Saturday night I have this feeling I'll be on the edge of my seat. Will we be able to effectively run against that stout D? Which D on our side will show up? The one that chooses a reciever and lets them break Autzen records or the one that looks extremely solid against a Top 5 team with a QB headed for the NFL? Who will play at QB?
As always, here are the 5 things I would like to see
1 - Win. When we're playing fluff teams I have high expectations of shutting things down, no missed tackles. I'm looking for a well oiled machine that never slips up. Make no mistake about it, this is a tough game and in my opinion it could set up or destroy the entire season. Sound dramatic? I don't think so. Last year against a fired up Utah team we are down 7-0 and getting dominated for the entire 1st QTR. Begining of the 2nd QTR a huge pass and a touchdown for Utah. Ugh, the wheels are coming off, on the road down 14-0 and looking like..... Huh???? Why is there a group of Ducks running down the sideline. Instead of 14-0 it's 7-7 and what a momentum change. I think if Clay doesn't drop the ball on the 1 yard line we lose that game. So much momentum. We've been choppy this year. Up, down. Look great at times, look off at times. A great performance could be a confidence booster, a couple of lousy plays early could be a confidence killer.
2 - I should just say "win" again. But let's get into this thing. I would like to see solid QB play regardless of who starts. Based on the limited amount we've seen I think it will be Vernon. The coaches get to see a lot more than we do and they're a lot smarter in evaluating things so I'll leave that up to them. Vernon has had a limited playbook which is a hinderance to the run game, we're hearing he has more of it down now.
3 - Royce Freeman - Unleash the beast. Royce has looked phenominal agasint the two teams he should look phenominal against. In the MI ST game he carried for 3.8 yards per attempt. Respectable against that stout D. But 3.8 yards per carry would be GREAT if there were 1-2 big plays mixed in. For comparisson, Madre Landon of MI ST ran for jsut over 2 yards a carry if you don't count the 1 for 62 yards. We don't remember the 17 plays he got virtually nothing. We remember the long one. His counterpart ran for about 3 per carry if you don't count the 38 yarder. That MI ST game is a lot differnt had Royce busted a run for 50+ at some point. This game could come down to Royce VS DeVontae - who can break a big one.
4 - Tackling. We've been harping on this for 3 weeks. Our secondary is young and I'm sure at the high school level they were used to just flying in and manhanlding guys. At this level we need sound fundamentals. Break down at the hip level, wrap up and drive thru the ball carrier.
5 - Continue the big play magic on the D. The D has been beat up by the fans this year. Some of that has been earned - tackling! Some of that has not - fire everyone and kick all of them out of school! The great thing about our D is they do make some big plays. If we sure up the fundamentals and continue to provide a spark at key times I think we can do some damage this year.
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