It’s hard to imagine a more costly win that the 51-27 victory No. 4 Oregon quote-unquote enjoyed at No. 17 Utah on Saturday night. The Ducks lost cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, center Hroniss Grasu and tight end Pharaoh Brown to injury over the course of the evening.
And now we’ve learned that Brown has been lost for the year.Helfrich said Brown is out for the season. Long-term prognosis will be clearer as his injury is addressed by doctors in the coming days.
— Rob Moseley (@DuckFootball) November 10, 2014
Head coach Mark Helfrich revealed that Brown remains in a Salt Lake City hospital as of Sunday night, and will stay that way through the week.
Helfrich’s mood discussing Pharaoh Brown’s injury is the lowest I’ve ever seen him discussing anything. Very, very somber.
— Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) November 10, 2014
Sadly, the injury was one of those one-in-a-million shots that leave you replaying all the things that had to go exactly wrong for it to happen. In the words of CSNNW.com:
The way the injury occurred was a total fluke. Brown fired out up field when his left foot landed on the right foot of tight end Evan Baylis, lined up inside to Brown’s left.
Brown stumbled a bit after stepping on Baylis’ foot and then extended his right leg to regain his balance. But he planted the right foot awkwardly, resulting in his weight moving forward and over the leg, causing it to buckle at the knee.
Brown caught 25 passes for 420 yards and six touchdowns this season.
Oregon, who clinched its first Pac-12 North championship since 2011 with the win, coasts to the end of the regular season with a home date against Colorado and a road date at Oregon State before a presumptive date with AP No. 7 Arizona State for the conference championship in what would be a de facto College Football Playoff quarterfinal game.