Fiesta Bowl Predictions

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.   :)

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.


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