IIIIIIIIITTTTT'S Tiiiiiiiiimmmmeeeee!!!

Oh YES! College football starts tonight and I'm happy to say that my beloved Ducks are on their way to romp some Smurf tail! Saturday we will be invading Vandyville before watching the Dores light up the field for 16 or so points. :)

The Ducks have a pretty tough out of conference schedule this year. Going to Boise State (ranked 14th and 16th in the major polls) and playing host to Utah (18th and 19th). They also play host to Purdue. 3 of the 1st 4 games are against preseason top 25 teams.

Notable stat - No team (in the last 30 years or so) ranked outside the top 8 in the preseason has lost a game and still won the championship. Quite simply this means the Ducks, and the rest of the Pac 10 (minus USC) have to be perfect to even have a shot at the title. Meanwhile 3 SEC, 3 Big 12, 1 ACC and 1 Big 10 all have a chance to loose 1 game and still play for the title. So if you think preseason polls don't matter, you are sorely mistaken. I heard this stat on an ESPN blurb.


Positives - Oregon's QB, Jeremiah Masoli was phenominal over the last 4 games of last year. He started the year as the #5 QB and quickly became #1 through injuries and poor play from some younger guys. According to Chip Kelly Masoli understands the spread offense now better than Dennis Dixon ever did. If that proves to be true and not jsut preseason hype we shoudl be in for a high octane season. Blount also had a great year, he will be getting the lion share of carries and will have to pick up where he left off last year. The ofensive skill positions still have all the potential to put up big points fast. Over the past few years Oregon has had more "less than 2 minute scoring drives" than the other major college teams. The spread offense can put those points up quick.

Negatives and question marks - We graduated a lot of key players last year. to me the most notable is the offensive lineman, Max Unger. Offensive lineman are typically overlooked by the casual fan, Oregon's line will have to come out and prove themselves quick. There is a lot more to blocking than just picking your man and blocking him, especially in an offense like Oregon's. On the defensive side of the ball we're going to have to find inspirational leaders, Patrick Chung and Nick Reed were those guys last year. both drafted and in the NFL now, someone will have to step up. I'm looking to Spencer Paysinger, Walter Thurmond III and TJ Ward. If the line doesn't gel or we don't see some fire on the defensive side our optomistic year could become pretty rough pretty fast.

My dark horse - Every year you look for someone to just break out. This year I have 2. 1st - Casey Mathews. Casey's brother had a dominating year last year for USC, his father and uncle both played in the NFL. So the kid has plenty of people around him to keep him motivated and to seek advice from. All the Mathews clan have been known for being leaders on and off the field. I'm hoping he breaks out with a ridiculous year! On the offense I'm looking for Jamere Holland to step up and make a big impact. He's got a ton of speed and had a couple of flashes last year. The spots are open this year for him to become a key player. If just one of our wide recievers steps up and makes a big impact that could take a ton of pressure off Masoli and Blount and spread defenses so thin they will not be able to stop us.


Ducks VS Boise -

I really think that the 1st half of this game could be quite ugly. This is the 1st time the offensive line will play together. I'm hoping that they can gel quickly and get the ball moving but I believe we will see a slow start followed by a half time butt chewing and a 2nd 1/2 dominance. Very similar to the Holiday Bowl last year. This could be frustrating to watch for Duck fans. But I think in the end we will win by 10 points or so. With the late hits last year I look for this to be a hard hitting battle! Should be fun to watch.

Boise state - I have nothing against them, routed for them in all their underdog wins the past couple years. Just can't love you today! they should have a prety solid team but I think The Ducks will be fired up and ready to go for this game.