Well, so far the Pac 12 is earning that reputation I hear so much about living in SEC country. UCLA lost badly to an unranked Baylor. The Beavs at #13 choked big time against #23 Texas. These are games the Pac just needs to win. Unranked Washington may have had the best showing in their loss to BSU. AZ and AZ ST did about what was expected of them. The Pac heavyweights need to sweep their games for the Pac to end this bowl season 5-3. Since the Pac is the higher ranked team in each of the games we are expected to do just that. We need some blowouts.
On to the FIESTA BOWL for the Ducks!
Last year we made a step by defeating a solid Wisconsin team, winning a BCS for the 1st time in a decade and winning the Rose for the 1st time in a looong time. And let's not forget that this is our 4th BCS bowl game in a row, absolutely a HUGE feat. But no one wants to be the Buffalo Bills, or even 1 game better than the Bills. We need to take our 4 year run to 2-2. This time, we need to do it in dominating fashion. These aren't the Ducks I grew up on. Chip Kelly has turned me from a Duck fan who expects the choke, expects a 9-3 season to be our best into someone who was quite frankly a bit disspointed to come up a little short of the NC game. Go back and tell 80's and 90's Jason that he would be a little dissapointed to be 11-1 and in a Fiesta Bowl, see what he thinks about that!
Ultimately I want and think we can dominate this game start to finish. A couple of things will need to happen in order to make that happen. So here's what I want to see out of my Ducks.
#1 - Marcus needs to run this show. The blueprint for beating the Ducks the last couple of years has been pretty clear, play great gap defense and stop up the run. KSU should attempt to do the same. Marcus needs to make them pay early and often. If there's 7-8 in the box....find Colt streaking up the middle or get Huff and DAT on some WR screens. Something ABSENT in the Stanford game. UGH!
#2 - Kenjon Barner! KSU is NOT Auburn. They are not LSU and they are not OH ST. I believe they will put up a good effort to stop the run early. If Marcus makes them pay with his trademark calm and cool presence and great decision making they will have to adjust and Kenjon can take over the game.
#3 - Defense. Where oh where has my defense been since the USC game? It is like they forgot they were for real this year. Many are questioning but I am still a believer. Arizona is the 15th best scoring team in the country....we skunked them. We skunked them AND gave them great field position on many occasions. We've had some injuries, specifically at the safety position. But I want to see Dion go off in this game. I want to see Kiko repeat his Rose Bowl performance. I want Bo to come up with some big plays. Ifo to snatch a pick and I want to see Michael Clay putting Optomus Klein on his back side head 1st. As Coach Parnell used to say...."Where the head goes, the ass must follow!"
#4 - Will the #1 WR please stand up? WR by committee has been working for us. But I just want someone to become "THE" guy. With the exception of Will Murphy and Vaughn we should get all these guys back. But someone needs to step up and just scream to the world that they want to be the guy. Huff had a crazy freshman year, has been fighting injuries and showing a ton of heart, I want him to make a ton of plays that make me jump out of my seat. Hawk, Lowe, Addison, Dungy, Kelley, Stanford???? I don't much care who. Hell, I don't care if Bryan Bennett lines up at WR and becomes the guy, I just want a guy. A guy who defenses say "we need to hold _____ to under 10 catches."
#5 - DAT. 7.6 yards a carry, 686 yards on 90 carries, 385 receiving yards and a total of 15 TD's and we're calling most of this season "quiet" for him???? Let us remember last year in the Rose Bowl. 2 carries, 155 yards and 2 TD's. Let's see that again.
I'm not asking for too much am I? I don't think so, I really beleive this game can go similar to the AZ ST game. You know, 43-7 with 11 minutes left in the 1st half! TOTAL DOMINATION.
If our O and D just do what they can do this is possible.
KSU is no slouch, this will be a tough battle. I want us to over achieve in a big game on a big stage this year.
That's all I want.
As for a prediction, I call Ducks 58 KSU 23. :)
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Don't give Chip Kelly a month to prepare
Man, I wish I could hear that 1 time. We've seen a crazy amount of success over the last 4 years. Only a handful of losses, the majority of which came after a long layoff. Boise State, Ohio State, Auburn and LSU were all games where "____ coach had over 4 weeks to prepare for Chip Kelly!"
I'd love to see a complete domination over an OOC top ranked opponent. KSU gives us that opportunity. We've over achieved in conference over USC a couple times, over Stanford and over the rest of the Pac. I'm remembering Stanford rolling into town 3 years ago, Andrew Luck at the helm, a couple early turnovers and we are down early. Then we completely dominate them and win big. We have heard how and Arizona or a Washington is going to be a "big test" of some kind only to find a blowout in 1st half. It has been a good time to be a Duck fan.
Last year in the Rose Bowl we got over that bit hurdle of winning a bowl game over some stiff competition. But still, the ora of "give the team a month and they can slow down or even stop the Ducks" weighs heavily on my head this time of year. It has been about the only thing to be disappointed in over the last 4 years. There's something to be said for having such great success and such high scoring offenses only to go into a game and look completely shut down. In the NC game against Auburn we had 449 yards of offense, but with our run game producing only 75 yards we just look out of play for most of the game. Then 9 months later we put up only 95 rushing yards against LSU. 31 yards in Chip's debut against BSU.
I want to start 2013 with a bang. A big moment on a big stage. I want to see our defense over achieve with a 6 sack performance. I want to see that bend but don't break attitude that pitched a shut out against AZ and made big plays with their backs against the wall. I want to see our RB's rush for a combines 250+ and I want to see our offense clicking on a big stage the way we know it can. I want to see a cool crisp Mariota completing 70+% of his passes and I want to see a big win. I certainly don't expect us to win every big game by a huge margin, but is seems like anytime we have a big game with plenty of time we have to hear "The Ducks can't handle teams if you give them a month to prepare." This game I want to hear "did you see what Chip did when he had a month to prepare???? Holy crap you don't want the Ducks to have a month to game plan."
That is all I want for Christmas.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I'd love to see a complete domination over an OOC top ranked opponent. KSU gives us that opportunity. We've over achieved in conference over USC a couple times, over Stanford and over the rest of the Pac. I'm remembering Stanford rolling into town 3 years ago, Andrew Luck at the helm, a couple early turnovers and we are down early. Then we completely dominate them and win big. We have heard how and Arizona or a Washington is going to be a "big test" of some kind only to find a blowout in 1st half. It has been a good time to be a Duck fan.
Last year in the Rose Bowl we got over that bit hurdle of winning a bowl game over some stiff competition. But still, the ora of "give the team a month and they can slow down or even stop the Ducks" weighs heavily on my head this time of year. It has been about the only thing to be disappointed in over the last 4 years. There's something to be said for having such great success and such high scoring offenses only to go into a game and look completely shut down. In the NC game against Auburn we had 449 yards of offense, but with our run game producing only 75 yards we just look out of play for most of the game. Then 9 months later we put up only 95 rushing yards against LSU. 31 yards in Chip's debut against BSU.
I want to start 2013 with a bang. A big moment on a big stage. I want to see our defense over achieve with a 6 sack performance. I want to see that bend but don't break attitude that pitched a shut out against AZ and made big plays with their backs against the wall. I want to see our RB's rush for a combines 250+ and I want to see our offense clicking on a big stage the way we know it can. I want to see a cool crisp Mariota completing 70+% of his passes and I want to see a big win. I certainly don't expect us to win every big game by a huge margin, but is seems like anytime we have a big game with plenty of time we have to hear "The Ducks can't handle teams if you give them a month to prepare." This game I want to hear "did you see what Chip did when he had a month to prepare???? Holy crap you don't want the Ducks to have a month to game plan."
That is all I want for Christmas.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, October 29, 2012
Oregon Ducks @ USC Trojans
Here it is, the date we all circled on the calendar. USC has not helped us out by being undefeated and slotted just above us in the BCS polls as everyone predicted. Matt Barkley does not appear to be on the way to the Heisman trophy that he came back to win. What is left is an extremely talented team with nothing to play for but bragging rights and a trip to the Pac Championship. In other words, about where we were last year when this game happened. Unfortunately for us that game did not go our way and just may have cost us the NC game. Who knows if Bama still would have snuck in with a 1 loss Duck team chomping for another shot at LSU.
Chip is surely reminding the Ducks about the pitfalls of last year and reminding everyone to Win The Day!
I really feel like we are going to roll on USC and put a beating on them. This would be great because it would "prove" our #2 ranking in the human polls and give us some SOS to start climbing in the BCS polls. (If you haven't noticed, KSU and ND have closed the points gap in those human polls. We need a big win over a big team, USC may be all we got.)
Here's what I want to see in on our road to victory.
1 - Again I'm going to stick with Defense. I just watched some highlight videos of the WA, AZ and AZ ST game. We have some damn playmakers on D baby! Ifo, Avery, Kiko and Bo are all back there making some big plays. Our D-Line going into the season was going to be our big sneaky killer.....But someone forgot to tell the backfield because it has been pick-6 city back there. I'd like to see a game where we beat USC by 21 with our offense. Kick in another 2 TD's by the D and win by 35.
2 - More Defense! You know USC will be fired up this weekend. We need to get pressure on Matt Barkley, this pressure will come from our many blitz packages but we will also need our D-Line to know Matt on his can a few times. I have read that Dion Jordan was practicing with a brace on his shoulder, good news for us! He is not the only one on defense with the ability to make plays. Taylor Hart has been playing his butt off. I would like to see someone, anyone, just explode and get a couple of sacks.
3 - Will our offense be tested???? I'm sick of hearing "well this week Arizona is coming to town, they will test the Ducks!" Sixty minutes later "Arizona is terrible, when will the Ducks play someone?" "Washington's D will test them......Nah, they suck too." AZ ST??? Sucks! Pretty well known fact that every team in the Pac 12 sucks. Yeah yeah yeah. Maybe our offense clicking on USC's D will earn us just a touch of respect? Nope, they will suck come Sunday.
4 - Kenjon Barner. Admittedly I haven't ever been a huge fan of his. I'm mean, he's my running back so I love him and all, but he never seemed to have that same fire and gritty toughness that LMJ had. These last couple weeks he has really changed my mind. I think he's running a little tougher, looking to finish and running with a bit of nastiness that I LOVE to see. Keep it up KB!
I encourage you to watch the full video for all the Duck action, but if you want to see what I'm talking about with KB click forward to the 3:40 mark. Last year and early this year I think Barner takes a step out of bounds on this play. This year he finishes the run and puts the defender down.
5 - Colt Lyerla. I know I know, we have sooo many weapons and all of them can't get the ball all the time. But being a former TE I do think that is an under utilized position in the Ducks O. Who didn't like seeing all our quick WR's running slants while David Paulson snuck behind everyone for a 50 yard TD. Colt has done it and if we feed him he will continue to do it.
6 - Big plays. DAT? Addison? Marcus? KB? Don't much mind who, I want to put a fork in USC early and put an absolute beating on them on their home field. Game on FOX that is not at 11pm! Put everyone on notice and beat the crap out of USC!
Chip is surely reminding the Ducks about the pitfalls of last year and reminding everyone to Win The Day!
I really feel like we are going to roll on USC and put a beating on them. This would be great because it would "prove" our #2 ranking in the human polls and give us some SOS to start climbing in the BCS polls. (If you haven't noticed, KSU and ND have closed the points gap in those human polls. We need a big win over a big team, USC may be all we got.)
Here's what I want to see in on our road to victory.
1 - Again I'm going to stick with Defense. I just watched some highlight videos of the WA, AZ and AZ ST game. We have some damn playmakers on D baby! Ifo, Avery, Kiko and Bo are all back there making some big plays. Our D-Line going into the season was going to be our big sneaky killer.....But someone forgot to tell the backfield because it has been pick-6 city back there. I'd like to see a game where we beat USC by 21 with our offense. Kick in another 2 TD's by the D and win by 35.
2 - More Defense! You know USC will be fired up this weekend. We need to get pressure on Matt Barkley, this pressure will come from our many blitz packages but we will also need our D-Line to know Matt on his can a few times. I have read that Dion Jordan was practicing with a brace on his shoulder, good news for us! He is not the only one on defense with the ability to make plays. Taylor Hart has been playing his butt off. I would like to see someone, anyone, just explode and get a couple of sacks.
3 - Will our offense be tested???? I'm sick of hearing "well this week Arizona is coming to town, they will test the Ducks!" Sixty minutes later "Arizona is terrible, when will the Ducks play someone?" "Washington's D will test them......Nah, they suck too." AZ ST??? Sucks! Pretty well known fact that every team in the Pac 12 sucks. Yeah yeah yeah. Maybe our offense clicking on USC's D will earn us just a touch of respect? Nope, they will suck come Sunday.
4 - Kenjon Barner. Admittedly I haven't ever been a huge fan of his. I'm mean, he's my running back so I love him and all, but he never seemed to have that same fire and gritty toughness that LMJ had. These last couple weeks he has really changed my mind. I think he's running a little tougher, looking to finish and running with a bit of nastiness that I LOVE to see. Keep it up KB!
I encourage you to watch the full video for all the Duck action, but if you want to see what I'm talking about with KB click forward to the 3:40 mark. Last year and early this year I think Barner takes a step out of bounds on this play. This year he finishes the run and puts the defender down.
5 - Colt Lyerla. I know I know, we have sooo many weapons and all of them can't get the ball all the time. But being a former TE I do think that is an under utilized position in the Ducks O. Who didn't like seeing all our quick WR's running slants while David Paulson snuck behind everyone for a 50 yard TD. Colt has done it and if we feed him he will continue to do it.
6 - Big plays. DAT? Addison? Marcus? KB? Don't much mind who, I want to put a fork in USC early and put an absolute beating on them on their home field. Game on FOX that is not at 11pm! Put everyone on notice and beat the crap out of USC!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
The USC Game - Are we that good?
Unfortunately, despite winning 70-14, it was a rough week for the Ducks. We seem to be in a fight we can do nothing about. It appears as though Alabama will go undefeated and on to the national championship game. That leaves 3 other undefeated teams: Notre Dame, Kansas State and the Oregon Ducks. What we can't control is that USC and the Beavers both lost which will diminish our strength of schedule.
This year the Ducks haven't "seemed" to face much competition. Everything has come so easy that we are making teams look bad. But is it possible that these teams are good, we are just that good?
Let's take a look at a couple of games.
Ducks 49 Arizona 0
A complete domination of the Wildcats. Arizona has been able to beat OK ST, Washington and #9 USC this year. They lost to the Beavs and to Stanford by 3 and 6 points.
Ducks 52 Washington 21
Another game in which we completely shut down the Husky's. Washington handled Stanford and Oregon State, both Top 10 teams at the time. They played USC tight, ultimately losing by 10 points.
Ducks 43 Arizona State 23
More importantly in this game, the Ducks spotted AZ ST a TD 1 minute into the game and then the Ducks put up 43 in about 22 minutes of game time. With the starters in that game looked like men against boys. UCLA put up 45 on the AZ ST defense but it took them every second of 60 minutes to do so.
Even when looking at our game against Colorado, we were up 56-0 at the halfway mark. USC also blew them out, but it was 33-6 at the halfway point. Matt Barkley was still slinging the ball around in the 3rd QTR. We had our back up in during the 2nd QTR.
In a year where the question "who is #2" is being thrown around and we seem to be on the outside of that conversation.....A 40 point blow out over USC may be something that opens up some eyes. This will be a prime time game against an opponent everyone knows. The Trojans haven't done us any favors this year losing 2 games, but make no mistake, they have talent at every level at every position. We need to be on our game and I hope we run through them just like everyone else. I think we are capable of doing that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This year the Ducks haven't "seemed" to face much competition. Everything has come so easy that we are making teams look bad. But is it possible that these teams are good, we are just that good?
Let's take a look at a couple of games.
Ducks 49 Arizona 0
A complete domination of the Wildcats. Arizona has been able to beat OK ST, Washington and #9 USC this year. They lost to the Beavs and to Stanford by 3 and 6 points.
Ducks 52 Washington 21
Another game in which we completely shut down the Husky's. Washington handled Stanford and Oregon State, both Top 10 teams at the time. They played USC tight, ultimately losing by 10 points.
Ducks 43 Arizona State 23
More importantly in this game, the Ducks spotted AZ ST a TD 1 minute into the game and then the Ducks put up 43 in about 22 minutes of game time. With the starters in that game looked like men against boys. UCLA put up 45 on the AZ ST defense but it took them every second of 60 minutes to do so.
Even when looking at our game against Colorado, we were up 56-0 at the halfway mark. USC also blew them out, but it was 33-6 at the halfway point. Matt Barkley was still slinging the ball around in the 3rd QTR. We had our back up in during the 2nd QTR.
In a year where the question "who is #2" is being thrown around and we seem to be on the outside of that conversation.....A 40 point blow out over USC may be something that opens up some eyes. This will be a prime time game against an opponent everyone knows. The Trojans haven't done us any favors this year losing 2 games, but make no mistake, they have talent at every level at every position. We need to be on our game and I hope we run through them just like everyone else. I think we are capable of doing that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Today's game = Colorado
Another week for the Ducks, it is extremely hard to focus on this week against one of the worst teams in the division when a road trip USC looms 8 days in the future. Luckily, I'm a fan and I can do that. If any of the coaches or players are doing that it could spell some trouble. Not trouble in terms of loosing a game, trouble in a close game, bad mistakes and injuries. Chip Kelly's "WIN THE DAY" theme has proven itself time and time again. He constantly reminds us that he does not care who we play, we treat everyone the same. With the way our team shows up for lower end competition I have no reason to doubt we will not overlook the Buffs.
I expect this will be a pretty short day for the key players. If our starting QB didn't see 1 play in the 2nd half against AZ ST, he may be on the sidelines in the 2nd QTR today.
Here's what i want to see.
1 - No injuries. Obviously never want to see injuries, it just stings especially bad when it is against a team like this.
2 - Bennett has seen plenty of action this year, but in mop up duty he doesn't seem to get to run the full offense at full speed. No matter what the score I'd like to see Bennett get the chance to open up at full pace. There's no denying that Bennett has looked pretty shaky in his time, often trying to do too much. He had a great game last year against Colorado, I look for him to do the same this year.
3 - DAT - Let's get him into some space. He's had a couple quite games. I think we've seen some teams decide that DAT is the one they are going to take out. Fair enough, Kenjon and Marcus have stepped up nicely. DAT will get back on track this week, he has far too much speed for anyone on Colorado to hang with. If he touches the ball 7 times he may score on 4 of them.
4 - I'd like to see the defense have a completely dominant game where the rushing yards are close to 0. It would just be fun. :) I heard a stat this week on ESPN - The Ducks are only behind Alabama and LSU in yards per play when the game is within 28 points. Meaning the Ducks starting D and even the rotation we send in are pretty darn good. Those 3rd string guys who are seeing 2nd half action still have some work to do.
5 - Since I'm not a player, I'm a fan......Let's make quick work of Colorado, get some good rest, a week that goes by fast and beat the hell out of USC,
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I expect this will be a pretty short day for the key players. If our starting QB didn't see 1 play in the 2nd half against AZ ST, he may be on the sidelines in the 2nd QTR today.
Here's what i want to see.
1 - No injuries. Obviously never want to see injuries, it just stings especially bad when it is against a team like this.
2 - Bennett has seen plenty of action this year, but in mop up duty he doesn't seem to get to run the full offense at full speed. No matter what the score I'd like to see Bennett get the chance to open up at full pace. There's no denying that Bennett has looked pretty shaky in his time, often trying to do too much. He had a great game last year against Colorado, I look for him to do the same this year.
3 - DAT - Let's get him into some space. He's had a couple quite games. I think we've seen some teams decide that DAT is the one they are going to take out. Fair enough, Kenjon and Marcus have stepped up nicely. DAT will get back on track this week, he has far too much speed for anyone on Colorado to hang with. If he touches the ball 7 times he may score on 4 of them.
4 - I'd like to see the defense have a completely dominant game where the rushing yards are close to 0. It would just be fun. :) I heard a stat this week on ESPN - The Ducks are only behind Alabama and LSU in yards per play when the game is within 28 points. Meaning the Ducks starting D and even the rotation we send in are pretty darn good. Those 3rd string guys who are seeing 2nd half action still have some work to do.
5 - Since I'm not a player, I'm a fan......Let's make quick work of Colorado, get some good rest, a week that goes by fast and beat the hell out of USC,
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Style Points
We are now into the BCS season. Love it or hate it everyone will be talking style points for the next couple weeks until there are only 2 undefeateds left.
The Ducks may have lost the style points battle this weekend. With 10 minutes left in the 2nd QTR the Ducks had a 43-7 lead in what appeared to be an absolute joke of a game. Looked like we could potentially put up 80 points. While that is a crappy move by all standards....we should have done it.
As I watch the crawl go by it sticks out like a sore thumb:
#2 Florida over RANKED S. Carolina 44 - 11
#3 Oregon over unranked AZ ST 43 - 21
#4 KSU over RANKED W Virginia 55 - 14 (with time left)
I don't care how dominant we were in the first 20 minutes of that game, the above information is what everyone is looking at right now. We had the closest game and the worst competition. People don't go and look at the box score, there are probably a good amount of people that don't even realize our starting QB didn't take 1 snap in the 2nd half.
With a 45-7 lead and only 2 minutes left in the 3rd Colin Klein was still in the game, scoring the TD that put them up 52-7. Jeff Driskel from FL threw a TD with 14 seconds left in the 3rd. Granted the FL game was still relatively close. They added another TD in the 4th to get the lead to over 30 points. In my opinion both W. Virginia and S. Carolina were pretty overrated, Carolina made their name whooping a GA team that is struggling with Kentucky. The perception is that the SEC is soooo much better, that will continue to work against us.
Do not be surprised at all if Oregon slips another position in the BCS poll this week. I predict they will either be #4 or the gap will be closed a good amount. I also predict that we lose our #2 spot in the human polls.
If AZ ST could have crept up just a tad from their #26 spot to #25 at least they would have been ranked. Most people don't notice the difference between #26 and #70, your just NOT ranked.
Because of the perceptions in college football the Ducks are probably going to have to be the lone undefeated team. Or we are going to need to get some style points. The bulk of our schedule is coming up, we have USC, STAN and OR ST all ranked. We need them to stay ranked and we need to crush them. USC may be our best friend when they take on Notre Dame, we will need them to win that game.
And, the Ducks must win out if they want the BCS Championship. A 1 loss Duck team does not make it, no way.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The Ducks may have lost the style points battle this weekend. With 10 minutes left in the 2nd QTR the Ducks had a 43-7 lead in what appeared to be an absolute joke of a game. Looked like we could potentially put up 80 points. While that is a crappy move by all standards....we should have done it.
As I watch the crawl go by it sticks out like a sore thumb:
#2 Florida over RANKED S. Carolina 44 - 11
#3 Oregon over unranked AZ ST 43 - 21
#4 KSU over RANKED W Virginia 55 - 14 (with time left)
I don't care how dominant we were in the first 20 minutes of that game, the above information is what everyone is looking at right now. We had the closest game and the worst competition. People don't go and look at the box score, there are probably a good amount of people that don't even realize our starting QB didn't take 1 snap in the 2nd half.
With a 45-7 lead and only 2 minutes left in the 3rd Colin Klein was still in the game, scoring the TD that put them up 52-7. Jeff Driskel from FL threw a TD with 14 seconds left in the 3rd. Granted the FL game was still relatively close. They added another TD in the 4th to get the lead to over 30 points. In my opinion both W. Virginia and S. Carolina were pretty overrated, Carolina made their name whooping a GA team that is struggling with Kentucky. The perception is that the SEC is soooo much better, that will continue to work against us.
Do not be surprised at all if Oregon slips another position in the BCS poll this week. I predict they will either be #4 or the gap will be closed a good amount. I also predict that we lose our #2 spot in the human polls.
If AZ ST could have crept up just a tad from their #26 spot to #25 at least they would have been ranked. Most people don't notice the difference between #26 and #70, your just NOT ranked.
Because of the perceptions in college football the Ducks are probably going to have to be the lone undefeated team. Or we are going to need to get some style points. The bulk of our schedule is coming up, we have USC, STAN and OR ST all ranked. We need them to stay ranked and we need to crush them. USC may be our best friend when they take on Notre Dame, we will need them to win that game.
And, the Ducks must win out if they want the BCS Championship. A 1 loss Duck team does not make it, no way.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Thursday Night in the Desert - Week 8 VS AZ ST
I'm glad we are on Thursday night this week, a full two weeks without my Ducks and I just don't know if I would have made it. It is now getting real, the first BCS standings came out and as predicted an SEC team has hopped over the Ducks to take the coveted #2 spot. No worries, the SEC is like Duncan McCloud, there can be only one! In this case only one = undefeated SEC teams at the end of the year. I think Florida will lose this week to S Carolina. But that's just me.
AZ ST comes in with a 5-1 record, their only loss was a close one to Mizzou. Their defense has been stingy and they've scored 37+ in four of their games. Most impressive win was probably over a Utah team, 37-7 is a much better performance than USC (38-28). I don't like playing the common opponent card but it is fun for people to speculate so there you have it.
This is a good prime time game for the Ducks to shine, maybe even light up a solid team just to spite those pollsters. It is a shame but you almost wish Chip wouldn't take the pedal off when playing teams like Washington. Living down here in the south I hear "oh, LSU beat Wash 41-3, they scored 21 on your puny D." The headline from the LSU game - "LSU piles up 242 rushing yards...." (insert gawdy announcer voice and thunder sound here) Meanwhile, the Ducks ran for 299 and threw for more yards. Again with the common opponent. It is an SEC go to move.
What do we need - A win. Preferably another big win. K State is only .003 behind us, and Notre Dame is behind them. A little slip against an unranked team will hurt the Ducks more than a Notre Dame, you know people are chomping at the bit to allow them into a title game.
What would I like to see? Here we go...
1 - I want to see the offense hitting on all cylinders, early and consistent. Hard to believe that I'm griping about consistency on an offense that is putting up over 50 per game. But there you have it. Part of me hopes that Chip has just been testing some new things, I've really missed the jet sweep, and the back to back to back read options.
2 - I would like to see a game where Marcus Mari-O-tah breaks out. It's a prime time game with no other college ball on. His running has been solid, he's made good decisions to extend plays for the most part. But what about keeping a read option and taking it about 70 yards? That's what I want to see.
3 - I don't know who you take "touches" from, but I'd love to see DAT and Colt both with more than they have been getting. 5-7 for Colt and 15+ for DAT. I think Chip needs to find away to run about 150 plays a game to satisfy my desire to see each one of our superstars with the ball 10 times a game. :)
4 - D-fense! I love our defense. What more could we ask from them? Solid run D? Solid pass D? Big plays? Points on the board? Shut down on 3rd down? Check, check, check, check aaaand check! Looking good. They are playing well at all levels, I look for that to continue. A shut out would be nice. :)
5 - Nah, scratch that. No 5. I've been asking for a break out WR all season, I just don't know that it is going to happen at this point. Mariotah seems content to get everyone involved, and to the credit of that TEAM of WR's they are all delivering. Sure we've had a few drops here and there, but the WR's are playing solid. So I think I'll stick with four "wants" this week and not bug the WR's.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
AZ ST comes in with a 5-1 record, their only loss was a close one to Mizzou. Their defense has been stingy and they've scored 37+ in four of their games. Most impressive win was probably over a Utah team, 37-7 is a much better performance than USC (38-28). I don't like playing the common opponent card but it is fun for people to speculate so there you have it.
This is a good prime time game for the Ducks to shine, maybe even light up a solid team just to spite those pollsters. It is a shame but you almost wish Chip wouldn't take the pedal off when playing teams like Washington. Living down here in the south I hear "oh, LSU beat Wash 41-3, they scored 21 on your puny D." The headline from the LSU game - "LSU piles up 242 rushing yards...." (insert gawdy announcer voice and thunder sound here) Meanwhile, the Ducks ran for 299 and threw for more yards. Again with the common opponent. It is an SEC go to move.
What do we need - A win. Preferably another big win. K State is only .003 behind us, and Notre Dame is behind them. A little slip against an unranked team will hurt the Ducks more than a Notre Dame, you know people are chomping at the bit to allow them into a title game.
What would I like to see? Here we go...
1 - I want to see the offense hitting on all cylinders, early and consistent. Hard to believe that I'm griping about consistency on an offense that is putting up over 50 per game. But there you have it. Part of me hopes that Chip has just been testing some new things, I've really missed the jet sweep, and the back to back to back read options.
2 - I would like to see a game where Marcus Mari-O-tah breaks out. It's a prime time game with no other college ball on. His running has been solid, he's made good decisions to extend plays for the most part. But what about keeping a read option and taking it about 70 yards? That's what I want to see.
3 - I don't know who you take "touches" from, but I'd love to see DAT and Colt both with more than they have been getting. 5-7 for Colt and 15+ for DAT. I think Chip needs to find away to run about 150 plays a game to satisfy my desire to see each one of our superstars with the ball 10 times a game. :)
4 - D-fense! I love our defense. What more could we ask from them? Solid run D? Solid pass D? Big plays? Points on the board? Shut down on 3rd down? Check, check, check, check aaaand check! Looking good. They are playing well at all levels, I look for that to continue. A shut out would be nice. :)
5 - Nah, scratch that. No 5. I've been asking for a break out WR all season, I just don't know that it is going to happen at this point. Mariotah seems content to get everyone involved, and to the credit of that TEAM of WR's they are all delivering. Sure we've had a few drops here and there, but the WR's are playing solid. So I think I'll stick with four "wants" this week and not bug the WR's.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The 1st BCS Standings tonight
This year is shaping out to be quite nice for the Ducks. Since we have a whole week off let's talk about a National Championship game and what it takes for us to get there.
Quite simply put - The Oregon Ducks need to win every single game. A one loss Duck team doesn't make it to the title unless pretty much every team out there loses twice. If the Ducks were to drop a game they would more than likely slide down to #9 or so, right in front of Florida State. Then you'd need LSU, S Carolina, Florida to all have two losses. We'd probably need USC to lose again, preferably to us in the Pac Championship. Notre Dame, OK and KSU would all need a loss or two. All of those things probably wont happen, so let's just keep winning!
Let's take a glance around the country. I believe that a one loss SEC team makes the championship game this year. Pretty hard to argue that they wouldn't deserve it. I don't subscribe to the "every team in the SEC would win every other conference" that we hear from the homers, but they are the best league, and they play well in the big games. This year I think BAMA is a pretty clear favorite at this point. I predict that S Carolina will knock off Florida making BAMA the lone undefeated team (unless you count MS ST).
Notre Dame is really the only team who concerns me at this point, the pollsters LOVE Notre Dame, so if they continue to win I could envision them leap frogging the Ducks. Wouldn't agree with it, but it really wouldn't surprise me.
That leaves KS ST. A good team but I don't think they will run the table. Even if they do I think the Ducks getting passed USC twice, getting passed Stanford and AZ ST will prove enough to prevent KS ST from passing us.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Quite simply put - The Oregon Ducks need to win every single game. A one loss Duck team doesn't make it to the title unless pretty much every team out there loses twice. If the Ducks were to drop a game they would more than likely slide down to #9 or so, right in front of Florida State. Then you'd need LSU, S Carolina, Florida to all have two losses. We'd probably need USC to lose again, preferably to us in the Pac Championship. Notre Dame, OK and KSU would all need a loss or two. All of those things probably wont happen, so let's just keep winning!
Let's take a glance around the country. I believe that a one loss SEC team makes the championship game this year. Pretty hard to argue that they wouldn't deserve it. I don't subscribe to the "every team in the SEC would win every other conference" that we hear from the homers, but they are the best league, and they play well in the big games. This year I think BAMA is a pretty clear favorite at this point. I predict that S Carolina will knock off Florida making BAMA the lone undefeated team (unless you count MS ST).
Notre Dame is really the only team who concerns me at this point, the pollsters LOVE Notre Dame, so if they continue to win I could envision them leap frogging the Ducks. Wouldn't agree with it, but it really wouldn't surprise me.
That leaves KS ST. A good team but I don't think they will run the table. Even if they do I think the Ducks getting passed USC twice, getting passed Stanford and AZ ST will prove enough to prevent KS ST from passing us.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Week 6 - The Recap
Admittedly I was worried about this game, 8 in a row over a team in the PAC 12 is pretty solid. You have to figure at some point a team will play better than expected, or a Duck team will show up flat. Not last night, the Ducks easily made it 9 in a row. I talk a lot about being a spoiled Duck fan, at 7 minutes into the 1st QTR the game is tight, WA has a turnover and forced us to punt. Just 6 minutes later we're up by 21.
Let's start with the defense, still shutting down the opposing teams and now making the big plays we need to make. Washington ran 78 plays and totaled 353 yards. I thought the D actually let up just a tad in the 2nd half, the Husky's ended with about 4.5 yards a carry, that number was lower at halftime. I like where the D is playing. Great stuff, as young as they are they still seem to get a bit better every time. I really think that D line can continue to grow and become a dominant force.
I still haven't seen Marcus get tested. This may be the biggest question mark of the season. He's thrown some picks and made some bad decisions here and there, always bouncing back brilliantly. I have this underlying fear that it will be USC who plays a tight game with us the whole way, maybe we're down at times, they've hit Marcus on a number of occasions. I mean really rattled him, maybe even dinged him up. Will he remain as cool as he has seemed all year? I believe he will but I need to see it.
I thought the receivers had a solid game, I remember a drop very early that would have resulted in a 1st down. Nice to see Marcus lean on his TE's a little. Colt had 3 receptions, 2 for TD's. I also loved the long pass to Colt. One thing missing this year is the deep ball. Missing that play action pass that resulted in Paulson, or Maehl, or Tuinie streaking down the field 30+ yards. We will need that play in the stretch to come.
Can I gripe for a second? I know we have a ton of talent and we just won the game by 30+. Mission accomplished. But I really don't like that we only see DAT with the ball 11 times. To me what is more troubling than 11 touches is the fact that we aren't getting him into space. I'm not saying never run him up the middle, that RoseBowl record run was a straight up the middle play. Where is that "jet" sweep where he lines up as a wide out and motions across the formation getting up to speed before the ball is even snapped? Can I see that a time or two?
Gripe over, we're exactly half way through the regular season, we're ranked #2 in the country, we're 6-0 and despite losing Carson York and John Boyett we seem to not be lacking leadership on the team. Those 2 guys, my heart goes out to them. GREAT players and GREAT people. I've said this before but Boyett has been one of my favorites all time at Oregon, I really enjoy his style of play, his attitude and his work ethic. York is an O lineman so they don't always get the love but again, great attitude and fantastic work ethic.
Quickly to wrap up, Kenjon had another just solid effort. Byron Marshall seems to get better every time we see him. Funny to me that Byron was a top recruit in the country but doesn't seem to get attention because 2013 recruit Tyner is tearing the record books to shreds in his senior year. That may be the best 1-2 punch we've ever had. AND, Marcus still has 3 years left. Future looks bright.
Here's to a week off and a road game to AZ ST!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Let's start with the defense, still shutting down the opposing teams and now making the big plays we need to make. Washington ran 78 plays and totaled 353 yards. I thought the D actually let up just a tad in the 2nd half, the Husky's ended with about 4.5 yards a carry, that number was lower at halftime. I like where the D is playing. Great stuff, as young as they are they still seem to get a bit better every time. I really think that D line can continue to grow and become a dominant force.
I still haven't seen Marcus get tested. This may be the biggest question mark of the season. He's thrown some picks and made some bad decisions here and there, always bouncing back brilliantly. I have this underlying fear that it will be USC who plays a tight game with us the whole way, maybe we're down at times, they've hit Marcus on a number of occasions. I mean really rattled him, maybe even dinged him up. Will he remain as cool as he has seemed all year? I believe he will but I need to see it.
I thought the receivers had a solid game, I remember a drop very early that would have resulted in a 1st down. Nice to see Marcus lean on his TE's a little. Colt had 3 receptions, 2 for TD's. I also loved the long pass to Colt. One thing missing this year is the deep ball. Missing that play action pass that resulted in Paulson, or Maehl, or Tuinie streaking down the field 30+ yards. We will need that play in the stretch to come.
Can I gripe for a second? I know we have a ton of talent and we just won the game by 30+. Mission accomplished. But I really don't like that we only see DAT with the ball 11 times. To me what is more troubling than 11 touches is the fact that we aren't getting him into space. I'm not saying never run him up the middle, that RoseBowl record run was a straight up the middle play. Where is that "jet" sweep where he lines up as a wide out and motions across the formation getting up to speed before the ball is even snapped? Can I see that a time or two?
Gripe over, we're exactly half way through the regular season, we're ranked #2 in the country, we're 6-0 and despite losing Carson York and John Boyett we seem to not be lacking leadership on the team. Those 2 guys, my heart goes out to them. GREAT players and GREAT people. I've said this before but Boyett has been one of my favorites all time at Oregon, I really enjoy his style of play, his attitude and his work ethic. York is an O lineman so they don't always get the love but again, great attitude and fantastic work ethic.
Quickly to wrap up, Kenjon had another just solid effort. Byron Marshall seems to get better every time we see him. Funny to me that Byron was a top recruit in the country but doesn't seem to get attention because 2013 recruit Tyner is tearing the record books to shreds in his senior year. That may be the best 1-2 punch we've ever had. AND, Marcus still has 3 years left. Future looks bright.
Here's to a week off and a road game to AZ ST!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Week 6 - The Washington Huskies!
It has been a loooong time since the Huskies have beat the Ducks. That in itself is enough to make me nervous because as my dad always said "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while." At a high level, no matter how good you are it is hard to maintain a streak. The Huskies in their hay day didn't hold a streak this long over the Ducks.
This year I'm a little frustrated with the Huskies because they really laid an egg down at LSU. They looked flat and the SEC vs PAC battle certainly went to the SEC on that night. Then they bounce back and knock of Stanford who just knocked off USC. The "Pac 1" argument down here in the south started up again. "The team LSU beat by 38 pts just beat the team that beat USC!" That leaves Oregon.
Here's some things I'll be looking for this week.
1 - Once again I'm going D 1st. We looked unbeatable on D against Arizona and solid against Wazzu. But the Huskies will be a better challenge even though their offense has been struggling. The Ducks have been beefing up to compete with the SEC, here's your big chance, LSU completely shut down the Huskies. We should too. LSU held WA to 1 yard a carry and 4.4 yards an attempt in the passing game. Shut them down. Our offense operates so quick the Huskies will get more attempts and carries, but I'd like to see that type of effort.
2 - Easily the best defense we've seen coming up this week. They are much improved. This will be a big test for Marcus. Our QB has done very well this year but he has looked a tad rattled under pressure at times. Against Wazzu I'll point to the 7 yard sack he took when everyone in the state of Oregon (except for the 2 Beaver fans) was screaming "get rid of it". It was so obvious, the camera zoomed in on Chip Kelly who you could see was saying "just relax". My guess would be that the Huskies will look to scheme against our zone read and force Marcus to pass, then blitz him and try to dirty him up early. This is a big test for Marcus, he needs to keep that cool and hit his targets. Hey Marcus - lean on the tight ends.
3 - The receivers need to step up. A couple of drops against this defense when they are bringing pressure on a young QB will shut down drives and add to the pressure. DAT, Kenjon and Bralon are capable of turning a 5 yard pass into an 80 yard touchdown. In the last 2 games that has been missing. Someone needs to make a play out of nothing in this game and help out the young QB. The TE's I want Marcus to lean on need to make those tough catches over the middle and pick up 1st downs.
4 - They teased me with a heavy dose of Colt against AZ then pulled him back against Wazzu. I don't really care if it is in the run game or in the pass game but good God, let him have the ball a few times. Barner said the other day that when Colt started running the ball they found out pretty quick that people HATE tackling him. Put that burden on the WA linebackers and safeties.
5 - Washington is a good team, they've been getting better each year and this is probably their best team in a while. I really feel like we need to beat them down like we did Arizona. The Huskies are coming off a big win over a top team in the conference. A big win for us shows us where we are.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This year I'm a little frustrated with the Huskies because they really laid an egg down at LSU. They looked flat and the SEC vs PAC battle certainly went to the SEC on that night. Then they bounce back and knock of Stanford who just knocked off USC. The "Pac 1" argument down here in the south started up again. "The team LSU beat by 38 pts just beat the team that beat USC!" That leaves Oregon.
Here's some things I'll be looking for this week.
1 - Once again I'm going D 1st. We looked unbeatable on D against Arizona and solid against Wazzu. But the Huskies will be a better challenge even though their offense has been struggling. The Ducks have been beefing up to compete with the SEC, here's your big chance, LSU completely shut down the Huskies. We should too. LSU held WA to 1 yard a carry and 4.4 yards an attempt in the passing game. Shut them down. Our offense operates so quick the Huskies will get more attempts and carries, but I'd like to see that type of effort.
2 - Easily the best defense we've seen coming up this week. They are much improved. This will be a big test for Marcus. Our QB has done very well this year but he has looked a tad rattled under pressure at times. Against Wazzu I'll point to the 7 yard sack he took when everyone in the state of Oregon (except for the 2 Beaver fans) was screaming "get rid of it". It was so obvious, the camera zoomed in on Chip Kelly who you could see was saying "just relax". My guess would be that the Huskies will look to scheme against our zone read and force Marcus to pass, then blitz him and try to dirty him up early. This is a big test for Marcus, he needs to keep that cool and hit his targets. Hey Marcus - lean on the tight ends.
3 - The receivers need to step up. A couple of drops against this defense when they are bringing pressure on a young QB will shut down drives and add to the pressure. DAT, Kenjon and Bralon are capable of turning a 5 yard pass into an 80 yard touchdown. In the last 2 games that has been missing. Someone needs to make a play out of nothing in this game and help out the young QB. The TE's I want Marcus to lean on need to make those tough catches over the middle and pick up 1st downs.
4 - They teased me with a heavy dose of Colt against AZ then pulled him back against Wazzu. I don't really care if it is in the run game or in the pass game but good God, let him have the ball a few times. Barner said the other day that when Colt started running the ball they found out pretty quick that people HATE tackling him. Put that burden on the WA linebackers and safeties.
5 - Washington is a good team, they've been getting better each year and this is probably their best team in a while. I really feel like we need to beat them down like we did Arizona. The Huskies are coming off a big win over a top team in the conference. A big win for us shows us where we are.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Week 5 - Washington State Recap
Too much going on this Saturday night. Football is my #1 passion so the UFC had to be DVR'd. Another victory for the Ducks and as we've come accustomed to another close 1st half followed by a dominating 2nd half.
During the 2nd QTR we really started to sputter again. I've been watching these sputters when they happen and I have a theory. We all know we have a run game. We all know we have a freshman QB with a bunch of freshman WR's. There are a handful of upperclassmen but for 2 years we've been waiting for someone, anyone, to step up. So I think we got the lead and Chip tried to work the pass game to see if we could identify that person. I'd like to think our sputters have been brought on ourselves by trying to work the things we feel are weaknesses. Marcus hit 8 different guys tonight with no one breaking out. It appeared that he was trying to feed Bralon, I saw 2 missed opportunities in the end zone. Dwayne Stanford was missing from the stat sheet this evening.
My top thing to watch this week was the defense, another job well done. 92 plays tonight and 402 total yards. We held the Cougar run game to -8 yards on 21 carries. This number is a tad misleading because it includes the -46 yards from all the sacks we racked up tonight. Ifo looked great once again. I hate that Mitchell isn't getting the love and as hard a this is to believe the reason Mitchell isn't getting all the glory is because they aren't testing him. The D-Line is pretty good this year and still getting better. Armstead - freshman. Buckner - freshman. Those guys are physical and getting better and better. Do yourself a favor in the next game, when #9 is in the game take a couple of plays and just watch him.
I also wanted to see more of the diesel package with Colt running the ball. didn't get much of a chance to see this. If you follow this blog you may remember back in September a post titled "who do we give the ball too?" You can drive yourself crazy trying to get the ball to all the talent.
Marcus Mari-O-TAH is going to be the guy to watch every week. He's a young guy and this was his very 1st road game. While I want him to never throw an incompletion....it does happen. He looked a little shaky in the 2nd QTR and he had a few bad throws. I think the 1st interception wasn't a pick if Pharoah Brown hadn't fallen down. The 2nd pick was a bad decision. He also took a very bad sack when he didn't need to. Stat sheet shows 21-32 for 169 yards which proves out what is probably my #1 frustration with my team this year as well as my #4 point from my preview. We MUST have a deep threat. As we get into the USC's and Stanford's we will need to have this threat to spread the field. If you take a look at Wilson of the Cougars you'll see a top level receiver. 12 catches 182 yards (15 per catch). Wislon had a rough 1st half, there were probably 4 drops that you could point to that someone like him should come down with. Ifo played great defense and slapped some away, but a top level guy should make 2-3 of those 4. We need someone like that. I've been hoping for Dwayne Stanford because I love his size, 6 ft 4 is a prototypical wide out.
Lastly I'd like to talk a bit about Kenjon Barner. Following LMJ isn't the easiest thing to do. Kenjon is just coming out and doing his job week after week. 20 carries tonight for 195 yards and TD's. Add to that 3 receptions for 37 yards and a TD. I'll take that out of my running back all day! Fantastic game tonight.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
During the 2nd QTR we really started to sputter again. I've been watching these sputters when they happen and I have a theory. We all know we have a run game. We all know we have a freshman QB with a bunch of freshman WR's. There are a handful of upperclassmen but for 2 years we've been waiting for someone, anyone, to step up. So I think we got the lead and Chip tried to work the pass game to see if we could identify that person. I'd like to think our sputters have been brought on ourselves by trying to work the things we feel are weaknesses. Marcus hit 8 different guys tonight with no one breaking out. It appeared that he was trying to feed Bralon, I saw 2 missed opportunities in the end zone. Dwayne Stanford was missing from the stat sheet this evening.
My top thing to watch this week was the defense, another job well done. 92 plays tonight and 402 total yards. We held the Cougar run game to -8 yards on 21 carries. This number is a tad misleading because it includes the -46 yards from all the sacks we racked up tonight. Ifo looked great once again. I hate that Mitchell isn't getting the love and as hard a this is to believe the reason Mitchell isn't getting all the glory is because they aren't testing him. The D-Line is pretty good this year and still getting better. Armstead - freshman. Buckner - freshman. Those guys are physical and getting better and better. Do yourself a favor in the next game, when #9 is in the game take a couple of plays and just watch him.
I also wanted to see more of the diesel package with Colt running the ball. didn't get much of a chance to see this. If you follow this blog you may remember back in September a post titled "who do we give the ball too?" You can drive yourself crazy trying to get the ball to all the talent.
Marcus Mari-O-TAH is going to be the guy to watch every week. He's a young guy and this was his very 1st road game. While I want him to never throw an incompletion....it does happen. He looked a little shaky in the 2nd QTR and he had a few bad throws. I think the 1st interception wasn't a pick if Pharoah Brown hadn't fallen down. The 2nd pick was a bad decision. He also took a very bad sack when he didn't need to. Stat sheet shows 21-32 for 169 yards which proves out what is probably my #1 frustration with my team this year as well as my #4 point from my preview. We MUST have a deep threat. As we get into the USC's and Stanford's we will need to have this threat to spread the field. If you take a look at Wilson of the Cougars you'll see a top level receiver. 12 catches 182 yards (15 per catch). Wislon had a rough 1st half, there were probably 4 drops that you could point to that someone like him should come down with. Ifo played great defense and slapped some away, but a top level guy should make 2-3 of those 4. We need someone like that. I've been hoping for Dwayne Stanford because I love his size, 6 ft 4 is a prototypical wide out.
Lastly I'd like to talk a bit about Kenjon Barner. Following LMJ isn't the easiest thing to do. Kenjon is just coming out and doing his job week after week. 20 carries tonight for 195 yards and TD's. Add to that 3 receptions for 37 yards and a TD. I'll take that out of my running back all day! Fantastic game tonight.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Pac 12 VS SEC - My Take
This debate rumbles on and on. I feel like I have a little bit of a unique perspective having grown up in Pac country and now live in SEC country. I've had a ton of years watching and being a fan of both conferences. So I'm going to try and eliminate the bias just to try and get to some of my own conclusions.
I will tell you this, if you really get down to it I don't know a whole lot of SEC fans that will say they watch a ton of PAC football, sure they catch the occasional prime time match up, but they don't watch all the games. I would say the same thing about my PAC friends.
Let my start by agreeing with my SEC friends, I do believe the SEC is top to bottom the best overall conference in college football. Hard to argue with all the championships and just overall performance in bowl games.
I will now disagree with my SEC friends. I do not believe that the SEC is soooo superior to everyone else that a mid level team would sweep the PAC every year. (yes, I have literally heard that Vandy would win the PAC championship, and more than once.)
SPEED - Us PAC fans are pretty particular when you talk about speed. We've heard it all over that DAT is the fastest in all of college football. SI named him that, College Game Day said that as well. So when I talk about speed I'm not talking about the skill guys out in the PAC. We have a ton. I saw an article recently with some average speeds from D-Line, O-Line, Backers etc broken down by conference. Pretty staggering the advantage the SEC has over the PAC on those levels. Football is not a flat out 100 meter dash. If it were, DAT would never be touched. It is a game of angles. If DAT is trying to make the corner in the PAC and is going against a linebacker with a good angle and a 4.6 40 time he's gone. Same scenario against a backer from the SEC with a 4.5 40 time and the story isn't quite the same. In addition to that the DE in the SEC probably stretched DAT out a step or to further because he's a bit quicker on average.
MATCH UPS - Overall the SEC has an advantage in match ups. If you look at the modern time (since 2000) the series is 12-12 after LSU beat up Washington this year. Let's break down the games a little more.
-In the SEC's 12 wins they were the higher ranked team in 8 of those wins. Looking at the underdog wins we have the following. Last year OR was #3 and LSU was #4 when LSU won the game. #23 TN knocked off #9 CAL back in 2006. There were 2 match ups between unranked opponents won by the SEC.
-In the PAC's 12 wins they were the higher ranked team 7 times. Looking at the upsets again. In 2000 UCLA was unranked when they beat #3 Bama. #8 USC shut out #6 Auburn in 2003. In 2008 unranked UCLA beat #18 TN by 3 pts in OT.
When looking at upsets the Pac is 3-2 over the SEC and while an unranked PAC team has defeated a ranked SEC team twice an unranked SEC team has not defeated a ranked PAC team (say that three times fast). When both teams are unranked the PAC is 2-1 over the SEC.
If you compare the last 12 years there are some things you can point to in the PAC to make a case that we are right there with the SEC. The stat that counts though, is titles. In that same 12 years the SEC has 7 and the PAC has 2. If you dig into the titles further you have FL, LSU, BAMA, Auburn all winning titles. In the PAC you have USC. Oregon has come close but you'd be hard pressed to make an argument over the past 12 years that any other PAC school was up there in that top level. Stanford was pretty good these last couple years under Luck. Look at the overall bowl records and you will again see the SEC's records show they are the best.
It is a shame that the PAC and the SEC can't play a little more frequently so the debate could continue to roll on.
Bottom line for the PAC is if we want the recognition we need to get to winning those games.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I will tell you this, if you really get down to it I don't know a whole lot of SEC fans that will say they watch a ton of PAC football, sure they catch the occasional prime time match up, but they don't watch all the games. I would say the same thing about my PAC friends.
Let my start by agreeing with my SEC friends, I do believe the SEC is top to bottom the best overall conference in college football. Hard to argue with all the championships and just overall performance in bowl games.
I will now disagree with my SEC friends. I do not believe that the SEC is soooo superior to everyone else that a mid level team would sweep the PAC every year. (yes, I have literally heard that Vandy would win the PAC championship, and more than once.)
SPEED - Us PAC fans are pretty particular when you talk about speed. We've heard it all over that DAT is the fastest in all of college football. SI named him that, College Game Day said that as well. So when I talk about speed I'm not talking about the skill guys out in the PAC. We have a ton. I saw an article recently with some average speeds from D-Line, O-Line, Backers etc broken down by conference. Pretty staggering the advantage the SEC has over the PAC on those levels. Football is not a flat out 100 meter dash. If it were, DAT would never be touched. It is a game of angles. If DAT is trying to make the corner in the PAC and is going against a linebacker with a good angle and a 4.6 40 time he's gone. Same scenario against a backer from the SEC with a 4.5 40 time and the story isn't quite the same. In addition to that the DE in the SEC probably stretched DAT out a step or to further because he's a bit quicker on average.
MATCH UPS - Overall the SEC has an advantage in match ups. If you look at the modern time (since 2000) the series is 12-12 after LSU beat up Washington this year. Let's break down the games a little more.
-In the SEC's 12 wins they were the higher ranked team in 8 of those wins. Looking at the underdog wins we have the following. Last year OR was #3 and LSU was #4 when LSU won the game. #23 TN knocked off #9 CAL back in 2006. There were 2 match ups between unranked opponents won by the SEC.
-In the PAC's 12 wins they were the higher ranked team 7 times. Looking at the upsets again. In 2000 UCLA was unranked when they beat #3 Bama. #8 USC shut out #6 Auburn in 2003. In 2008 unranked UCLA beat #18 TN by 3 pts in OT.
When looking at upsets the Pac is 3-2 over the SEC and while an unranked PAC team has defeated a ranked SEC team twice an unranked SEC team has not defeated a ranked PAC team (say that three times fast). When both teams are unranked the PAC is 2-1 over the SEC.
If you compare the last 12 years there are some things you can point to in the PAC to make a case that we are right there with the SEC. The stat that counts though, is titles. In that same 12 years the SEC has 7 and the PAC has 2. If you dig into the titles further you have FL, LSU, BAMA, Auburn all winning titles. In the PAC you have USC. Oregon has come close but you'd be hard pressed to make an argument over the past 12 years that any other PAC school was up there in that top level. Stanford was pretty good these last couple years under Luck. Look at the overall bowl records and you will again see the SEC's records show they are the best.
It is a shame that the PAC and the SEC can't play a little more frequently so the debate could continue to roll on.
Bottom line for the PAC is if we want the recognition we need to get to winning those games.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Week 5 - Washington State
This week we go rolling up to Seattle to face the Washington State Cougars. The Cougars have been all over the place this year, did they really just lose to Colorado? Ouch! Realistically the Cougars should not pose any serious threat to us. After USC last year the theme should remain that we overlook no one. Win The Day!
What do I want to see? A win, again. And every week from here on in. Just a win.
What will I be excited to watch for this week.
#1 - Again, I am loving this defense. Ifo and the backfield will have to be on again this week, Wazzu has the Mike Leach air assault and while they have sputtered there is talent there, if it decides to gel this week they are capable of putting up some numbers. For me defense begins with the front 4. Last week the D-line did a fantastic job. Kiko and Clay did a great job on the 2nd level. Oddly enough, Boseko didn't have any big plays in a game of big plays by the defense, so he is due. If you have any question on how a front 4 can change a game see Seahawks vs Packers last Monday night. (minus the last play) For the remainder of this year if our front 4 can control the line of scrimmage that will allow our backers and d-backs to make the big plays they are capable of making.
Looking forward for just a moment, I personally think Alabama has the best team in the country. Not that they are unbeatable, but that is a solid team. I live in SEC country so I get to watch them. Make it a point to watch them play, you wont regret it. Top level athletes at every position who play damn near mistake free football. And, a GREAT O-Line. If we are to win out I believe we will have a date with Bama. Our D-Line will be tested in that game more than any others we face. So, continue to grow and improve!
#2 - The Diesel Package! Maybe it is the kid in me but there is something exciting about an athlete like Colt. I may have a new man crush, sorry James Roday but it's over. I will still think of you fondly when I watch Psych.
I really think this is a huge discovery and another fantastic innovation from Chip Kelly. Continue to work Colt as the number 2 RB and get DAT his touches on the sprint sweeps and quick passes letting him work in space.
Who doesn't want to see more of this....Check out this very 1st play, 5-6 yards crushing and dragging people
#3 - I love my new QB. Mari-O-TAH had a sporatic 1st half last week. I have some friends that we're wanting to see more of Bennet. While I disagree with pulling him I would like to see improvements every week. Chew on this for a moment. Marcus was 20 for 35 with 260 yards. Not a bad stat line. My unofficial drop count was at 4. The 4 drops we had I believe were all for 1st downs, so they were drive killers. 24 for 35 with 300 yards would have been considered a fantastic game. As they say....it is a game of inches. I would love to see Marcus break a big run. Not sure if Chip has the reigns on him a tad or not, we speculated about that all last year with Darron. I just want to make defenses say "huh, did you see that, we need to watch him too????" I do have just 1 request though. We saw Bralon catch a nice deep ball, we've had several medium range ones. Can we have 3-4 shots down the field a game? Thanks!
#4 - I think the biggest room for improvement is still in the WR corp. I'd like to see Dwayne and Bralon get some more balls this week. I really feel like those 2 guys are going to be the guys. I don't have anything against the rest of them, I feel like they are solid guys. Just from what I've seen I think those 2 are really going to make a difference the further this year goes by. And, they are both true freshman. How exciting is this team?
As always, feel free to discuss.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
What do I want to see? A win, again. And every week from here on in. Just a win.
What will I be excited to watch for this week.
#1 - Again, I am loving this defense. Ifo and the backfield will have to be on again this week, Wazzu has the Mike Leach air assault and while they have sputtered there is talent there, if it decides to gel this week they are capable of putting up some numbers. For me defense begins with the front 4. Last week the D-line did a fantastic job. Kiko and Clay did a great job on the 2nd level. Oddly enough, Boseko didn't have any big plays in a game of big plays by the defense, so he is due. If you have any question on how a front 4 can change a game see Seahawks vs Packers last Monday night. (minus the last play) For the remainder of this year if our front 4 can control the line of scrimmage that will allow our backers and d-backs to make the big plays they are capable of making.
Looking forward for just a moment, I personally think Alabama has the best team in the country. Not that they are unbeatable, but that is a solid team. I live in SEC country so I get to watch them. Make it a point to watch them play, you wont regret it. Top level athletes at every position who play damn near mistake free football. And, a GREAT O-Line. If we are to win out I believe we will have a date with Bama. Our D-Line will be tested in that game more than any others we face. So, continue to grow and improve!
#2 - The Diesel Package! Maybe it is the kid in me but there is something exciting about an athlete like Colt. I may have a new man crush, sorry James Roday but it's over. I will still think of you fondly when I watch Psych.
I really think this is a huge discovery and another fantastic innovation from Chip Kelly. Continue to work Colt as the number 2 RB and get DAT his touches on the sprint sweeps and quick passes letting him work in space.
Who doesn't want to see more of this....Check out this very 1st play, 5-6 yards crushing and dragging people
#3 - I love my new QB. Mari-O-TAH had a sporatic 1st half last week. I have some friends that we're wanting to see more of Bennet. While I disagree with pulling him I would like to see improvements every week. Chew on this for a moment. Marcus was 20 for 35 with 260 yards. Not a bad stat line. My unofficial drop count was at 4. The 4 drops we had I believe were all for 1st downs, so they were drive killers. 24 for 35 with 300 yards would have been considered a fantastic game. As they say....it is a game of inches. I would love to see Marcus break a big run. Not sure if Chip has the reigns on him a tad or not, we speculated about that all last year with Darron. I just want to make defenses say "huh, did you see that, we need to watch him too????" I do have just 1 request though. We saw Bralon catch a nice deep ball, we've had several medium range ones. Can we have 3-4 shots down the field a game? Thanks!
#4 - I think the biggest room for improvement is still in the WR corp. I'd like to see Dwayne and Bralon get some more balls this week. I really feel like those 2 guys are going to be the guys. I don't have anything against the rest of them, I feel like they are solid guys. Just from what I've seen I think those 2 are really going to make a difference the further this year goes by. And, they are both true freshman. How exciting is this team?
As always, feel free to discuss.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Week 4 - Ducks 49 Wildcats 0
WHEW! What a game.
Let's soak that in for a minute. You are playing a top 25 team and you win 49-0. A team that put up 59 and 56 points in their last two games, and you shut them out. A QB who had thrown 7 TD's and 1 pick all year, and you snatch 3 from him. I said the only thing I "wanted" this week was a win and boy did I get one.
Let's run down the list of keys I wanted in a perfect world scenario. Here's that link - http://www.duckfanintn.blogspot.com/2012/09/week-4-arizona-wildcats.html
#1 - I wanted to see D. I wanted to see how the front four would control the run. AZ had 32 carries for 89 yards. 2.8 yards per carry. Let's call that one an A+. Or, A++++. Carey is a solid back and he'd been getting a lot of buzz, the D looked fantastic. In a perfect world maybe we get a couple more sacks, but who am I to complain.
#1 - The 2nd number 1. I wanted to see a full game. I think I got that. I don't recall 1 play where it appeared someone took a play off. Very good job playing the full game.
#2 - I wanted to see super Mario run the offense. I also wanted him to see a little pressure/adversity. I got to see both. Marcus struggled a bit in the 1st half. The offense wasn't clicking and things were just kind of sputtering along. I started to think how far we've come as Duck fans. 5 years ago a 13-0 lead at the half would have been fantastic, now I'm sitting there thinking ???what??? we're not up by 50 yet????
#3 - DAT! OK, just a little more snobbery for a moment. DAT gets 48 yards on the ground, 11 yards through the air and 38 on a punt return. I'm calling that a bad game? Of course this is not bad. No break out runs but DAT had a solid performance here. The punt return was a bit of a spark. Let's give some credit to AZ's defense here, they did a great job maintaining their gaps and tackling in the open field. My friends over at http://fishduck.com/ have some pretty kick ass tutorials about our zone reads, what we look for and how they run. One of Oregon's big goals is to get our quick guys 1 on 1 in a big hole and force you to tackle us. Backs like LMJ last year, DAT and KB this year, make that extremely difficult. AZ did a very good job last night.
#4 - Wanted to see the TE's get involved. Really only got Colt involved. 2 catches for 53 yards. More about Colt later.
#5 - Keep feeding Bralon Addison the ball. 3 catches for 83 yards and a pretty nice 55 yard TD. I'll take it. We have a full stable of possession receivers. We need to stretch the field. Bralon, along with other true frosh Dwayne Stanford may be the guys to do that.
Overall I don't know that the game could have gone any better. 49-0 is about as good of a win you can expect. Right off the bat Chip did what almost none would do. Start the game going on a 4th and 2. We miss and the D holds. WOW! AZ would end up in the red zone 6 times with ZERO points. The WR's still put a few balls on the ground, but again, here's a little bit of the snob coming out. "what??? DAT didn't score??? we didn't have 50 at half time?? We dropped passes??? Not enough sacks??? 8 penalties???" Yes, all those things happen and I'm still grinning ear to ear. :) see.
Colt for heisman? No? How about 7 carries for 63 yards and a TD. How about 2 catches for 53 yards and a TD. How about he carried the ball and the QB in for a TD run? How about those were his 1st 7 carries as a Duck? I definitely like "The Diesel" package as I am calling it. I may take some crap for this and I don't get to see all the practices but I think it is not a stretch here to make Colt the back up running back and let DAT catch more balls. DAT is special and I know he is tough. But I would be fibbing if I said I didn't cringe when he darts up the middle and takes some of those big hits. I don't think he's going to break in half or anything. I just think we can get him all those touches on the outside. Maybe Colt could return kicks??? I kid, I kid. Did you know that Colt rushed for 1500+ and 26 TD's his senior year in high school? That same year he caught 35 passes for 843 yards and 13 TD's. If you doubt the athletic ability of a guy 6 ft 5 and 250.....
Player of the game? Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. 2 interceptions, 1 run back for a TD. The commentators said it best after the 2nd pick. All of the sudden they quit throwing to his side of the field. He was, as they say in hockey, standing on his head last night. Ifo looked fantastic.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Let's soak that in for a minute. You are playing a top 25 team and you win 49-0. A team that put up 59 and 56 points in their last two games, and you shut them out. A QB who had thrown 7 TD's and 1 pick all year, and you snatch 3 from him. I said the only thing I "wanted" this week was a win and boy did I get one.
Let's run down the list of keys I wanted in a perfect world scenario. Here's that link - http://www.duckfanintn.blogspot.com/2012/09/week-4-arizona-wildcats.html
#1 - I wanted to see D. I wanted to see how the front four would control the run. AZ had 32 carries for 89 yards. 2.8 yards per carry. Let's call that one an A+. Or, A++++. Carey is a solid back and he'd been getting a lot of buzz, the D looked fantastic. In a perfect world maybe we get a couple more sacks, but who am I to complain.
#1 - The 2nd number 1. I wanted to see a full game. I think I got that. I don't recall 1 play where it appeared someone took a play off. Very good job playing the full game.
#2 - I wanted to see super Mario run the offense. I also wanted him to see a little pressure/adversity. I got to see both. Marcus struggled a bit in the 1st half. The offense wasn't clicking and things were just kind of sputtering along. I started to think how far we've come as Duck fans. 5 years ago a 13-0 lead at the half would have been fantastic, now I'm sitting there thinking ???what??? we're not up by 50 yet????
#3 - DAT! OK, just a little more snobbery for a moment. DAT gets 48 yards on the ground, 11 yards through the air and 38 on a punt return. I'm calling that a bad game? Of course this is not bad. No break out runs but DAT had a solid performance here. The punt return was a bit of a spark. Let's give some credit to AZ's defense here, they did a great job maintaining their gaps and tackling in the open field. My friends over at http://fishduck.com/ have some pretty kick ass tutorials about our zone reads, what we look for and how they run. One of Oregon's big goals is to get our quick guys 1 on 1 in a big hole and force you to tackle us. Backs like LMJ last year, DAT and KB this year, make that extremely difficult. AZ did a very good job last night.
#4 - Wanted to see the TE's get involved. Really only got Colt involved. 2 catches for 53 yards. More about Colt later.
#5 - Keep feeding Bralon Addison the ball. 3 catches for 83 yards and a pretty nice 55 yard TD. I'll take it. We have a full stable of possession receivers. We need to stretch the field. Bralon, along with other true frosh Dwayne Stanford may be the guys to do that.
Overall I don't know that the game could have gone any better. 49-0 is about as good of a win you can expect. Right off the bat Chip did what almost none would do. Start the game going on a 4th and 2. We miss and the D holds. WOW! AZ would end up in the red zone 6 times with ZERO points. The WR's still put a few balls on the ground, but again, here's a little bit of the snob coming out. "what??? DAT didn't score??? we didn't have 50 at half time?? We dropped passes??? Not enough sacks??? 8 penalties???" Yes, all those things happen and I'm still grinning ear to ear. :) see.
Colt for heisman? No? How about 7 carries for 63 yards and a TD. How about 2 catches for 53 yards and a TD. How about he carried the ball and the QB in for a TD run? How about those were his 1st 7 carries as a Duck? I definitely like "The Diesel" package as I am calling it. I may take some crap for this and I don't get to see all the practices but I think it is not a stretch here to make Colt the back up running back and let DAT catch more balls. DAT is special and I know he is tough. But I would be fibbing if I said I didn't cringe when he darts up the middle and takes some of those big hits. I don't think he's going to break in half or anything. I just think we can get him all those touches on the outside. Maybe Colt could return kicks??? I kid, I kid. Did you know that Colt rushed for 1500+ and 26 TD's his senior year in high school? That same year he caught 35 passes for 843 yards and 13 TD's. If you doubt the athletic ability of a guy 6 ft 5 and 250.....
Player of the game? Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. 2 interceptions, 1 run back for a TD. The commentators said it best after the 2nd pick. All of the sudden they quit throwing to his side of the field. He was, as they say in hockey, standing on his head last night. Ifo looked fantastic.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Week 4 - Arizona Wildcats
We're getting out of the scrimmage part of the season and into our conference play. I saw many articles leading up to the first three games saying "watch out for this.." "don't overlook...." and while I agree we don't ever want to overlook someone there really wasn't any legitimate threat in the first couple games of this year. My preview of the game was basically a wish list of what I wanted to see executed, working in some younger players and just getting the team to gel as a unit instead of a bunch of playmakers. I feel pretty good about the team on both sides of the ball, we're ready to begin playing a higher level of competition. When you are breaking in a ton of young players three cupcakes is a great way to start a season. Two weeks ago the Pac-12 got a good bump with and handful of big upsets. One of those teams was the Arizona Wildcats over OK ST 59-38. Nice win for a team with a new coach.
What do I want out of this game? Same thing I'm going to want from now on. A win. Plain and simple.
Not much of a preview huh? Let's see what I'm expecting and what I'd see in a perfect world.
#1 - While we are an explosive offense that is a joy to watch I'm really looking forward to see our D matched up against some high caliber offenses. Specifically the front four and how they control the run. We've upgraded over the last couple years and I want to see if we now have a team that can play shut down D. I'm excited to see the interior guys like Remington, Ebert, Heimuli and Keliikipi bog down the middle to force RB's into our speed on the outside. And I want to see exterior guys getting to the QB.
#1 - Yes, I do have 2 items at number 1. We haven't really put a full game together. The last few years we've played good in the 1st half and dominated the 2nd half. We can't play a half game against Arizona. I want to see the 1st series or 2 after halftime.
#2 - Let's sit back and watch our Offense get tested for the first time. I want to see Mari-O-TAH run this well oiled machine. I do want to see Marcus face a little pressure in this game as well. Builds character.
#3 - DAT! The human highlight reel. He should get 15-20+ touches in this game. He's been scoring twice a game with minimal carries. Love watching that young man play the game.
#4 - Colt, Pharaoh, TJ and Koa. If there is any hiccup or wrinkle I want to see Marcus rely on some large bodied strong athletes for some over the middle 1st downs. We have a ton of size and talent at the TE position. Lean on that early in the game.
#5 - Keep feeding Bralon Addison the ball. I see him getting more and more comfortable and getting closer and closer to breaking out. A couple of good plays early can build confidence and we will see a star emerge at some point this year. I'm hoping for sooner rather than later in the year.
My concerns for this game are some trouble early. Marcus is the leader now, he's shown us that he is cool under pressure. But we haven't seen any real pressure. Something like a couple of sacks, big hit or interception early can rock players. I would like to see him face some adversity in this game, not that I want him to make mistakes, but I'd rather get some of those tough moments out of the way so we see how they are handled.
Ka'Deem Carey is a good running back, I'm wanting to see our interior stand up well against their line because if he does get going early it will give their QB some comfort and allow him to relax.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
What do I want out of this game? Same thing I'm going to want from now on. A win. Plain and simple.
Not much of a preview huh? Let's see what I'm expecting and what I'd see in a perfect world.
#1 - While we are an explosive offense that is a joy to watch I'm really looking forward to see our D matched up against some high caliber offenses. Specifically the front four and how they control the run. We've upgraded over the last couple years and I want to see if we now have a team that can play shut down D. I'm excited to see the interior guys like Remington, Ebert, Heimuli and Keliikipi bog down the middle to force RB's into our speed on the outside. And I want to see exterior guys getting to the QB.
#1 - Yes, I do have 2 items at number 1. We haven't really put a full game together. The last few years we've played good in the 1st half and dominated the 2nd half. We can't play a half game against Arizona. I want to see the 1st series or 2 after halftime.
#2 - Let's sit back and watch our Offense get tested for the first time. I want to see Mari-O-TAH run this well oiled machine. I do want to see Marcus face a little pressure in this game as well. Builds character.
#3 - DAT! The human highlight reel. He should get 15-20+ touches in this game. He's been scoring twice a game with minimal carries. Love watching that young man play the game.
#4 - Colt, Pharaoh, TJ and Koa. If there is any hiccup or wrinkle I want to see Marcus rely on some large bodied strong athletes for some over the middle 1st downs. We have a ton of size and talent at the TE position. Lean on that early in the game.
#5 - Keep feeding Bralon Addison the ball. I see him getting more and more comfortable and getting closer and closer to breaking out. A couple of good plays early can build confidence and we will see a star emerge at some point this year. I'm hoping for sooner rather than later in the year.
My concerns for this game are some trouble early. Marcus is the leader now, he's shown us that he is cool under pressure. But we haven't seen any real pressure. Something like a couple of sacks, big hit or interception early can rock players. I would like to see him face some adversity in this game, not that I want him to make mistakes, but I'd rather get some of those tough moments out of the way so we see how they are handled.
Ka'Deem Carey is a good running back, I'm wanting to see our interior stand up well against their line because if he does get going early it will give their QB some comfort and allow him to relax.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, September 17, 2012
Who do we give the ball too?
As the team continues to gel around new QB Marcus Mari-O-TAH this may be a good problem to have. A TON of playmakers.
Just in the last week I've seen articles about DAT not getting the ball enough. I've seen complaints that Colt Lyerla doesn't get the ball enough. Why did our starting running back only get 13 carries last week? I want to see more of this new Braylon Addison??? Marcus is so fast, shouldn't he carry the ball more? I want I want I want. Jake Fisher scored a TD! Should we give him a few carries????
Chip Kelly may have too many weapons this year. At some point, we will see them all. If you are a fan of one guy in particular this may be a long season.
Let's go down the list of a perfect game. FIRST THE RUN GAME -
Kenjon Barner - Starting running back, when LMJ left to play on Sunday's last year averaging over 30 carries per game people asked if Kenjon was ready for all that. My opinion he doesn't need to do what LMJ did.
Kenjon gets 25 touches per game. This may include a reception or two our of the backfield.
DAT - Shouldn't the Black Mamba get the ball every time? Maybe! I'd love to see that, wouldn't you? But no, unfortunately we cannot give him the ball each and every time.
DAT gets 15 runs per game. At the rate he racks up yards this would be about 300 yards per game and 3 td's. :)
Marcus Mariota - As much as I love the speed I see Chip putting the brakes on him a little. I would like to see 10 but I don't think he'll get there.
Marcus gets 7 runs per game.
Byron Marshall - Yes he is a true freshman. Yes we have Kenjon. But if Byron can progress the way he did from week 1 to week 3 we may see him. The redshirt is off, no need to keep that talent on the bench. With closed practices we don't get to see what he's doing behind the scenes so now we will have to wait.
Bryan Bennet - We saw him line up in the back field this past week? Will we see more? But we all like to see him run.
Bennett and Marshall could come in from time to time and give people a rest, picking up 8-10 carries per game.
With nothing accounted for Byron on a per game basis we are at 47 touches. The Ducks can get 80 plays a game and a 47 - 33 run to pass ratio wouldn't be to crazy. I think we're al a little more used to 55-25 run to pass ratio. So we may need 8 more touches.
Now - THE PASSING GAME
The Tight Ends - A young QB's best friend in a tight situation. I would not mind one bit if a TE ended up being our leading receiver this year.
Colt Lyerla - I think Colt is a hell of an athlete. Paulson was underused last year. It would be a shame if Colt didn't get in the ball park of 6 catches per game. I don't know if our scheme will make this happen, but it really should.
Pharaoh Brown - Only 2 catches so far this year. But I like what I see, a 21 and a 26 yard reception are 2 of the longest of the season.
Haven't even touched on Koa yet. We have a stable of TE's. I think the absolute best case scenario for us is if Colt can continue to impress and become THE #1 guy. How scary would our IZR and OZR be if we all of the sudden had 2 TE's in the game. :) TE's that are big, physical and can run down the field.
The WR's. I've been wanting 1 guy to bust out and become the guy, so far that hasn't happened. The good news is that Marcus hit 12 different players during his 21 completions this past week. All the guys seem pretty solid. If Colt and the TE's get 10 catches a game it really only leaves 15-23 receptions left in a game.
DAT - Yup, him again. I don't know that he'll get 15 runs AND 5-7 receptions per game, but I wouldn't put it past him. The best comment about DAT came early last year, may have been right before the LSU game, Chip Kelly basically said 'you cannot not give him the ball, he just does it over and over again'.
Braylon Addison - I have a friend from TX who continues to tell me to wait until Braylon hits his stride. He has proven to be a solid possession receiver, let's see what happens when he gets 100% comfortable out there and starts breaking some tackles. We heard a ton of rumors about him from the players coming out of the practices, I get excited every time he gets a shot waiting for that play that puts us on notice that he is here. 6 per game for Braylon.
Dwayne Stanford - 6 receptions so far this year. Hasn't cracked the starting lineup but his size has me paying attention. Who doesn't want a guy with 6 ft 5 in height hauling in 6 - 8 catches per game? If I had to bet on this, I'd say Braylon becomes another big play guy and Dwayne becomes a go to receiver this year. A guy you depend on to make a big catch in the back of the end zone.
BJ Kelley - All that speed, another guy I'd love to break out. I still believe our offense sees a level even the most homerish of Duck fans can't dream of if we can stretch the field. A true deep threat that picks up 40 yard (in the air) receptions 2-3 times a game. BJ could and should be that guy.
So here's the problem. If DAT, Braylon and Dwayne pull down 6 each and BJ gets 2 that = 20 receptions. At 10 from the TE's and we're already over my low estimate of 25 passes a game. Only 3 passes away from the high estimate. And we still have a ton of great guys to talk about.
I mean no disrespect by choosing 2 true frosh and a RS frosh over this next list of guys. If Lowe, Hawk and Dungy get 18 while the others get scraps and we are winning I'm still a happy happy Duck fan. These guys have shown me in the 1st 3 games that they do deserve some time and that they can be quality possession receivers. I see them more taking 'turns', sharing 5 catches per game, rotating games of who has the hot hand.
This still leaves Vaughn. I feel bad to be so excited about some of our new guys because last year we were all drooling over Vaughn. Another guy who could absolutely become the guy to make big plays and be a go to guy. I feel a bit dirty listing him 7th. 7th!
Our WR corp has 7 guys who could become go to guys. I don't mind the committee approach but I would like a superstar to emerge. 7 solid guys who can block downfield. Add to that DAT and a freak athlete that is Colt Lyerla and we could be scary. I say could be only because I don't have the full faith in our passing game just yet. This Arizona match up and every week could prove me wrong.
It may be optimistic but I 100% believe we can match last years ground production AND add a 300+ yard passing threat to every game.
One last time - THIS is a GREAT problem to have.
Please feel free to leave any comment you'd like.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Just in the last week I've seen articles about DAT not getting the ball enough. I've seen complaints that Colt Lyerla doesn't get the ball enough. Why did our starting running back only get 13 carries last week? I want to see more of this new Braylon Addison??? Marcus is so fast, shouldn't he carry the ball more? I want I want I want. Jake Fisher scored a TD! Should we give him a few carries????
Chip Kelly may have too many weapons this year. At some point, we will see them all. If you are a fan of one guy in particular this may be a long season.
Let's go down the list of a perfect game. FIRST THE RUN GAME -
Kenjon Barner - Starting running back, when LMJ left to play on Sunday's last year averaging over 30 carries per game people asked if Kenjon was ready for all that. My opinion he doesn't need to do what LMJ did.
Kenjon gets 25 touches per game. This may include a reception or two our of the backfield.
DAT - Shouldn't the Black Mamba get the ball every time? Maybe! I'd love to see that, wouldn't you? But no, unfortunately we cannot give him the ball each and every time.
DAT gets 15 runs per game. At the rate he racks up yards this would be about 300 yards per game and 3 td's. :)
Marcus Mariota - As much as I love the speed I see Chip putting the brakes on him a little. I would like to see 10 but I don't think he'll get there.
Marcus gets 7 runs per game.
Byron Marshall - Yes he is a true freshman. Yes we have Kenjon. But if Byron can progress the way he did from week 1 to week 3 we may see him. The redshirt is off, no need to keep that talent on the bench. With closed practices we don't get to see what he's doing behind the scenes so now we will have to wait.
Bryan Bennet - We saw him line up in the back field this past week? Will we see more? But we all like to see him run.
Bennett and Marshall could come in from time to time and give people a rest, picking up 8-10 carries per game.
With nothing accounted for Byron on a per game basis we are at 47 touches. The Ducks can get 80 plays a game and a 47 - 33 run to pass ratio wouldn't be to crazy. I think we're al a little more used to 55-25 run to pass ratio. So we may need 8 more touches.
Now - THE PASSING GAME
The Tight Ends - A young QB's best friend in a tight situation. I would not mind one bit if a TE ended up being our leading receiver this year.
Colt Lyerla - I think Colt is a hell of an athlete. Paulson was underused last year. It would be a shame if Colt didn't get in the ball park of 6 catches per game. I don't know if our scheme will make this happen, but it really should.
Pharaoh Brown - Only 2 catches so far this year. But I like what I see, a 21 and a 26 yard reception are 2 of the longest of the season.
Haven't even touched on Koa yet. We have a stable of TE's. I think the absolute best case scenario for us is if Colt can continue to impress and become THE #1 guy. How scary would our IZR and OZR be if we all of the sudden had 2 TE's in the game. :) TE's that are big, physical and can run down the field.
The WR's. I've been wanting 1 guy to bust out and become the guy, so far that hasn't happened. The good news is that Marcus hit 12 different players during his 21 completions this past week. All the guys seem pretty solid. If Colt and the TE's get 10 catches a game it really only leaves 15-23 receptions left in a game.
DAT - Yup, him again. I don't know that he'll get 15 runs AND 5-7 receptions per game, but I wouldn't put it past him. The best comment about DAT came early last year, may have been right before the LSU game, Chip Kelly basically said 'you cannot not give him the ball, he just does it over and over again'.
Braylon Addison - I have a friend from TX who continues to tell me to wait until Braylon hits his stride. He has proven to be a solid possession receiver, let's see what happens when he gets 100% comfortable out there and starts breaking some tackles. We heard a ton of rumors about him from the players coming out of the practices, I get excited every time he gets a shot waiting for that play that puts us on notice that he is here. 6 per game for Braylon.
Dwayne Stanford - 6 receptions so far this year. Hasn't cracked the starting lineup but his size has me paying attention. Who doesn't want a guy with 6 ft 5 in height hauling in 6 - 8 catches per game? If I had to bet on this, I'd say Braylon becomes another big play guy and Dwayne becomes a go to receiver this year. A guy you depend on to make a big catch in the back of the end zone.
BJ Kelley - All that speed, another guy I'd love to break out. I still believe our offense sees a level even the most homerish of Duck fans can't dream of if we can stretch the field. A true deep threat that picks up 40 yard (in the air) receptions 2-3 times a game. BJ could and should be that guy.
So here's the problem. If DAT, Braylon and Dwayne pull down 6 each and BJ gets 2 that = 20 receptions. At 10 from the TE's and we're already over my low estimate of 25 passes a game. Only 3 passes away from the high estimate. And we still have a ton of great guys to talk about.
I mean no disrespect by choosing 2 true frosh and a RS frosh over this next list of guys. If Lowe, Hawk and Dungy get 18 while the others get scraps and we are winning I'm still a happy happy Duck fan. These guys have shown me in the 1st 3 games that they do deserve some time and that they can be quality possession receivers. I see them more taking 'turns', sharing 5 catches per game, rotating games of who has the hot hand.
This still leaves Vaughn. I feel bad to be so excited about some of our new guys because last year we were all drooling over Vaughn. Another guy who could absolutely become the guy to make big plays and be a go to guy. I feel a bit dirty listing him 7th. 7th!
Our WR corp has 7 guys who could become go to guys. I don't mind the committee approach but I would like a superstar to emerge. 7 solid guys who can block downfield. Add to that DAT and a freak athlete that is Colt Lyerla and we could be scary. I say could be only because I don't have the full faith in our passing game just yet. This Arizona match up and every week could prove me wrong.
It may be optimistic but I 100% believe we can match last years ground production AND add a 300+ yard passing threat to every game.
One last time - THIS is a GREAT problem to have.
Please feel free to leave any comment you'd like.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Week 3 - The Recap
Got to see a lot this week, a good game to evaluate some things.
I wanted to see the passing game, specifically some deep balls. We got to see several receptions over 20 yards in the air. Mario-TAH completed 21 of 28 for 308 and 4 TD's. The interception was pretty ugly but overall he did well. Pharoah Brown dropped a 20+ yarded right up the middle, the throw may have been a bit high but we need those catches. I thought maybe there were 1-2 other drops. So a good day for Marcus. 12 different receivers caught balls! Addison continues to improve, I thought Vaughn looked pretty good and Lowe did well also.
DAT! What can you say about him? More like what can't you say? It will be nice to get into non-cupcake area to see what he does with 15 touches a game.
I wanted to see our D in complete shutdown mode. Great job D! 77 plays and only 177 yards. 2.5 yards a carry. That is what we need to do to these teams. If you look at what Stanford's D did last night you'll see what we need to do in our big games. Our D line needs to dominate the line against Stanford, USC, WA and AZ. With the talent we have at the 1st 2 levels on D I want to get away from the "bend but don't break" mentality. Stanford showed what to do to Barkely, hit him over and over. Our D line is capable of those same results.
Go Byron Marshall. He had a none flashy workman like game against Arky State. Yesterday he looked great. Big gains, showed speed and the ability to find the hole. He still has some room to grow, but I liked what I saw.
What didn't I like?
Penalties. Not only penalties, dumb drive continuing penalties on D. Several 15 yarders on 3rd down.
Special teams. UGH. Over the years we've had some big changes in games on special teams. The LSU game??? Fumbles on punt and kick returns have been a thorn in our side. Just field the kick and do what you do. Catching the ball by flying in there with 7 defenders within 3 yards is not bravery.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I wanted to see the passing game, specifically some deep balls. We got to see several receptions over 20 yards in the air. Mario-TAH completed 21 of 28 for 308 and 4 TD's. The interception was pretty ugly but overall he did well. Pharoah Brown dropped a 20+ yarded right up the middle, the throw may have been a bit high but we need those catches. I thought maybe there were 1-2 other drops. So a good day for Marcus. 12 different receivers caught balls! Addison continues to improve, I thought Vaughn looked pretty good and Lowe did well also.
DAT! What can you say about him? More like what can't you say? It will be nice to get into non-cupcake area to see what he does with 15 touches a game.
I wanted to see our D in complete shutdown mode. Great job D! 77 plays and only 177 yards. 2.5 yards a carry. That is what we need to do to these teams. If you look at what Stanford's D did last night you'll see what we need to do in our big games. Our D line needs to dominate the line against Stanford, USC, WA and AZ. With the talent we have at the 1st 2 levels on D I want to get away from the "bend but don't break" mentality. Stanford showed what to do to Barkely, hit him over and over. Our D line is capable of those same results.
Go Byron Marshall. He had a none flashy workman like game against Arky State. Yesterday he looked great. Big gains, showed speed and the ability to find the hole. He still has some room to grow, but I liked what I saw.
What didn't I like?
Penalties. Not only penalties, dumb drive continuing penalties on D. Several 15 yarders on 3rd down.
Special teams. UGH. Over the years we've had some big changes in games on special teams. The LSU game??? Fumbles on punt and kick returns have been a thorn in our side. Just field the kick and do what you do. Catching the ball by flying in there with 7 defenders within 3 yards is not bravery.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Week 3 - TN Tech
Another week another home game another cup cake. What can we learn this week?
1 - This is going to be an exaggeration but I still think our biggest question lies at receiver, other than DAT. So here's what I'd like to see.
5 pass plays over 15 yards all to Addison.
Then 5 over 15 to Kelley.
Then to Vaughn.
Stanford, Lowe, Hawk, Dungy.
You get the point here. I need to see a deep passing game. Chip, I gotta have it.
2 - I know Chip doesn't like to put numbers down for touches but can we make it a point to get the ball in Colt's hands more? I truly felt like Paulson was under used last year. I'm not saying 25 times or anything, but 5? 7? As the O sputtered in the 2nd Half last week I think we could have gone to Colt some. 4 touches for Colt in 2 games.
On a side note here, this is a good problem to have. We have so many playmakers it will be impossible to get them all the touches they need. KB - 25 touches. DAT - 15-20. Colt - 5-7. Marcus - 10. I'm already at 60 touches or so and we haven't even hit the WR's.
3 - On the defensive side of the ball I'd like to take a cue from our little brother. Was OSU not inspired last week against Wisky? They completely shut them down. We're playing a cupcake, can't we do the same? They have a UT Vol transfer at WR who can test our corners. Good experience for those young guys.
4 - Looking for the D-line and LB's to step up their game to assist in the process of missing Boyett. What a shame he got injured. As a fan of the game I LOVED watching him play. So I'd like to see a few sacks and a few negative run plays, I want us to blow up their line.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
1 - This is going to be an exaggeration but I still think our biggest question lies at receiver, other than DAT. So here's what I'd like to see.
5 pass plays over 15 yards all to Addison.
Then 5 over 15 to Kelley.
Then to Vaughn.
Stanford, Lowe, Hawk, Dungy.
You get the point here. I need to see a deep passing game. Chip, I gotta have it.
2 - I know Chip doesn't like to put numbers down for touches but can we make it a point to get the ball in Colt's hands more? I truly felt like Paulson was under used last year. I'm not saying 25 times or anything, but 5? 7? As the O sputtered in the 2nd Half last week I think we could have gone to Colt some. 4 touches for Colt in 2 games.
On a side note here, this is a good problem to have. We have so many playmakers it will be impossible to get them all the touches they need. KB - 25 touches. DAT - 15-20. Colt - 5-7. Marcus - 10. I'm already at 60 touches or so and we haven't even hit the WR's.
3 - On the defensive side of the ball I'd like to take a cue from our little brother. Was OSU not inspired last week against Wisky? They completely shut them down. We're playing a cupcake, can't we do the same? They have a UT Vol transfer at WR who can test our corners. Good experience for those young guys.
4 - Looking for the D-line and LB's to step up their game to assist in the process of missing Boyett. What a shame he got injured. As a fan of the game I LOVED watching him play. So I'd like to see a few sacks and a few negative run plays, I want us to blow up their line.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Recap - Fresno State
In a word? Eck. This is why you play tune up games.
In a week where already Oregon State knocked off #13 Wisconsin, ULM knocked of #8 Arkansas and UCLA knocks off #16 Nebraska.... I'm happy that we played pretty rough but were never at a where we were in jeopardy of loosing.
Ducks - 42 Bulldogs - 25
The 1st half looked pretty good. 35-6 and in complete control of the game. The "my Ducks can never be stopped" side of me couldn't believe we had to actually punt but hey, no matter how good you are you are not going to score every time. Well, we do play TN Tech next week so maybe.
DAT - WOW, another day for him. 11 touches and 128 yards. I wonder if he was nicked up a little because he was a little absent in the 2nd half.
KB - Solid game, believe it or not my favorite run was a short game on a 3rd down and 1. Kenjon was popped pretty good in the hole, kept his feed moving and fell forward. He did have the 1st down already, but that is the tough running I was missing. I still want him to break a few more arm tackles.
Colt - Another good run after catch, too many penalties.
Marcus - Another week and another way to pronounce his name. Super Mario looked a little more human this week. Every pass looked picture perfect in week 1. Rougher time this week. He's young and has some growing. How about that play inside our own 10 yard line flinging it out to Addison? Nice. He seemed to be rattled just a bit by the pressure so I'd expect our opponents to send some blitz packages early from now on.
Wide Receivers - Still a concern of mine. I have nothing against DAT, but I don't think he should lead the team in receiving. Huff went down with a left leg injury. Mario-TAH used 9 different receivers to complete his 19 passes, great to spread the ball around, but again I would love to have a go to guy. Specifically one to stretch the field. Colt's 22 yard reception was the longest, and that was a short throw with a run. I need to see someone catching a couple of 35 yard strikes on a post, post corner or deep cross route. Only 3 passes completed over 10 yards today.
Defense - I thought the D looked good today. We got our sacks, the run D was strong. 34 carries for 131 yards for Fresno State, 47 of them came on a fake punt and 1 nice run by Rouse. Take 2 plays out and you have 32 carries for 84 yards. NICE! Still a little concerned about the amount of short passes we are letting get through. But those short passes are better than long ones any day. John Boyett was out today, he's the leader on that defensive unit. To play that well without your leader is pretty solid in my book.
Didn't get to see Byron Marshall today, game was in hand but not a blowout that you want to start throwing your reserves in. That was a little dissapointing but I can live with it. We WTD!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
In a week where already Oregon State knocked off #13 Wisconsin, ULM knocked of #8 Arkansas and UCLA knocks off #16 Nebraska.... I'm happy that we played pretty rough but were never at a where we were in jeopardy of loosing.
Ducks - 42 Bulldogs - 25
The 1st half looked pretty good. 35-6 and in complete control of the game. The "my Ducks can never be stopped" side of me couldn't believe we had to actually punt but hey, no matter how good you are you are not going to score every time. Well, we do play TN Tech next week so maybe.
DAT - WOW, another day for him. 11 touches and 128 yards. I wonder if he was nicked up a little because he was a little absent in the 2nd half.
KB - Solid game, believe it or not my favorite run was a short game on a 3rd down and 1. Kenjon was popped pretty good in the hole, kept his feed moving and fell forward. He did have the 1st down already, but that is the tough running I was missing. I still want him to break a few more arm tackles.
Colt - Another good run after catch, too many penalties.
Marcus - Another week and another way to pronounce his name. Super Mario looked a little more human this week. Every pass looked picture perfect in week 1. Rougher time this week. He's young and has some growing. How about that play inside our own 10 yard line flinging it out to Addison? Nice. He seemed to be rattled just a bit by the pressure so I'd expect our opponents to send some blitz packages early from now on.
Wide Receivers - Still a concern of mine. I have nothing against DAT, but I don't think he should lead the team in receiving. Huff went down with a left leg injury. Mario-TAH used 9 different receivers to complete his 19 passes, great to spread the ball around, but again I would love to have a go to guy. Specifically one to stretch the field. Colt's 22 yard reception was the longest, and that was a short throw with a run. I need to see someone catching a couple of 35 yard strikes on a post, post corner or deep cross route. Only 3 passes completed over 10 yards today.
Defense - I thought the D looked good today. We got our sacks, the run D was strong. 34 carries for 131 yards for Fresno State, 47 of them came on a fake punt and 1 nice run by Rouse. Take 2 plays out and you have 32 carries for 84 yards. NICE! Still a little concerned about the amount of short passes we are letting get through. But those short passes are better than long ones any day. John Boyett was out today, he's the leader on that defensive unit. To play that well without your leader is pretty solid in my book.
Didn't get to see Byron Marshall today, game was in hand but not a blowout that you want to start throwing your reserves in. That was a little dissapointing but I can live with it. We WTD!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This Week = Fresno State
Fresno State should provide a bigger challenge than Arky State did, but this still wont be a big challenge. This is another game we should be able to control from start to finish and on both sides of the ball. Many of the things I'm looking for this week are similar to last week.
If you didn't see the high points from last week, take 12 minutes and check out the new look. Courtesy of MadMike over at Oregon Duck Soup. http://winesfamily.blogspot.com/
#1 - I got to see Mario-TAH run the option a little. We will get to see more of that but now I'm looking for a couple of good deep balls. I LOVED what I saw last week out of the quick passing game, crossing routes and swing passes. We stretch the ball sideline to sideline as good if not better than anyone in the country. I'd still like to see more stretching of the field.
#2 - Defensively I want a sack or two. Arky State has a decent QB and a couple of WR's who are excellent athletes. Their short passing attack kept us on our toes all day. It was more so after we were up 50 points but if they can do it USC can do it, and better. I'd like to see some growth out of the defense this week, specifically the D lines ability to not just pressure the QB, but to get to him, knock him down and sack him. When we play USC our day will get better as Barkley's jersey gets dirtier.
#3 - I am a Kenjon Barner fan, no doubt about it. But I would like to see a nice long run. But....9 carries for 66 yards...that's pretty solid right? 7.3 yards a carry? Right? Yes, that is very good and this may sound snobbish of me but we were playing Arky State. This season I'm thinking in terms of what we can do against USC. 7.3 yards a carry may only be 3 yards vs USC. I don't need 80 yards and a TD every time, but I'd like to see some big runs with solid yards after contact. Three of Barner's carries were 11, 17 and 18. He had a no gain, a 2 yarder and a couple of 4 yarders. For comparrison's sake DAT had 3 carries for 64 yards.
#4 - I want to see more of Byron Marshall. He got 24 carries in mop up duty and had a couple of plays where I saw glimpses of flash. He's a true freshman playing on a top 4 team. Good start with a ton of improvement. I think this week will provide a good look at his learning curve.
#5 - Loved what I saw out of the WR's last week. For this entire off season I've been saying "who will step up"? Looks like maybe a couple guys did. DAT is going to be coming out of the backfield in our Tazer position and he's just brilliant. Lowe and Kelley had a few catches. Huff, Hawkins and Vaughn, Stanford. Mario-TAH chucked that ball to everyone on the team, Bennet kept it going. While this is great, I'd like to see 1 guy become THE guy. 3rd down and we go to ______. I'm talking about an all Pac-12 guy who gets wiffs of being a top round draft choice. A go to guy.
#6 - I want to see Colt get the ball more. I don't have any questions about him, just dayum, did you see him running over people and moving piles???? I want to see more of that because it is fun.
So, there is what I'll be looking for tonight when I watch the game on line because Direct TV and the Pac-12 haven't come to an agreement. Jerks!
If you didn't see the high points from last week, take 12 minutes and check out the new look. Courtesy of MadMike over at Oregon Duck Soup. http://winesfamily.blogspot.com/
#2 - Defensively I want a sack or two. Arky State has a decent QB and a couple of WR's who are excellent athletes. Their short passing attack kept us on our toes all day. It was more so after we were up 50 points but if they can do it USC can do it, and better. I'd like to see some growth out of the defense this week, specifically the D lines ability to not just pressure the QB, but to get to him, knock him down and sack him. When we play USC our day will get better as Barkley's jersey gets dirtier.
#3 - I am a Kenjon Barner fan, no doubt about it. But I would like to see a nice long run. But....9 carries for 66 yards...that's pretty solid right? 7.3 yards a carry? Right? Yes, that is very good and this may sound snobbish of me but we were playing Arky State. This season I'm thinking in terms of what we can do against USC. 7.3 yards a carry may only be 3 yards vs USC. I don't need 80 yards and a TD every time, but I'd like to see some big runs with solid yards after contact. Three of Barner's carries were 11, 17 and 18. He had a no gain, a 2 yarder and a couple of 4 yarders. For comparrison's sake DAT had 3 carries for 64 yards.
#4 - I want to see more of Byron Marshall. He got 24 carries in mop up duty and had a couple of plays where I saw glimpses of flash. He's a true freshman playing on a top 4 team. Good start with a ton of improvement. I think this week will provide a good look at his learning curve.
#5 - Loved what I saw out of the WR's last week. For this entire off season I've been saying "who will step up"? Looks like maybe a couple guys did. DAT is going to be coming out of the backfield in our Tazer position and he's just brilliant. Lowe and Kelley had a few catches. Huff, Hawkins and Vaughn, Stanford. Mario-TAH chucked that ball to everyone on the team, Bennet kept it going. While this is great, I'd like to see 1 guy become THE guy. 3rd down and we go to ______. I'm talking about an all Pac-12 guy who gets wiffs of being a top round draft choice. A go to guy.
#6 - I want to see Colt get the ball more. I don't have any questions about him, just dayum, did you see him running over people and moving piles???? I want to see more of that because it is fun.
So, there is what I'll be looking for tonight when I watch the game on line because Direct TV and the Pac-12 haven't come to an agreement. Jerks!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Week 1 - The Recap
Whew, what a great 1st 20 minutes. 7 drives, 7 TD's in an average of 1 minute 23 seconds. 50-3 when we started rotating in the 2nd string early in the 2nd Quarter. WOW! I certainly got some of the things I wanted and I'll have to wait a few more weeks to see some of the others.
Here's what I saw -
1 - I said I wanted to see a blow out. Just based purely on the score we did let Arky State come back into the game. But I was extremely happy with those 1st 20 minutes. The offense was working on all cylinders. I find it hard to believe that there was ever a battle between Mariota and Bennett. 2 of Bryan's 1st 4 passes were quite a bit off the mark, which may not be such a big deal in a 1st game of the season if it weren't for the fact that Marcus's passes were all about as perfect as you can throw.
2 - I wanted to see how Marcus ran the read option. I thought he did great. If you remove the sack from his stats he ran the ball 4 times for 33 yards. I was more impressed with a scramble where he directed Josh Huff and tossed the ball to him with defenders in his face. He looked like a man among boys. Very impressive performance.
3 - Colt did get into the action. He had a play where he grabbed a catch and it took virtually everyone on that defense to take him down. He's just a kid and as he gets better he could be huge. They are already talking about him being an NFL prospect in his 1st game as a true sophomore.
4 - I wanted to see a breakout WR. Obviously DAT will be a threat every time he touches the ball. And he will be playing some out of that TZR positions. Kind of funny to see the 2 deep chart and see him not listed as a starter. But you are not going keep that kid off the field. 7 touches last night ended in 3 td's. Outside of DAT I don't know that I got a breakout player. But Josh Huff looked great to me. Last year he wasn't himself fighting through injuries. I though Lowe and Kelley played well. Over the next few weeks we'll have to continue watching Addison who in my opinion looked primed to break 1 but just never did. I thought Dwayne Stanford looked good in mop up action.
And my #5 request - Wanted to see a complete shut down by our defense. I have some mixed feelings about this and I need to see more. Here are 2 things to keep in mind before I go into this.
1 - We were playing Arky State. 2 - Our offense plays so fast that our D has to defend more plays so stats can be a bit deceiving when talking D.
In the 1st half I certainly got a shut down, they looked great. The overall performance was fantastic. Here's where I get a little nervous.....
While the D line played very well I really wanted to see a few sacks, not that sacks are everything. It's just that USC's O-line will be MUCH better, we were supposed to see Jordan wrecking QB's. Side note - Alpin looked very good out there. Great job by him keeping his head up and making the offense work in the 2nd half. I was also a little concerned in the secondary. Alpin was able to dink and dunk all night, completing 29 passes for over 300 yards. I am reminded of the nightmare in Autzen last year when USC did the same thing. The difference is USC's WR's will be much better athletically than Arky State's.
WOW, what a 1st 20 minutes or so, just WOW. I may be nit picking the D here, that 1st half was impressive. The line got penetration so saying "no sacks" may be a bit much. But if Alpin and Arky State can execute a ton of 7 yard passes, so can USC. We should have a couple more blow outs, when we get into Pac play we should get some stiffer competition and have a better idea of where we are at.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Here's what I saw -
1 - I said I wanted to see a blow out. Just based purely on the score we did let Arky State come back into the game. But I was extremely happy with those 1st 20 minutes. The offense was working on all cylinders. I find it hard to believe that there was ever a battle between Mariota and Bennett. 2 of Bryan's 1st 4 passes were quite a bit off the mark, which may not be such a big deal in a 1st game of the season if it weren't for the fact that Marcus's passes were all about as perfect as you can throw.
2 - I wanted to see how Marcus ran the read option. I thought he did great. If you remove the sack from his stats he ran the ball 4 times for 33 yards. I was more impressed with a scramble where he directed Josh Huff and tossed the ball to him with defenders in his face. He looked like a man among boys. Very impressive performance.
3 - Colt did get into the action. He had a play where he grabbed a catch and it took virtually everyone on that defense to take him down. He's just a kid and as he gets better he could be huge. They are already talking about him being an NFL prospect in his 1st game as a true sophomore.
4 - I wanted to see a breakout WR. Obviously DAT will be a threat every time he touches the ball. And he will be playing some out of that TZR positions. Kind of funny to see the 2 deep chart and see him not listed as a starter. But you are not going keep that kid off the field. 7 touches last night ended in 3 td's. Outside of DAT I don't know that I got a breakout player. But Josh Huff looked great to me. Last year he wasn't himself fighting through injuries. I though Lowe and Kelley played well. Over the next few weeks we'll have to continue watching Addison who in my opinion looked primed to break 1 but just never did. I thought Dwayne Stanford looked good in mop up action.
And my #5 request - Wanted to see a complete shut down by our defense. I have some mixed feelings about this and I need to see more. Here are 2 things to keep in mind before I go into this.
1 - We were playing Arky State. 2 - Our offense plays so fast that our D has to defend more plays so stats can be a bit deceiving when talking D.
In the 1st half I certainly got a shut down, they looked great. The overall performance was fantastic. Here's where I get a little nervous.....
While the D line played very well I really wanted to see a few sacks, not that sacks are everything. It's just that USC's O-line will be MUCH better, we were supposed to see Jordan wrecking QB's. Side note - Alpin looked very good out there. Great job by him keeping his head up and making the offense work in the 2nd half. I was also a little concerned in the secondary. Alpin was able to dink and dunk all night, completing 29 passes for over 300 yards. I am reminded of the nightmare in Autzen last year when USC did the same thing. The difference is USC's WR's will be much better athletically than Arky State's.
WOW, what a 1st 20 minutes or so, just WOW. I may be nit picking the D here, that 1st half was impressive. The line got penetration so saying "no sacks" may be a bit much. But if Alpin and Arky State can execute a ton of 7 yard passes, so can USC. We should have a couple more blow outs, when we get into Pac play we should get some stiffer competition and have a better idea of where we are at.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Week 1 - Oregon Ducks vs Arkansas State Red Wolves
The football season is FINALLY upon us. I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning in SEC country watching Georgia struggle a little with Buffalo. Before the game they talked about high expectations and winning the SEC's weaker division. Georgia is a team that in my opinion has been overrated the last 5 years or so. They seem to pop up in the Top 10 at the beginning of the year and they lose some games they shouldn't.
I start with that to say that the Ducks also have high expectations. As game day has drawn closer I've seen comments go from "Oregon should mop the floor with cupcake Arky St." to "This game will be closer than people think."
We have a young team and a few question marks. A QB that has never taken a snap and is just a Freshman. A WR corp that seems like it should have a breakout but hasn't. A TE phenom who seems to have some troubles. We don't know what, just that he's had some "things to take care of." A secondary who started as freshman and have a year under their belt now. Another pair of freshman (Arik Armstead, Byron Marshall) who could prove to be the future of the program on O and D.
3 straight Pac titles and 3 straight BCS bowl games place the Ducks in the top tier of college football. Being there is one thing, staying is another.
Here's what I want to see today.
1 - I do want to see a blow out. If we want to be an elite program we need to not slip up when playing these lower rated teams. I don't care if they have a few studs who may make some plays, but we should be able to handle this team.
2 - I want to see how Marcus runs the read option plays. The spring game was great, but we really didn't run our offense, plus it was touch football on the QB. I don't think Marcus needs to carry 25 times for 100 yards or anything. But I always felt like Darron should have kept the ball 4-6 more times than he did.
3 - I want to see Marcus throw to the TE's a bit. Lyerla, Brown, Koa - all young guys, I want to see what they are made of. A TE with great hands and no fear of a crossing route can make a young QB feel very comfortable.
4 - I want to see 1 of our WR's really step up and become a go to guy that people fear. As good as Jeff Maehl was and as much as we all loved him and his work ethic he was not a #1 draft pick that struck fear in the hearts of Defenses. That is what I want.
5 - This one is key. There has been a lot of talk about our defense. I want them to really shut down Arky ST. I don't want them to score in the 1st half of this game. If we rotate a bunch in the 4th QTR and they score some that is not a big deal. I want to see our D shut this team down, completely.
Not sure at this point whether this will go my way, we do have plenty of time with soft opponents and home games to get everything to gel. But we have some questions and I'm hoping they are answered quickly. I don't wan to waltz down to USC in November still wondering who will step up and WR and whether or not our TE position will be consistent.
My Prediction - Ducks 66 - Red Wolves - 13
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I start with that to say that the Ducks also have high expectations. As game day has drawn closer I've seen comments go from "Oregon should mop the floor with cupcake Arky St." to "This game will be closer than people think."
We have a young team and a few question marks. A QB that has never taken a snap and is just a Freshman. A WR corp that seems like it should have a breakout but hasn't. A TE phenom who seems to have some troubles. We don't know what, just that he's had some "things to take care of." A secondary who started as freshman and have a year under their belt now. Another pair of freshman (Arik Armstead, Byron Marshall) who could prove to be the future of the program on O and D.
3 straight Pac titles and 3 straight BCS bowl games place the Ducks in the top tier of college football. Being there is one thing, staying is another.
Here's what I want to see today.
1 - I do want to see a blow out. If we want to be an elite program we need to not slip up when playing these lower rated teams. I don't care if they have a few studs who may make some plays, but we should be able to handle this team.
2 - I want to see how Marcus runs the read option plays. The spring game was great, but we really didn't run our offense, plus it was touch football on the QB. I don't think Marcus needs to carry 25 times for 100 yards or anything. But I always felt like Darron should have kept the ball 4-6 more times than he did.
3 - I want to see Marcus throw to the TE's a bit. Lyerla, Brown, Koa - all young guys, I want to see what they are made of. A TE with great hands and no fear of a crossing route can make a young QB feel very comfortable.
4 - I want to see 1 of our WR's really step up and become a go to guy that people fear. As good as Jeff Maehl was and as much as we all loved him and his work ethic he was not a #1 draft pick that struck fear in the hearts of Defenses. That is what I want.
5 - This one is key. There has been a lot of talk about our defense. I want them to really shut down Arky ST. I don't want them to score in the 1st half of this game. If we rotate a bunch in the 4th QTR and they score some that is not a big deal. I want to see our D shut this team down, completely.
Not sure at this point whether this will go my way, we do have plenty of time with soft opponents and home games to get everything to gel. But we have some questions and I'm hoping they are answered quickly. I don't wan to waltz down to USC in November still wondering who will step up and WR and whether or not our TE position will be consistent.
My Prediction - Ducks 66 - Red Wolves - 13
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Let the Age of Marriota begin
After 8 months of waiting we have found out that Marcus Marriota will lead the team this year over Bryan Bennett. Based on comments players were making last year about Marcus when he was redshirting I was expecting this decision. Seemed like people were not saying the normal nice things you say about someone, everyone referred to him as special. His old high school coach in Hawaii said he expected big things. LMJ tweeted that Marcus may be the best passer Oregon's had.
All indications are that we have a lot to look forward to.
A word about Bennett - Bennett did a great job in the action he saw last year and could probably start anywhere, I have no doubt that we will learn very quickly that this decision has nothing to do with Bryan not being a highly capable leader. It is about a special young QB we have. Plus with our schedule this year I expect us to see plenty of Bryan and his abilities. Personally I like his style, he's a tough runner and I thoroughly enjoyed the AZ ST and CO games last year. I hope he sees enough action to keep him happy and with the Ducks. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that there are several schools he could start at if he chose to go that route.
Everyone got real high on Marcus after the spring game where he looked fantastic. I don't put a whole lot in that game because it was touch football on the QB's and we weren't really running the read option plays. The long run he had was great but I don't think he would have got passed the safety had it been a live full action game.
Both guys seem to be an upgrade from Darron Thomas. And that should make us all happy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
All indications are that we have a lot to look forward to.
A word about Bennett - Bennett did a great job in the action he saw last year and could probably start anywhere, I have no doubt that we will learn very quickly that this decision has nothing to do with Bryan not being a highly capable leader. It is about a special young QB we have. Plus with our schedule this year I expect us to see plenty of Bryan and his abilities. Personally I like his style, he's a tough runner and I thoroughly enjoyed the AZ ST and CO games last year. I hope he sees enough action to keep him happy and with the Ducks. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that there are several schools he could start at if he chose to go that route.
Everyone got real high on Marcus after the spring game where he looked fantastic. I don't put a whole lot in that game because it was touch football on the QB's and we weren't really running the read option plays. The long run he had was great but I don't think he would have got passed the safety had it been a live full action game.
Both guys seem to be an upgrade from Darron Thomas. And that should make us all happy!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)