Monday’s inaugural College Football Playoff championship game will have one less future star on the field, as Oregon Ducks coach Mark Helfrich confirmed wide receiver Darren Carrington will not play. Multiple sources have reported that Carrington, Oregon’s second-leading receiver this season, failed an NCAA-mandated drug test, but Helfrich would not confirm that.  “[I can] confirm it is an NCAA policy in play, and it is in effect for this game, and that’s all we are going to talk about it,” Helfrich said Saturday morning (via ESPN).  Comcast SportsNet first broke the news on Friday, reporting Carrington did not travel with the team to Arlington, Tex., where it will face Ohio State on Monday, because he tested positive for marijuana.  Oregon reportedly appealed the decision, a source close to the team told Fox Sports, but the NCAA denied it.  Whatever the circumstances, the team is now having to face Ohio State with one less clutch player, a loss that has Heisman winning quarterback Marcus Mariota a little worried.  “It’s tough. [Carrington] is a big playmaker for us,” Mariota said (via ESPN), adding, “Next guy up.”  As for who that next guy will be, the choices are a lot slimmer than they were at the beginning of the season. Along with Carrington, redshirt freshman superstar Devon Allen, arguably the team’s best receiver, is out with a leg injury he sustained while playing in the Rose Bowl against Florida State on New Year’s Day. And junior wide receiver Bralon Addison, who’s been out all season, is of course also not an option.  That leaves the Ducks with junior Byron Marshall, redshirt sophomore Dwayne Stanford, senior Keanon Lowe and freshman Charles Nelson to pick up the slack.  Helfrich is confident in the team despite Carrington’s forced absence, which the coach refers to as a “distraction.”  “Distractions are distractions if you let them be,” Helfrich said (via ESPN). “How you manage them is what matters most. And our guys have managed all those situations very, very well.”  Marissa Payne writes for The Early Lead, a fast-breaking sports blog, where she focuses on what she calls the “cultural anthropological” side of sports, aka “mostly the fun stuff.” She is also an avid WWE fan.
The Ducks will be missing three top wide receivers when they face the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff championship game.