Whew - great game. Admittedly I want our team to win by 100 points and not give up a yard, despite my lofty expectations we still did really good.
Let's take a look at my predictions.
80 -10 :) Reality - 66-3 Not too bad.
DAT with the 1st TD TRUE!
DAT with 2 TD's on 7 touches in the 1st. 2 TD's on 12 touches (in the 1st, I think?)
3 rushers over 100 yards! TRUE
35 points in the 1st. We had 24.
Ifo with a pick six. He did not.
Total rushing yards 400+. We got 500!
Passing yards 300+. We got 272. close.
Zero for Nicholls in the 1st half. They got 3.
Under 20 yards rushing in the 1st half. They passed that. (total of 87 yards on 37 carries for 2.4 ypc. Not too shabby D.
I feel like despite my crazy predictions we did get some of them. Of course we were supposed to beat Nicholls. We're supposed to not only beat them but CRUSH them. We did.
Defensively they ran 87 plays and only accounted for 343 ttl yards. Offensively we ran 71 plays for a record 772 yards.
And, the gas pedal most certainly was not pressed to the fullest ability.
I enjoyed the game, it is quite a switch to see the way Helf manages a game vs Chip. In this game I believe Chip would have gone FULL speed, racking up my predicted 35 points in the 1st and put Marcus on the bench midway through the 2nd. Chip would have unleashed the full arsenal. This game seemed like it was treated like a scrimmage. The play book was pretty vanilla and we seemed to be at a moderate speed. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I'm hoping to see warp speed next week when I get to see my Ducks 1st hand for the 1st time since the Tenn game a few years back.
I love our defense and I think it can continue to get better. Those guys on the line are MONSTERS. Armstead, Buckner, Hart, Washington... and on and on. GREAT job pushing people around. I LOVE Taylor Hart's motor. The kid just keeps coming. I believe Armstead will be a dominant force as his development continues. I can't wait.
Our offense rolled like it should. I was kind of hoping for a 99 yard run or pass when they pinned us deep on 2 occasions. :) Oh well. I was a little surprised we didn't have a 50-60 + yard play. Sure, we had 4 that were in the 40's. I just expected a really long one.
We got a heavy dose of DAT running in the middle. I still get a little nervous about that when the competition gets better. But he just keeps going. Marshall is fast, but clearly not DAT, LMJ or KB fast. I want to see him with a higher caliber of competition.
Can I just say that kid from Nicholls, Marcus Washington, he's a stud. What a great game he had.
On the negative side I would say I'm quite surprised that Marcus seemed a tad jittery. I was expecting darn near 90-100% completion against this team. Last year he was 18-22 in the opener against Arky State. 12 for 21 was a shock. I think he'll get back into form and be fine.
Again, seemed like we were pretty vanilla today. Can't wait to see more of the playbook and seen the progress of Marcus, DAT. We ran the ball 45 times and passed 26 times. When you are up by 63 you really can't make the case for airing it out more. Maybe in the next 2 weeks we'll see some more of that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Ahhh, we're back baby!
Football season kicks off tonight and for my Ducks we're looking at a game with Nicholls in under 48 hours. I CANNOT WAIT!!!
For the 2nd season in a row I think I'm more excited to see our D-fence play. To me, this is our best defensive line up ever. Hard to say since I personally knew a couple of the 1995 Gang Green boys and played against them in high school.
Against Nicholls I look for our D to completely shut them down. I'm talking no 1st downs for a good quarter or two. With the big boys up front - Taylor Hart 287, Wade Kellikipi 299 and Arik Armstead at 296 we're finally a 'beefy' line yet still quite athletic. Tony Washington seems poised to fill in the shoes of Dion Jordan (Do people even realize we had a guy on our DEFENSE drafted #3 overall). We're a little untested at linebacker outside of Boseka Lokombo who I have high hopes for.
Prediction - No more that 20 yards rushing for Nicholls in the 1st half.
Prediction - No points for Nicholls in the 1st half.
Our secondary? Whew, Ifo and Terrance did GREAT last year and are poised for bigger numbers. Patterson is back. We have several 2nd platooners that could start elsewhere.
But at Oregon we love our OOOOOOOOOOO.
1st TD goes to DAT. I think it will be early and I think it will be a long breakaway. If he hits the corner against the Colonels I think he wins every time. I don't think we see a ton of DAT Saturday.
Prediction - 2 TD's on maybe 7 touches all in the 1st.
I'm itching to see Marcus Mariota air it out a bit. Let's be aggressive through the air, throw some deep balls.
Prediction - 1st QTR = 35 pts for my Ducks. Yes, 1 TD every 3 minutes. One of those by Ifo Ekpre-Olomu on a Pick 6.
I always want to see Colt Lyerla getting the ball but holy crap I don't want him to hurt anyone. :)
Also wanting to see Byron Marshall get a good look at running back with a lot of reps. Not 100% sure if Tyner is ready to play this week but if he is I cannot wait. Easily the most hype around a running back. If he stays healthy we have a tremendous triple threat. When DAT is out wide and Marshall or Tyner in the backfield we are scary.
Prediction - 3 x 100+ yard rushers. One of them may be Marcus but I'd be surprised if he runs a lot. Hell, we may have 4 people with 100+.
WR's. I'll say this again. I really don't care who, but someone needs to really step out and be THE guy. Someone to compete at the end of the year for top receiver in the Pac if not the country. The good news / bad news of our team is that there are so many weapons that can strike it is hard to find 1 receiver to give 10+ catches every single game. I think Huff can do it. I think Addison can do it. I think Colt can do it. Hawk and Keanon seem more like solid possession receivers, but I could see them doing it as well.
2nd platoon receivers should get plenty of work, even if it is with Jeff Lockie and/or Jake Rodrigues.
NOTE - I say "2nd platoon" instead of 2nd string due to the number of snaps we have. At a lot of positions we have 2 sets of starters. Which helps the 'next man up' philosophy that we have.
Johnny Mundt is a true frosh who should see some time at TE this weekend. Eric Dungy, Chance Allen and BJ Kelley will have a chance to show that they are poised to be "the guy" at wide receiver.
Predictions - Ducks 80 Nicholls 10
Rushing Yards = 450+ (last year we had 436 against USC)
Passing Yards = 300+
I know we will pull our foot off the accelerator, but unlike last year I think we wont see as much of a drop of when Marcus comes out of the game. If Marcus is done 5 minutes into the 2nd QTR when we are up 42-0 and Jeff Lockie comes in I think it keeps rolling, especially if he's dishing to Marshal still or Tyner. Last year when Bennett would come into the games the wheels slowed quite a bit. Then toward the end of the 3rd we see Jake Rodrigues and again we don't see much of a drop. Especially if Tyner is in, Marshall will certainly be done by then.
Nicholls is obviously a tune up game so I do want to see some GAWDY numbers out of this OOOOOOOO, even if the 'starters' only see 15-20 minutes of play.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
For the 2nd season in a row I think I'm more excited to see our D-fence play. To me, this is our best defensive line up ever. Hard to say since I personally knew a couple of the 1995 Gang Green boys and played against them in high school.
Against Nicholls I look for our D to completely shut them down. I'm talking no 1st downs for a good quarter or two. With the big boys up front - Taylor Hart 287, Wade Kellikipi 299 and Arik Armstead at 296 we're finally a 'beefy' line yet still quite athletic. Tony Washington seems poised to fill in the shoes of Dion Jordan (Do people even realize we had a guy on our DEFENSE drafted #3 overall). We're a little untested at linebacker outside of Boseka Lokombo who I have high hopes for.
Prediction - No more that 20 yards rushing for Nicholls in the 1st half.
Prediction - No points for Nicholls in the 1st half.
Our secondary? Whew, Ifo and Terrance did GREAT last year and are poised for bigger numbers. Patterson is back. We have several 2nd platooners that could start elsewhere.
But at Oregon we love our OOOOOOOOOOO.
1st TD goes to DAT. I think it will be early and I think it will be a long breakaway. If he hits the corner against the Colonels I think he wins every time. I don't think we see a ton of DAT Saturday.
Prediction - 2 TD's on maybe 7 touches all in the 1st.
I'm itching to see Marcus Mariota air it out a bit. Let's be aggressive through the air, throw some deep balls.
Prediction - 1st QTR = 35 pts for my Ducks. Yes, 1 TD every 3 minutes. One of those by Ifo Ekpre-Olomu on a Pick 6.
I always want to see Colt Lyerla getting the ball but holy crap I don't want him to hurt anyone. :)
Also wanting to see Byron Marshall get a good look at running back with a lot of reps. Not 100% sure if Tyner is ready to play this week but if he is I cannot wait. Easily the most hype around a running back. If he stays healthy we have a tremendous triple threat. When DAT is out wide and Marshall or Tyner in the backfield we are scary.
Prediction - 3 x 100+ yard rushers. One of them may be Marcus but I'd be surprised if he runs a lot. Hell, we may have 4 people with 100+.
WR's. I'll say this again. I really don't care who, but someone needs to really step out and be THE guy. Someone to compete at the end of the year for top receiver in the Pac if not the country. The good news / bad news of our team is that there are so many weapons that can strike it is hard to find 1 receiver to give 10+ catches every single game. I think Huff can do it. I think Addison can do it. I think Colt can do it. Hawk and Keanon seem more like solid possession receivers, but I could see them doing it as well.
2nd platoon receivers should get plenty of work, even if it is with Jeff Lockie and/or Jake Rodrigues.
NOTE - I say "2nd platoon" instead of 2nd string due to the number of snaps we have. At a lot of positions we have 2 sets of starters. Which helps the 'next man up' philosophy that we have.
Johnny Mundt is a true frosh who should see some time at TE this weekend. Eric Dungy, Chance Allen and BJ Kelley will have a chance to show that they are poised to be "the guy" at wide receiver.
Predictions - Ducks 80 Nicholls 10
Rushing Yards = 450+ (last year we had 436 against USC)
Passing Yards = 300+
I know we will pull our foot off the accelerator, but unlike last year I think we wont see as much of a drop of when Marcus comes out of the game. If Marcus is done 5 minutes into the 2nd QTR when we are up 42-0 and Jeff Lockie comes in I think it keeps rolling, especially if he's dishing to Marshal still or Tyner. Last year when Bennett would come into the games the wheels slowed quite a bit. Then toward the end of the 3rd we see Jake Rodrigues and again we don't see much of a drop. Especially if Tyner is in, Marshall will certainly be done by then.
Nicholls is obviously a tune up game so I do want to see some GAWDY numbers out of this OOOOOOOO, even if the 'starters' only see 15-20 minutes of play.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Fiesta Bowl Predictions
Well, so far the Pac 12 is earning that reputation I hear so much about living in SEC country. UCLA lost badly to an unranked Baylor. The Beavs at #13 choked big time against #23 Texas. These are games the Pac just needs to win. Unranked Washington may have had the best showing in their loss to BSU. AZ and AZ ST did about what was expected of them. The Pac heavyweights need to sweep their games for the Pac to end this bowl season 5-3. Since the Pac is the higher ranked team in each of the games we are expected to do just that. We need some blowouts.
On to the FIESTA BOWL for the Ducks!
Last year we made a step by defeating a solid Wisconsin team, winning a BCS for the 1st time in a decade and winning the Rose for the 1st time in a looong time. And let's not forget that this is our 4th BCS bowl game in a row, absolutely a HUGE feat. But no one wants to be the Buffalo Bills, or even 1 game better than the Bills. We need to take our 4 year run to 2-2. This time, we need to do it in dominating fashion. These aren't the Ducks I grew up on. Chip Kelly has turned me from a Duck fan who expects the choke, expects a 9-3 season to be our best into someone who was quite frankly a bit disspointed to come up a little short of the NC game. Go back and tell 80's and 90's Jason that he would be a little dissapointed to be 11-1 and in a Fiesta Bowl, see what he thinks about that!
Ultimately I want and think we can dominate this game start to finish. A couple of things will need to happen in order to make that happen. So here's what I want to see out of my Ducks.
#1 - Marcus needs to run this show. The blueprint for beating the Ducks the last couple of years has been pretty clear, play great gap defense and stop up the run. KSU should attempt to do the same. Marcus needs to make them pay early and often. If there's 7-8 in the box....find Colt streaking up the middle or get Huff and DAT on some WR screens. Something ABSENT in the Stanford game. UGH!
#2 - Kenjon Barner! KSU is NOT Auburn. They are not LSU and they are not OH ST. I believe they will put up a good effort to stop the run early. If Marcus makes them pay with his trademark calm and cool presence and great decision making they will have to adjust and Kenjon can take over the game.
#3 - Defense. Where oh where has my defense been since the USC game? It is like they forgot they were for real this year. Many are questioning but I am still a believer. Arizona is the 15th best scoring team in the country....we skunked them. We skunked them AND gave them great field position on many occasions. We've had some injuries, specifically at the safety position. But I want to see Dion go off in this game. I want to see Kiko repeat his Rose Bowl performance. I want Bo to come up with some big plays. Ifo to snatch a pick and I want to see Michael Clay putting Optomus Klein on his back side head 1st. As Coach Parnell used to say...."Where the head goes, the ass must follow!"
#4 - Will the #1 WR please stand up? WR by committee has been working for us. But I just want someone to become "THE" guy. With the exception of Will Murphy and Vaughn we should get all these guys back. But someone needs to step up and just scream to the world that they want to be the guy. Huff had a crazy freshman year, has been fighting injuries and showing a ton of heart, I want him to make a ton of plays that make me jump out of my seat. Hawk, Lowe, Addison, Dungy, Kelley, Stanford???? I don't much care who. Hell, I don't care if Bryan Bennett lines up at WR and becomes the guy, I just want a guy. A guy who defenses say "we need to hold _____ to under 10 catches."
#5 - DAT. 7.6 yards a carry, 686 yards on 90 carries, 385 receiving yards and a total of 15 TD's and we're calling most of this season "quiet" for him???? Let us remember last year in the Rose Bowl. 2 carries, 155 yards and 2 TD's. Let's see that again.
I'm not asking for too much am I? I don't think so, I really beleive this game can go similar to the AZ ST game. You know, 43-7 with 11 minutes left in the 1st half! TOTAL DOMINATION.
If our O and D just do what they can do this is possible.
KSU is no slouch, this will be a tough battle. I want us to over achieve in a big game on a big stage this year.
That's all I want.
As for a prediction, I call Ducks 58 KSU 23. :)
On to the FIESTA BOWL for the Ducks!
Last year we made a step by defeating a solid Wisconsin team, winning a BCS for the 1st time in a decade and winning the Rose for the 1st time in a looong time. And let's not forget that this is our 4th BCS bowl game in a row, absolutely a HUGE feat. But no one wants to be the Buffalo Bills, or even 1 game better than the Bills. We need to take our 4 year run to 2-2. This time, we need to do it in dominating fashion. These aren't the Ducks I grew up on. Chip Kelly has turned me from a Duck fan who expects the choke, expects a 9-3 season to be our best into someone who was quite frankly a bit disspointed to come up a little short of the NC game. Go back and tell 80's and 90's Jason that he would be a little dissapointed to be 11-1 and in a Fiesta Bowl, see what he thinks about that!
Ultimately I want and think we can dominate this game start to finish. A couple of things will need to happen in order to make that happen. So here's what I want to see out of my Ducks.
#1 - Marcus needs to run this show. The blueprint for beating the Ducks the last couple of years has been pretty clear, play great gap defense and stop up the run. KSU should attempt to do the same. Marcus needs to make them pay early and often. If there's 7-8 in the box....find Colt streaking up the middle or get Huff and DAT on some WR screens. Something ABSENT in the Stanford game. UGH!
#2 - Kenjon Barner! KSU is NOT Auburn. They are not LSU and they are not OH ST. I believe they will put up a good effort to stop the run early. If Marcus makes them pay with his trademark calm and cool presence and great decision making they will have to adjust and Kenjon can take over the game.
#3 - Defense. Where oh where has my defense been since the USC game? It is like they forgot they were for real this year. Many are questioning but I am still a believer. Arizona is the 15th best scoring team in the country....we skunked them. We skunked them AND gave them great field position on many occasions. We've had some injuries, specifically at the safety position. But I want to see Dion go off in this game. I want to see Kiko repeat his Rose Bowl performance. I want Bo to come up with some big plays. Ifo to snatch a pick and I want to see Michael Clay putting Optomus Klein on his back side head 1st. As Coach Parnell used to say...."Where the head goes, the ass must follow!"
#4 - Will the #1 WR please stand up? WR by committee has been working for us. But I just want someone to become "THE" guy. With the exception of Will Murphy and Vaughn we should get all these guys back. But someone needs to step up and just scream to the world that they want to be the guy. Huff had a crazy freshman year, has been fighting injuries and showing a ton of heart, I want him to make a ton of plays that make me jump out of my seat. Hawk, Lowe, Addison, Dungy, Kelley, Stanford???? I don't much care who. Hell, I don't care if Bryan Bennett lines up at WR and becomes the guy, I just want a guy. A guy who defenses say "we need to hold _____ to under 10 catches."
#5 - DAT. 7.6 yards a carry, 686 yards on 90 carries, 385 receiving yards and a total of 15 TD's and we're calling most of this season "quiet" for him???? Let us remember last year in the Rose Bowl. 2 carries, 155 yards and 2 TD's. Let's see that again.
I'm not asking for too much am I? I don't think so, I really beleive this game can go similar to the AZ ST game. You know, 43-7 with 11 minutes left in the 1st half! TOTAL DOMINATION.
If our O and D just do what they can do this is possible.
KSU is no slouch, this will be a tough battle. I want us to over achieve in a big game on a big stage this year.
That's all I want.
As for a prediction, I call Ducks 58 KSU 23. :)
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Don't give Chip Kelly a month to prepare
Man, I wish I could hear that 1 time. We've seen a crazy amount of success over the last 4 years. Only a handful of losses, the majority of which came after a long layoff. Boise State, Ohio State, Auburn and LSU were all games where "____ coach had over 4 weeks to prepare for Chip Kelly!"
I'd love to see a complete domination over an OOC top ranked opponent. KSU gives us that opportunity. We've over achieved in conference over USC a couple times, over Stanford and over the rest of the Pac. I'm remembering Stanford rolling into town 3 years ago, Andrew Luck at the helm, a couple early turnovers and we are down early. Then we completely dominate them and win big. We have heard how and Arizona or a Washington is going to be a "big test" of some kind only to find a blowout in 1st half. It has been a good time to be a Duck fan.
Last year in the Rose Bowl we got over that bit hurdle of winning a bowl game over some stiff competition. But still, the ora of "give the team a month and they can slow down or even stop the Ducks" weighs heavily on my head this time of year. It has been about the only thing to be disappointed in over the last 4 years. There's something to be said for having such great success and such high scoring offenses only to go into a game and look completely shut down. In the NC game against Auburn we had 449 yards of offense, but with our run game producing only 75 yards we just look out of play for most of the game. Then 9 months later we put up only 95 rushing yards against LSU. 31 yards in Chip's debut against BSU.
I want to start 2013 with a bang. A big moment on a big stage. I want to see our defense over achieve with a 6 sack performance. I want to see that bend but don't break attitude that pitched a shut out against AZ and made big plays with their backs against the wall. I want to see our RB's rush for a combines 250+ and I want to see our offense clicking on a big stage the way we know it can. I want to see a cool crisp Mariota completing 70+% of his passes and I want to see a big win. I certainly don't expect us to win every big game by a huge margin, but is seems like anytime we have a big game with plenty of time we have to hear "The Ducks can't handle teams if you give them a month to prepare." This game I want to hear "did you see what Chip did when he had a month to prepare???? Holy crap you don't want the Ducks to have a month to game plan."
That is all I want for Christmas.
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I'd love to see a complete domination over an OOC top ranked opponent. KSU gives us that opportunity. We've over achieved in conference over USC a couple times, over Stanford and over the rest of the Pac. I'm remembering Stanford rolling into town 3 years ago, Andrew Luck at the helm, a couple early turnovers and we are down early. Then we completely dominate them and win big. We have heard how and Arizona or a Washington is going to be a "big test" of some kind only to find a blowout in 1st half. It has been a good time to be a Duck fan.
Last year in the Rose Bowl we got over that bit hurdle of winning a bowl game over some stiff competition. But still, the ora of "give the team a month and they can slow down or even stop the Ducks" weighs heavily on my head this time of year. It has been about the only thing to be disappointed in over the last 4 years. There's something to be said for having such great success and such high scoring offenses only to go into a game and look completely shut down. In the NC game against Auburn we had 449 yards of offense, but with our run game producing only 75 yards we just look out of play for most of the game. Then 9 months later we put up only 95 rushing yards against LSU. 31 yards in Chip's debut against BSU.
I want to start 2013 with a bang. A big moment on a big stage. I want to see our defense over achieve with a 6 sack performance. I want to see that bend but don't break attitude that pitched a shut out against AZ and made big plays with their backs against the wall. I want to see our RB's rush for a combines 250+ and I want to see our offense clicking on a big stage the way we know it can. I want to see a cool crisp Mariota completing 70+% of his passes and I want to see a big win. I certainly don't expect us to win every big game by a huge margin, but is seems like anytime we have a big game with plenty of time we have to hear "The Ducks can't handle teams if you give them a month to prepare." This game I want to hear "did you see what Chip did when he had a month to prepare???? Holy crap you don't want the Ducks to have a month to game plan."
That is all I want for Christmas.
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Monday, October 29, 2012
Oregon Ducks @ USC Trojans
Here it is, the date we all circled on the calendar. USC has not helped us out by being undefeated and slotted just above us in the BCS polls as everyone predicted. Matt Barkley does not appear to be on the way to the Heisman trophy that he came back to win. What is left is an extremely talented team with nothing to play for but bragging rights and a trip to the Pac Championship. In other words, about where we were last year when this game happened. Unfortunately for us that game did not go our way and just may have cost us the NC game. Who knows if Bama still would have snuck in with a 1 loss Duck team chomping for another shot at LSU.
Chip is surely reminding the Ducks about the pitfalls of last year and reminding everyone to Win The Day!
I really feel like we are going to roll on USC and put a beating on them. This would be great because it would "prove" our #2 ranking in the human polls and give us some SOS to start climbing in the BCS polls. (If you haven't noticed, KSU and ND have closed the points gap in those human polls. We need a big win over a big team, USC may be all we got.)
Here's what I want to see in on our road to victory.
1 - Again I'm going to stick with Defense. I just watched some highlight videos of the WA, AZ and AZ ST game. We have some damn playmakers on D baby! Ifo, Avery, Kiko and Bo are all back there making some big plays. Our D-Line going into the season was going to be our big sneaky killer.....But someone forgot to tell the backfield because it has been pick-6 city back there. I'd like to see a game where we beat USC by 21 with our offense. Kick in another 2 TD's by the D and win by 35.
2 - More Defense! You know USC will be fired up this weekend. We need to get pressure on Matt Barkley, this pressure will come from our many blitz packages but we will also need our D-Line to know Matt on his can a few times. I have read that Dion Jordan was practicing with a brace on his shoulder, good news for us! He is not the only one on defense with the ability to make plays. Taylor Hart has been playing his butt off. I would like to see someone, anyone, just explode and get a couple of sacks.
3 - Will our offense be tested???? I'm sick of hearing "well this week Arizona is coming to town, they will test the Ducks!" Sixty minutes later "Arizona is terrible, when will the Ducks play someone?" "Washington's D will test them......Nah, they suck too." AZ ST??? Sucks! Pretty well known fact that every team in the Pac 12 sucks. Yeah yeah yeah. Maybe our offense clicking on USC's D will earn us just a touch of respect? Nope, they will suck come Sunday.
4 - Kenjon Barner. Admittedly I haven't ever been a huge fan of his. I'm mean, he's my running back so I love him and all, but he never seemed to have that same fire and gritty toughness that LMJ had. These last couple weeks he has really changed my mind. I think he's running a little tougher, looking to finish and running with a bit of nastiness that I LOVE to see. Keep it up KB!
I encourage you to watch the full video for all the Duck action, but if you want to see what I'm talking about with KB click forward to the 3:40 mark. Last year and early this year I think Barner takes a step out of bounds on this play. This year he finishes the run and puts the defender down.
5 - Colt Lyerla. I know I know, we have sooo many weapons and all of them can't get the ball all the time. But being a former TE I do think that is an under utilized position in the Ducks O. Who didn't like seeing all our quick WR's running slants while David Paulson snuck behind everyone for a 50 yard TD. Colt has done it and if we feed him he will continue to do it.
6 - Big plays. DAT? Addison? Marcus? KB? Don't much mind who, I want to put a fork in USC early and put an absolute beating on them on their home field. Game on FOX that is not at 11pm! Put everyone on notice and beat the crap out of USC!
Chip is surely reminding the Ducks about the pitfalls of last year and reminding everyone to Win The Day!
I really feel like we are going to roll on USC and put a beating on them. This would be great because it would "prove" our #2 ranking in the human polls and give us some SOS to start climbing in the BCS polls. (If you haven't noticed, KSU and ND have closed the points gap in those human polls. We need a big win over a big team, USC may be all we got.)
Here's what I want to see in on our road to victory.
1 - Again I'm going to stick with Defense. I just watched some highlight videos of the WA, AZ and AZ ST game. We have some damn playmakers on D baby! Ifo, Avery, Kiko and Bo are all back there making some big plays. Our D-Line going into the season was going to be our big sneaky killer.....But someone forgot to tell the backfield because it has been pick-6 city back there. I'd like to see a game where we beat USC by 21 with our offense. Kick in another 2 TD's by the D and win by 35.
2 - More Defense! You know USC will be fired up this weekend. We need to get pressure on Matt Barkley, this pressure will come from our many blitz packages but we will also need our D-Line to know Matt on his can a few times. I have read that Dion Jordan was practicing with a brace on his shoulder, good news for us! He is not the only one on defense with the ability to make plays. Taylor Hart has been playing his butt off. I would like to see someone, anyone, just explode and get a couple of sacks.
3 - Will our offense be tested???? I'm sick of hearing "well this week Arizona is coming to town, they will test the Ducks!" Sixty minutes later "Arizona is terrible, when will the Ducks play someone?" "Washington's D will test them......Nah, they suck too." AZ ST??? Sucks! Pretty well known fact that every team in the Pac 12 sucks. Yeah yeah yeah. Maybe our offense clicking on USC's D will earn us just a touch of respect? Nope, they will suck come Sunday.
4 - Kenjon Barner. Admittedly I haven't ever been a huge fan of his. I'm mean, he's my running back so I love him and all, but he never seemed to have that same fire and gritty toughness that LMJ had. These last couple weeks he has really changed my mind. I think he's running a little tougher, looking to finish and running with a bit of nastiness that I LOVE to see. Keep it up KB!
I encourage you to watch the full video for all the Duck action, but if you want to see what I'm talking about with KB click forward to the 3:40 mark. Last year and early this year I think Barner takes a step out of bounds on this play. This year he finishes the run and puts the defender down.
5 - Colt Lyerla. I know I know, we have sooo many weapons and all of them can't get the ball all the time. But being a former TE I do think that is an under utilized position in the Ducks O. Who didn't like seeing all our quick WR's running slants while David Paulson snuck behind everyone for a 50 yard TD. Colt has done it and if we feed him he will continue to do it.
6 - Big plays. DAT? Addison? Marcus? KB? Don't much mind who, I want to put a fork in USC early and put an absolute beating on them on their home field. Game on FOX that is not at 11pm! Put everyone on notice and beat the crap out of USC!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
The USC Game - Are we that good?
Unfortunately, despite winning 70-14, it was a rough week for the Ducks. We seem to be in a fight we can do nothing about. It appears as though Alabama will go undefeated and on to the national championship game. That leaves 3 other undefeated teams: Notre Dame, Kansas State and the Oregon Ducks. What we can't control is that USC and the Beavers both lost which will diminish our strength of schedule.
This year the Ducks haven't "seemed" to face much competition. Everything has come so easy that we are making teams look bad. But is it possible that these teams are good, we are just that good?
Let's take a look at a couple of games.
Ducks 49 Arizona 0
A complete domination of the Wildcats. Arizona has been able to beat OK ST, Washington and #9 USC this year. They lost to the Beavs and to Stanford by 3 and 6 points.
Ducks 52 Washington 21
Another game in which we completely shut down the Husky's. Washington handled Stanford and Oregon State, both Top 10 teams at the time. They played USC tight, ultimately losing by 10 points.
Ducks 43 Arizona State 23
More importantly in this game, the Ducks spotted AZ ST a TD 1 minute into the game and then the Ducks put up 43 in about 22 minutes of game time. With the starters in that game looked like men against boys. UCLA put up 45 on the AZ ST defense but it took them every second of 60 minutes to do so.
Even when looking at our game against Colorado, we were up 56-0 at the halfway mark. USC also blew them out, but it was 33-6 at the halfway point. Matt Barkley was still slinging the ball around in the 3rd QTR. We had our back up in during the 2nd QTR.
In a year where the question "who is #2" is being thrown around and we seem to be on the outside of that conversation.....A 40 point blow out over USC may be something that opens up some eyes. This will be a prime time game against an opponent everyone knows. The Trojans haven't done us any favors this year losing 2 games, but make no mistake, they have talent at every level at every position. We need to be on our game and I hope we run through them just like everyone else. I think we are capable of doing that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This year the Ducks haven't "seemed" to face much competition. Everything has come so easy that we are making teams look bad. But is it possible that these teams are good, we are just that good?
Let's take a look at a couple of games.
Ducks 49 Arizona 0
A complete domination of the Wildcats. Arizona has been able to beat OK ST, Washington and #9 USC this year. They lost to the Beavs and to Stanford by 3 and 6 points.
Ducks 52 Washington 21
Another game in which we completely shut down the Husky's. Washington handled Stanford and Oregon State, both Top 10 teams at the time. They played USC tight, ultimately losing by 10 points.
Ducks 43 Arizona State 23
More importantly in this game, the Ducks spotted AZ ST a TD 1 minute into the game and then the Ducks put up 43 in about 22 minutes of game time. With the starters in that game looked like men against boys. UCLA put up 45 on the AZ ST defense but it took them every second of 60 minutes to do so.
Even when looking at our game against Colorado, we were up 56-0 at the halfway mark. USC also blew them out, but it was 33-6 at the halfway point. Matt Barkley was still slinging the ball around in the 3rd QTR. We had our back up in during the 2nd QTR.
In a year where the question "who is #2" is being thrown around and we seem to be on the outside of that conversation.....A 40 point blow out over USC may be something that opens up some eyes. This will be a prime time game against an opponent everyone knows. The Trojans haven't done us any favors this year losing 2 games, but make no mistake, they have talent at every level at every position. We need to be on our game and I hope we run through them just like everyone else. I think we are capable of doing that.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Today's game = Colorado
Another week for the Ducks, it is extremely hard to focus on this week against one of the worst teams in the division when a road trip USC looms 8 days in the future. Luckily, I'm a fan and I can do that. If any of the coaches or players are doing that it could spell some trouble. Not trouble in terms of loosing a game, trouble in a close game, bad mistakes and injuries. Chip Kelly's "WIN THE DAY" theme has proven itself time and time again. He constantly reminds us that he does not care who we play, we treat everyone the same. With the way our team shows up for lower end competition I have no reason to doubt we will not overlook the Buffs.
I expect this will be a pretty short day for the key players. If our starting QB didn't see 1 play in the 2nd half against AZ ST, he may be on the sidelines in the 2nd QTR today.
Here's what i want to see.
1 - No injuries. Obviously never want to see injuries, it just stings especially bad when it is against a team like this.
2 - Bennett has seen plenty of action this year, but in mop up duty he doesn't seem to get to run the full offense at full speed. No matter what the score I'd like to see Bennett get the chance to open up at full pace. There's no denying that Bennett has looked pretty shaky in his time, often trying to do too much. He had a great game last year against Colorado, I look for him to do the same this year.
3 - DAT - Let's get him into some space. He's had a couple quite games. I think we've seen some teams decide that DAT is the one they are going to take out. Fair enough, Kenjon and Marcus have stepped up nicely. DAT will get back on track this week, he has far too much speed for anyone on Colorado to hang with. If he touches the ball 7 times he may score on 4 of them.
4 - I'd like to see the defense have a completely dominant game where the rushing yards are close to 0. It would just be fun. :) I heard a stat this week on ESPN - The Ducks are only behind Alabama and LSU in yards per play when the game is within 28 points. Meaning the Ducks starting D and even the rotation we send in are pretty darn good. Those 3rd string guys who are seeing 2nd half action still have some work to do.
5 - Since I'm not a player, I'm a fan......Let's make quick work of Colorado, get some good rest, a week that goes by fast and beat the hell out of USC,
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I expect this will be a pretty short day for the key players. If our starting QB didn't see 1 play in the 2nd half against AZ ST, he may be on the sidelines in the 2nd QTR today.
Here's what i want to see.
1 - No injuries. Obviously never want to see injuries, it just stings especially bad when it is against a team like this.
2 - Bennett has seen plenty of action this year, but in mop up duty he doesn't seem to get to run the full offense at full speed. No matter what the score I'd like to see Bennett get the chance to open up at full pace. There's no denying that Bennett has looked pretty shaky in his time, often trying to do too much. He had a great game last year against Colorado, I look for him to do the same this year.
3 - DAT - Let's get him into some space. He's had a couple quite games. I think we've seen some teams decide that DAT is the one they are going to take out. Fair enough, Kenjon and Marcus have stepped up nicely. DAT will get back on track this week, he has far too much speed for anyone on Colorado to hang with. If he touches the ball 7 times he may score on 4 of them.
4 - I'd like to see the defense have a completely dominant game where the rushing yards are close to 0. It would just be fun. :) I heard a stat this week on ESPN - The Ducks are only behind Alabama and LSU in yards per play when the game is within 28 points. Meaning the Ducks starting D and even the rotation we send in are pretty darn good. Those 3rd string guys who are seeing 2nd half action still have some work to do.
5 - Since I'm not a player, I'm a fan......Let's make quick work of Colorado, get some good rest, a week that goes by fast and beat the hell out of USC,
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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