day by day, we’ll see where we are mid-week, but he’s certainly involved in the game-planning of it.”
The school confirmed he was not coaching in the game due to a non-COVID illness. The exact nature of the illness has not yet been disclosed.
Moorhead is in his second season as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator. He was previously the head coach at Mississippi State from 2018-2019 and, before that, was the offensive coordinator at Penn State from 2016-2017.
Moorhead replaced Marcus Arroyo, who left for UNLV after the 2019 season. In addition to past stops at Mississippi State and Penn State, he was also the offensive coordinator at Connecticut (2009-11) and Akron (2006-08) in his years before coming to Oregon.
Friday night will be Oregon’s first game since dropping a 31-24 road loss in overtime at Stanford. Cal is riding a two-game losing streak and is currently 1-4 on the season. Their only win came against FCS foe Sacramento State in week three of the season. They most recently played at home two weeks ago against Washington STate and lost 21-6.
The Golden Bears are one of the worst Power 5 teams in the country this season, and they rank near the bottom of the Pac-12 in scoring offense, scoring defense, and total defense.
Oregon has been ranked inside the Top 10 of the Coaches Poll for five out of the six weeks. The Associated Press Top 25 poll will be released later Sunday afternoon and the Oregon Ducks are expected to remain inside the Top 10 as well.
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