First, it was star running back LaMichael James going down with an injury. Then, quarterback Darron Thomas.

So much for the Oregon Ducks, right?

Um … maybe not so fast.

While injuries to top players usually devastate teams at all levels — Peyton Manning, please pick up a white courtesy phone — it seems entirely plausible that the Ducks are only getting stronger. Coach Chip Kelly says the Ducks have spent years recruiting to their system in order to make their players basically interchangeable, and it looked both true and witheringly effective in a 41-27 victory over Arizona State last weekend.

Quarterback Bryan Bennett stepped in when Thomas went out with a knee injury at halftime of a close game and played like a poised, confident veteran with legitimate skills.

Without James and his dislocated elbow, the Ducks merely inserted Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas, two similarly blazing-fast running backs who combined to run for 244 yards on 38 carries against a defense that still ranks among the best in the Pac-12 Conference.

"It doesn't change," Kelly said. "That's the great thing for us. … This is our offense, and all those guys take reps, and that's how we do it."

Nobody is sure whether Thomas or James will return this weekend, since Kelly famously refuses to discuss injuries.

But don't be surprised if the Ducks risk neither, even if they could, knowing they have such capable backups and that they're playing lowly Colorado, a team that itself has been ravaged by injuries and is a 32 1/2-point underdog, according to oddsmakers.

That could very well hold true again when the Ducks follow up with Washington State — improved, but nobody's idea of a conference powerhouse.

Not for another couple of weeks does Oregon really begin the push that will define its season, with consecutive games at Washington, at Stanford and home against USC starting Nov. 5.

Until then, its backups at the skill positions potentially can earn valuable playing time and help win games while the stars recover, which would only make the Ducks deeper for their push toward the inaugural Pac-12 championship game and beyond.

Of course, the Ducks might have issues if neither of their stars can return to meet Stanford and the league's top defense on Nov. 12, or another savage SEC team in the Bowl Championship Series.

But otherwise, and possibly anyway?

The Ducks look like they can just keep rolling.