With Justin Herbert, Tyler Shough and Cale Millen in different stages of development, the Oregon quarterback situation is the most solid it's been in years.

The impressive thing about Shough's performance was how comfortable and in command he looked. He's creative, resourceful and has great pocket sense, sliding up to evade pressure, spinning out of the pocket to gain time, slinging a ball sidearm to get it to a receiver in a crowd.

This is no overwhelmed redshirt freshman. There are some knowledgeable observers, even among the coaches,, who will say Tyler Shough will have a better career at Oregon than Justin Herbert.

That's a bold statement, but what gives it credence is the confidence the 6-5, 210 gunslinger from Chandler, Arizona plays with. Like Herbert he's intelligent, yet he may have an even more advanced understanding of the game at this stage. He's been playing the position longer and specialized it in high school, whereas Justin missed his junior year at Sheldon with a broken leg, also losing five games of his sophomore year at Oregon when he broke his collarbone.

Mario Cristobal noted at his post scrimmage press conference, “Tyler certainly improved. He has so much pride in his work and he’s got a guy like Justin that’s always there to teach him. I think also a credit to coach Arroyo working with him and bring him along in the system. But he went out there today and did some really nice things..."

If Herbert did go down at any point in the season, whether a play, a series, a half or a game, it wouldn't be great, but you feel like Shough would have a decent chance of running the full offense. He'd throw the football, relyng on his considerable ability while trusting his teammates. On Saturday he completed passes to 8 different receivers for 178 yards, connecting with Mycah Pittman 7 times in 10 targets.

In previous years, the utter futility of the backups would make fans want to throw a margarita glass at the TV. The Ducks were one dimensional and completely outmanned anytime a backup QB came off the bench.Remember Jeff Lockie in the Alamo Bowl or Braxton Burmeister versus UCLA? It won't be that way with this one.

He's a strong candidate to start next year and continue the rise of the program.

Millen didn't go on Saturday; he's a bit banged up and doesn't have full mobility. But coming in early and participating in 15 practices prior to his freshman year he's shown enough progress to show that he's smart, accurate and capable, much like his older quarterback brothers.

After the game Mario Cristobal told reporters how pleased he was with the development of all three of them. "“Cale was banged up earlier in the spring and certainly didn’t get the amount of reps we would’ve liked for him to get but we feel very confident in him as well as a guy that’s going to enter fall camp as a guy that’s going to compete for that backup spot as well."