HUCK the Fuskies!!!

It is that time of year. This year, I'm nervous. We ARE the better team, we shouldn't have too much trouble with the Fuskies but we've been starting slow this year and that worries me a little. Letting the mighty Volenteers or the Buffaloes jump out a TD or even two is fine, being behind a little to a team you are leaps and bounds better than is fairly easy to overcome. But the Fuskies are a pretty game opponent. Much improved over years past and just itching to reverse the last 9 years of misery. The crowd will also be crazy if they jump up early. This is the longest win streak for either side and we know it. So much talk from the fans about the National Championship game and Alabama.....Let's do our job on Saturday, then the next and the next. If we do that the National Championship will be here soon enough. The team seems squarely focused on the task at hand despite the distraction of Colt Lyerla.

I'm fairly disappointed in the outcome of Colt's tenure with the school. Obviously I don't "KNOW" what is going on but there just seems to be a need for someone older and wiser to step into his life and have a long talk with him. I absolutely LOVE watching Colt play. Love watching him block, catch, run and holy crap do I love to see him stiff arm. I hope he straightens out whatever needs straightening out, gets to the NFL and tears it up. Whoever he plays for and where ever he goes I will be a fan of the player that is Colt Lyerla. And that's all I have to say about that!

On to the Fuskies!

We can't sputter around at the start of this game. I also haven't heard a final word on DAT. Would love to have him but ultimately he needs to get better and if he can't go he shouldn't.

Marcus Mariota - I'm looking for a solid game start to finish. Marcus is playing well this year. He completion % is down but I think he's making some wise 'throw the ball away' decisions. The second De'Anthony went down I felt like he had somewhat of a red light when it comes to running the ball. A couple of early runs could provide a couple extra inches for Byron and Tyner to break some big ones.

Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner - Last year Byron ran better. Plain and simple. He ran with aggression and a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. That has been missing this year and I want it back. If DAT is out he will carry the load and against a better team like Washington he can't be indecisive in the hole. He had a couple of very good patience runs against Colorado, but when he just needs get up in there he's a tad behind. Thomas on the other hand is lightning out there. He's been running a ton up the middle I wish they would create 4-5 plays with the sole intention of getting him the ball on the edge, the same way they did with DAT his freshman year. Remember the Jet Sweep in the Rose Bowl? Something like that!

In comes Johnny Mundt! Also Pharoah Brown! Next man up. Oregon has a tradition of turning out GREAT TE's. We also have a tradition of underutilizing them. It is so crazy because we have a ton of weapons, so I fully understand that quite often there are just not enough plays to go around. On 3rd downs I feel like the Mundt/Brown in the middle of the field should be a pretty go to move. Both those guys create a mismatch on nearly every linebacker in the country.

I think I'll get exactly what I want to see out of the wide recievers. What a consistent year they've been having. Perfect? Nope. But their effort is ridiculous. The downfield blocking is such an asset. Huff's play last week dragging people around...are you kidding me? Braylon has been making huge plays and guys like Keanon and Hawk are just solid players. We've had some penalties and some drops this year but I'm very proud of that group.

The end of this game being close or a blowout is in the defenses hands this week. Our offense is going to score, a lot. This is the 1st big test of the defense. Washington has a pretty damn good running back, a solid QB and probably the best TE in the country. (a few days ago I would have said 2nd best) Our D line and LB crew need to keep the running game shut down like they have all year. When you look at the average yards per carry against our D this year it is easy to see how great they are playing. Realize that this is a step up in competition, to hold the Fuskies to 3-4 yards a carry would send a huge message. Sankey carried the ball 27 times for 125 yards against Stanford's defense. 4.6 yards per carry. I'd love to see our guys hold him to 4 or less. Sankey did have 1 run for 30 yards to 26 times they held him very good. Price threw all over Stanford, 33 of 48 and 350 yards. I think our defensive backfield can do much better than that, and pick him off more than 1 time!

Jump out on them like last year and I think we coast fairly easy to a 55-24 win on the road. A nice day for a GameDay crowd! Let them jump on us int he first 5 minutes and I think it could be a back and forth long hard fight.

Since I'm an optimistic kind of guy I'm sticking with the 55 - 24. I don't know if my heart can take a close game. :)

Predictions -

Marcus throws for over 300 yards and runs for over 100.

Oregon scores over 50 for the 6th straight game!

Byron makes a HUGE play. I'm talking busted tackles and end zone. One that makes everyones top 10 plays of the week.

The defense stands tall and plays a little shut down D against Bishop Sankey and the Washington run game.


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