Week 3 - The Recap

Got to see a lot this week, a good game to evaluate some things.

I wanted to see the passing game, specifically some deep balls. We got to see several receptions over 20 yards in the air. Mario-TAH completed 21 of 28 for 308 and 4 TD's. The interception was pretty ugly but overall he did well. Pharoah Brown dropped a 20+ yarded right up the middle, the throw may have been a bit high but we need those catches. I thought maybe there were 1-2 other drops. So a good day for Marcus. 12 different receivers caught balls! Addison continues to improve, I thought Vaughn looked pretty good and Lowe did well also.

DAT! What can you say about him? More like what can't you say? It will be nice to get into non-cupcake area to see what he does with 15 touches a game.

I wanted to see our D in complete shutdown mode. Great job D! 77 plays and only 177 yards. 2.5 yards a carry. That is what we need to do to these teams. If you look at what Stanford's D did last night you'll see what we need to do in our big games. Our D line needs to dominate the line against Stanford, USC, WA and AZ. With the talent we have at the 1st 2 levels on D I want to get away from the "bend but don't break" mentality. Stanford showed what to do to Barkely, hit him over and over. Our D line is capable of those same results.

Go Byron Marshall. He had a none flashy workman like game against Arky State. Yesterday he looked great. Big gains, showed speed and the ability to find the hole. He still has some room to grow, but I liked what I saw.

What didn't I like?

Penalties. Not only penalties, dumb drive continuing penalties on D. Several 15 yarders on 3rd down.

Special teams. UGH. Over the years we've had some big changes in games on special teams. The LSU game??? Fumbles on punt and kick returns have been a thorn in our side. Just field the kick and do what you do. Catching the ball by flying in there with 7 defenders within 3 yards is not bravery.


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Week 3 - TN Tech

Another week another home game another cup cake. What can we learn this week?

1 - This is going to be an exaggeration but I still think our biggest question lies at receiver, other than DAT. So here's what I'd like to see.

5 pass plays over 15 yards all to Addison.
Then 5 over 15 to Kelley.
Then to Vaughn.
Stanford, Lowe, Hawk, Dungy.

You get the point here. I need to see a deep passing game. Chip, I gotta have it.

2 - I know Chip doesn't like to put numbers down for touches but can we make it a point to get the ball in Colt's hands more? I truly felt like Paulson was under used last year. I'm not saying 25 times or anything, but 5? 7? As the O sputtered in the 2nd Half last week I think we could have gone to Colt some. 4 touches for Colt in 2 games.

On a side note here, this is a good problem to have. We have so many playmakers it will be impossible to get them all the touches they need. KB - 25 touches. DAT - 15-20. Colt - 5-7. Marcus - 10. I'm already at 60 touches or so and we haven't even hit the WR's.

3 - On the defensive side of the ball I'd like to take a cue from our little brother. Was OSU not inspired last week against Wisky? They completely shut them down. We're playing a cupcake, can't we do the same? They have a UT Vol transfer at WR who can test our corners. Good experience for those young guys.

4 - Looking for the D-line and LB's to step up their game to assist in the process of missing Boyett. What a shame he got injured. As a fan of the game I LOVED watching him play. So I'd like to see a few sacks and a few negative run plays, I want us to blow up their line.


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Recap - Fresno State

In a word? Eck. This is why you play tune up games.

In a week where already Oregon State knocked off #13 Wisconsin, ULM knocked of #8 Arkansas and UCLA knocks off #16 Nebraska.... I'm happy that we played pretty rough but were never at a where we were in jeopardy of loosing.

Ducks - 42 Bulldogs - 25

The 1st half looked pretty good. 35-6 and in complete control of the game. The "my Ducks can never be stopped" side of me couldn't believe we had to actually punt but hey, no matter how good you are you are not going to score every time. Well, we do play TN Tech next week so maybe.

DAT - WOW, another day for him. 11 touches and 128 yards. I wonder if he was nicked up a little because he was a little absent in the 2nd half.

KB - Solid game, believe it or not my favorite run was a short game on a 3rd down and 1. Kenjon was popped pretty good in the hole, kept his feed moving and fell forward. He did have the 1st down already, but that is the tough running I was missing. I still want him to break a few more arm tackles.

Colt - Another good run after catch, too many penalties.

Marcus - Another week and another way to pronounce his name. Super Mario looked a little more human this week. Every pass looked picture perfect in week 1. Rougher time this week. He's young and has some growing. How about that play inside our own 10 yard line flinging it out to Addison? Nice. He seemed to be rattled just a bit by the pressure so I'd expect our opponents to send some blitz packages early from now on.

Wide Receivers - Still a concern of mine. I have nothing against DAT, but I don't think he should lead the team in receiving. Huff went down with a left leg injury. Mario-TAH used 9 different receivers to complete his 19 passes, great to spread the ball around, but again I would love to have a go to guy. Specifically one to stretch the field. Colt's 22 yard reception was the longest, and that was a short throw with a run. I need to see someone catching a couple of 35 yard strikes on a post, post corner or deep cross route. Only 3 passes completed over 10 yards today.

Defense - I thought the D looked good today. We got our sacks, the run D was strong. 34 carries for 131 yards for Fresno State, 47 of them came on a fake punt and 1 nice run by Rouse. Take 2 plays out and you have 32 carries for 84 yards. NICE! Still a little concerned about the amount of short passes we are letting get through. But those short passes are better than long ones any day. John Boyett was out today, he's the leader on that defensive unit. To play that well without your leader is pretty solid in my book.

Didn't get to see Byron Marshall today, game was in hand but not a blowout that you want to start throwing your reserves in. That was a little dissapointing but I can live with it. We WTD!


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This Week = Fresno State

Fresno State should provide a bigger challenge than Arky State did, but this still wont be a big challenge. This is another game we should be able to control from start to finish and on both sides of the ball.   Many of the things I'm looking for this week are similar to last week.

If you didn't see the high points from last week, take 12 minutes and check out the new look.  Courtesy of MadMike over at Oregon Duck Soup.  http://winesfamily.blogspot.com/

#1 - I got to see Mario-TAH run the option a little.  We will get to see more of that but now I'm looking for a couple of good deep balls.   I LOVED what I saw last week out of the quick passing game, crossing routes and swing passes.   We stretch the ball sideline to sideline as good if not better than anyone in the country.   I'd still like to see more stretching of the field. 

#2 - Defensively I want a sack or two.   Arky State has a decent QB and a couple of WR's who are excellent athletes.   Their short passing attack kept us on our toes all day.  It was more so after we were up 50 points but if they can do it USC can do it, and better.   I'd like to see some growth out of the defense this week, specifically the D lines ability to not just pressure the QB, but to get to him, knock him down and sack him.   When we play USC our day will get better as Barkley's jersey gets dirtier.  

#3 - I am a Kenjon Barner fan, no doubt about it.  But I would like to see a nice long run.  But....9 carries for 66 yards...that's pretty solid right?   7.3 yards a carry?   Right?    Yes, that is very good and this may sound snobbish of me but we were playing Arky State.   This season I'm thinking in terms of what we can do against USC.  7.3 yards a carry may only be 3 yards vs USC.   I don't need 80 yards and a TD every time, but I'd like to see some big runs with solid yards after contact.  Three of Barner's carries were 11, 17 and 18.   He had a no gain, a 2 yarder and a couple of 4 yarders.   For comparrison's sake DAT had 3 carries for 64 yards. 

#4 - I want to see more of Byron Marshall.  He got 24 carries in mop up duty and had a couple of plays where I saw glimpses of flash.  He's a true freshman playing on a top 4 team.  Good start with a ton of improvement.  I think this week will provide a good look at his learning curve. 

#5 - Loved what I saw out of the WR's last week.   For this entire off season I've been saying "who will step up"?   Looks like maybe a couple guys did.  DAT is going to be coming out of the backfield in our Tazer position and he's just brilliant.  Lowe and Kelley had a few catches.  Huff, Hawkins and Vaughn, Stanford.  Mario-TAH chucked that ball to everyone on the team, Bennet kept it going.   While this is great, I'd like to see 1 guy become THE guy.  3rd down and we go to ______.   I'm talking about an all Pac-12 guy who gets wiffs of being a top round draft choice.  A go to guy.

#6 - I want to see Colt get the ball more.   I don't have any questions about him, just dayum, did you see him running over people and moving piles????    I want to see more of that because it is fun.

So, there is what I'll be looking for tonight when I watch the game on line because Direct TV and the Pac-12 haven't come to an agreement.   Jerks!

Week 1 - The Recap

Whew, what a great 1st 20 minutes. 7 drives, 7 TD's in an average of 1 minute 23 seconds. 50-3 when we started rotating in the 2nd string early in the 2nd Quarter. WOW! I certainly got some of the things I wanted and I'll have to wait a few more weeks to see some of the others.
Here's what I saw -
1 - I said I wanted to see a blow out. Just based purely on the score we did let Arky State come back into the game. But I was extremely happy with those 1st 20 minutes. The offense was working on all cylinders. I find it hard to believe that there was ever a battle between Mariota and Bennett. 2 of Bryan's 1st 4 passes were quite a bit off the mark, which may not be such a big deal in a 1st game of the season if it weren't for the fact that Marcus's passes were all about as perfect as you can throw.
2 - I wanted to see how Marcus ran the read option. I thought he did great. If you remove the sack from his stats he ran the ball 4 times for 33 yards. I was more impressed with a scramble where he directed Josh Huff and tossed the ball to him with defenders in his face. He looked like a man among boys. Very impressive performance.
3 - Colt did get into the action. He had a play where he grabbed a catch and it took virtually everyone on that defense to take him down. He's just a kid and as he gets better he could be huge. They are already talking about him being an NFL prospect in his 1st game as a true sophomore.
4 - I wanted to see a breakout WR. Obviously DAT will be a threat every time he touches the ball. And he will be playing some out of that TZR positions. Kind of funny to see the 2 deep chart and see him not listed as a starter. But you are not going keep that kid off the field. 7 touches last night ended in 3 td's. Outside of DAT I don't know that I got a breakout player. But Josh Huff looked great to me. Last year he wasn't himself fighting through injuries. I though Lowe and Kelley played well. Over the next few weeks we'll have to continue watching Addison who in my opinion looked primed to break 1 but just never did. I thought Dwayne Stanford looked good in mop up action.
And my #5 request - Wanted to see a complete shut down by our defense. I have some mixed feelings about this and I need to see more. Here are 2 things to keep in mind before I go into this.
1 - We were playing Arky State. 2 - Our offense plays so fast that our D has to defend more plays so stats can be a bit deceiving when talking D.
In the 1st half I certainly got a shut down, they looked great. The overall performance was fantastic. Here's where I get a little nervous.....
While the D line played very well I really wanted to see a few sacks, not that sacks are everything. It's just that USC's O-line will be MUCH better, we were supposed to see Jordan wrecking QB's. Side note - Alpin looked very good out there. Great job by him keeping his head up and making the offense work in the 2nd half. I was also a little concerned in the secondary. Alpin was able to dink and dunk all night, completing 29 passes for over 300 yards. I am reminded of the nightmare in Autzen last year when USC did the same thing. The difference is USC's WR's will be much better athletically than Arky State's.
WOW, what a 1st 20 minutes or so, just WOW. I may be nit picking the D here, that 1st half was impressive. The line got penetration so saying "no sacks" may be a bit much. But if Alpin and Arky State can execute a ton of 7 yard passes, so can USC. We should have a couple more blow outs, when we get into Pac play we should get some stiffer competition and have a better idea of where we are at.
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Week 1 - Oregon Ducks vs Arkansas State Red Wolves

The football season is FINALLY upon us. I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning in SEC country watching Georgia struggle a little with Buffalo. Before the game they talked about high expectations and winning the SEC's weaker division. Georgia is a team that in my opinion has been overrated the last 5 years or so. They seem to pop up in the Top 10 at the beginning of the year and they lose some games they shouldn't.
I start with that to say that the Ducks also have high expectations. As game day has drawn closer I've seen comments go from "Oregon should mop the floor with cupcake Arky St." to "This game will be closer than people think."
We have a young team and a few question marks. A QB that has never taken a snap and is just a Freshman. A WR corp that seems like it should have a breakout but hasn't. A TE phenom who seems to have some troubles. We don't know what, just that he's had some "things to take care of." A secondary who started as freshman and have a year under their belt now. Another pair of freshman (Arik Armstead, Byron Marshall) who could prove to be the future of the program on O and D.
3 straight Pac titles and 3 straight BCS bowl games place the Ducks in the top tier of college football. Being there is one thing, staying is another.
Here's what I want to see today.
1 - I do want to see a blow out. If we want to be an elite program we need to not slip up when playing these lower rated teams. I don't care if they have a few studs who may make some plays, but we should be able to handle this team.
2 - I want to see how Marcus runs the read option plays. The spring game was great, but we really didn't run our offense, plus it was touch football on the QB. I don't think Marcus needs to carry 25 times for 100 yards or anything. But I always felt like Darron should have kept the ball 4-6 more times than he did.
3 - I want to see Marcus throw to the TE's a bit. Lyerla, Brown, Koa - all young guys, I want to see what they are made of. A TE with great hands and no fear of a crossing route can make a young QB feel very comfortable.
4 - I want to see 1 of our WR's really step up and become a go to guy that people fear. As good as Jeff Maehl was and as much as we all loved him and his work ethic he was not a #1 draft pick that struck fear in the hearts of Defenses. That is what I want.
5 - This one is key. There has been a lot of talk about our defense. I want them to really shut down Arky ST. I don't want them to score in the 1st half of this game. If we rotate a bunch in the 4th QTR and they score some that is not a big deal. I want to see our D shut this team down, completely.
Not sure at this point whether this will go my way, we do have plenty of time with soft opponents and home games to get everything to gel. But we have some questions and I'm hoping they are answered quickly. I don't wan to waltz down to USC in November still wondering who will step up and WR and whether or not our TE position will be consistent.

My Prediction - Ducks 66 - Red Wolves - 13


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Let the Age of Marriota begin

After 8 months of waiting we have found out that Marcus Marriota will lead the team this year over Bryan Bennett. Based on comments players were making last year about Marcus when he was redshirting I was expecting this decision. Seemed like people were not saying the normal nice things you say about someone, everyone referred to him as special. His old high school coach in Hawaii said he expected big things. LMJ tweeted that Marcus may be the best passer Oregon's had.

All indications are that we have a lot to look forward to.

A word about Bennett - Bennett did a great job in the action he saw last year and could probably start anywhere, I have no doubt that we will learn very quickly that this decision has nothing to do with Bryan not being a highly capable leader. It is about a special young QB we have. Plus with our schedule this year I expect us to see plenty of Bryan and his abilities. Personally I like his style, he's a tough runner and I thoroughly enjoyed the AZ ST and CO games last year. I hope he sees enough action to keep him happy and with the Ducks. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that there are several schools he could start at if he chose to go that route.

Everyone got real high on Marcus after the spring game where he looked fantastic. I don't put a whole lot in that game because it was touch football on the QB's and we weren't really running the read option plays. The long run he had was great but I don't think he would have got passed the safety had it been a live full action game.

Both guys seem to be an upgrade from Darron Thomas. And that should make us all happy!


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