ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller

In some ways lost amid the hype over No. 5 USC's visit to No. 10 Oregon is the status of LeGarrette Blount.

Recall that when Ducks coach Chip Kelly announced that he had reduced Blount's season-long suspension, he said the earliest Blount could return was the Nov. 7 game vs. Stanford.

That's the next game.

Kelly refused to even entertain the subject this week. He's got other things on his mind. But the Eugene Register-Guard talked to athletic director Mike Bellotti and filed this report.

The gist: Bellotti expects to hear something from Kelly by Sunday or Monday, at which point other ears at Oregon will listen, including school president Richard Lariviere. And then a plan will be forwarded to the Pac-10 office and commissioner Larry Scott.

This is interesting from the story:

Bellotti said that he believes Scott will be at the Oregon-USC game Saturday and that “there will probably be some meetings that take place.”

At which point, Blount could return to practice and play against Stanford for the first time since he punched a Boise State player. He will have served a seven-game suspension.

Blount, who rushed for 1,002 yards and 17 touchdowns last year, has been working with the scout team in practices. This week, he's been imitating a fellow 230-pound back with good speed, USC's Allen Bradford.

It will be interesting to see, assuming Blount is reinstated, how he will be worked into the lineup. It's likely he will come off the bench behind redshirt freshman LaMichael James as a power-back counterpunch over the final four regular-season games. James is presently 17th in the nation with an average of 105 yards rushing per game.