Oregon VS ...... Tennessee

This is the week! If the Ducks were to fall, I may have to jump of a bridge or something.

Here's what my staff did to my office...

Seems as thought a ton of people are picking the Ducks by 25-35 points. For some reason I feel like it is going to be a little closer than that. I HOPE I'm wrong. But here we go.

OREGON DUCKS 45 TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS 24

A 3 touchdown game is what I'm calling. Conservative compared to virtually every pick I've seen.


The run game - Last week DAT saw a great deal of success on the outside. I think he can do that virtually anytime he wants. Where we struggled was up the middle. Byron Marshall also had a very rough game. I look for him to rebound with a much better performance but still have a tough time up the middle. If he does have any kind of repeat of last week I do believe Tyner will see some action early. He ran 4 plays and it was mop up duty late, but the burst and concise decision making was extremely apparent. How do you keep that kid off the field? I wouldn't mind seeing him and just giving him a swing pass or 2, maybe a jet sweep, just to get him in some open space and letting him make a play.
This is an odd prediction because Western KY averaged 5 yards a carry. 5 yards a carry. Western KY. If they can average 5 we should be able to do much better with our speed and athletes. So I may be way off on this. I hope I am.

Since I'm predicting a slow down (by Duck standards) in the run game this means Marcus Mariota will have to pick up that slack. If this game stays tight for the 1st half we will need to pass more. Marcus has had a ton of success running the ball in the 1st two games. Now lets see him flex that throwing arm. Couple of deep balls will open up the run game and keep them honest as well. Tennessee's defensive backs have seen great success in the 1st two weeks against sub par competition. I think Marcus lights them up!

Colt had a rough week last week dropping 3 passes. I've been told that he had a broken finger. Look for him to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder and make the most of each touch this week. I want them to hook him up early to get him back into this game.

Braylon Addison continues to make plays. Let's give him the ball a few more times. So many weapons to choose from. Since we led the whole way against Virginia we didn't see a ton of passes. Huff, Lowe, Hawk... I want to see Marcus toss the ball around and get these receivers involved.

Defensively I'd like to see more turnovers. Greedy I know, but lets get 10 or so. :) Ok, maybe 3. Ifo and Mitchell have been relatively quiet this year. If we get up a score or two Tennessee will need to throw. Last week the majority of the completions were underneath to the TE's for moderate gains, but it kept the chains moving. The LB's need to keep an eye on that, if I saw it you know Tennessee did.

This is a big, strong and talented offensive line. It will be a good test for our D-line this week. We should see what kind of defensive line we're going to have for teams like Stanford, UCLA and Washington. Look for the boys in the trenches to show their stuff this week.

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