Blount making a comeback

Oh really???

Oregon coach Chip Kelly will address LeGarrette Blount's status on Friday morning, the school said Thursday.

The suspended running back will have an opportunity to be reinstated to the program later this season, provided he continues to follow a plan set in place after the first game, a source told ESPN on Thursday.

Oregon showed on Saturday why I expected them to be a Pac-10 title contender, and with the way Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James are running the ball, adding Blount back into the mix would be icing on the cake. I know he had a rough night against Boise State, but don't forget that he rushed for 1,007 yards (at 7.3 per carry) and 17 touchdowns last year and was the subject of a lot of preseason drooling from yours truly.

Does he deserve a second chance? Well ... we'll have to leave that up to Chip Kelly, but I said at the time of his suspension that I had actually expected "four or five games." Blount apparently has done everything asked of him -- from working with the scout team to issuing a public apology through the Oregon student newspaper -- and according to ESPN's sources, his reinstatement wouldn't come until after the Ducks' bye on Oct. 17. If that's the case, Blount will have missed six games ... but he'll also be back just in time for a trip to Washington and a home game against (you guessed it) USC.

Here's hoping the kid has his head screwed on straight, because if the Ducks keep playing like this ...

1st Downs	15	26
Total Yards	207	524
Passing	130	288
Rushing	77	236
3rd Down Conversions	3-15	7-15
4th Down Conversions	0-2	2-2
Possession	27:09	32:51

... while USC continues to struggle on offense, getting Blount (the 2008 version) back in the lineup would make Oregon the clear-cut team to beat in the Pac-10.