Oregon Ducks VS Eastern Washington

We're all ready for some football!   Saturday evening we get the chance to see our 1st game without the GREAT Marcus Mariota.   Here are 5 things I'm wanting to see out of this game.

Now, I've read a few articles on this game, about how EWU will be fired up to play us, about how they are top ranked FCS school, about how their offense will move the ball about how they almost beat the Husky's and the beat the Beavs.

Sorry but that doesn't fly with me.   An FCS team shouldn't be tough for us.   They shouldn't move the ball on us.   We are not the Husky's or the Beavs.  We are the Pac Champs, favorite in some cases to get back to the playoff.

Last year in the opener S Dakota rushed for 1, 6, 4 and 3 on their 1st drive.  Resulting in a FG.  They had a couple of 12 yard runs in the 1st half.   If we want to be in the playoff and compete our D has to completely shut down the run game of an FCS team.   Maybe someone breaks a big one on a great effort, but outside of that we need to dominate the line.   I don't want to see an FCS school's top 3 rushers go 28 carries for 156 yards.   No ifs ands or butts.   The S Dakota game ended 62-13 so it isn't like we did bad.  But if South Dakota can rush for 4.4 yards a carry on us and Sean Wick from WY can rush for 122 yards on 16 carries than Ezekiel Elliot can slash us.   I don't want to see the bend but don't break against this team.
When OH ST played Kent State last year there were 23 carries for 46 yards.  When BAMA played FAU they rushed for 57 yards on 24 carries.    When TCU played Samford they rushed for 87 yards on 47 carries.  THAT is the type of performance I want to see our front 7 put up.

OK, let me slide off my soap box now.

#1 - Shut down the run game.  Completely.   I want 0 net yards in the 1st half.

We have a brand new backfield on D.  If EWU gets a little momentum on our young guys I don't have a lot of heartburn.   But I don't want to see sustained drives.   Our D line needs to get to the QB.

On Offense I'm ready to see Vernon run the O.   Let's see how he runs the read option at speed for sustained drives.   I'd like to see them mix in a lot of throws from short to mid range to long.

#2 - How quickly can VA pick up the O and how much of it does he know?

#3 -  Just like on the D line, I want to see the O line opening up holes that my grandmother could run through.   Blowing people off the line.

#4 - Braylon Addison!   So glad he's back.  Is he back fully?   Interesting that he is listed in the second spot behind Stanford.   Has he lost a step?  Is he in his own head?   Did Stanford just up his game that much?

#5 - Replacing Pharoah Brown.   I'm still hoping for a full and complete recovery and we'll see brown out there doing his thing.  But in the mean time will Mundt or Bayliss step up and fully live up to their potential.  Each of them have showed flashes, but nothing sustained.

All in all I expect this to be a glorified scrimmage, we should dominate every aspect.  Not only in the final score but in every aspect.  


As a bonus I'm really looking forward to true freshman Fotu Leito.   If you haven't seen his highlight video please take a look on the side bar.   The word is during practice that if Fotu's running down to cover a kick everyone stopped to watch.

Please do leave comments, feel free to agree, disagree or add your own wish list of things you want to see.