I posted after the first CFB game of the season that we were not going to see the best football being played this year.  What we are getting is a product that has been marginalized by a pantload of variables and is not a real reflection of coaching and/or player ability.  Remember, the P12 literally wrote this season off and canceled all activities for 2020, shuttering entire programs, laying off employees and sending student athletes home for distance learning.  After realizing that they could still get a sizable chunk of postseason cash by playing a short skate of games, the switch was flipped back on by the Poobahs with basically a three week camp and a game week for the conference teams to perform at midseason level out of the gate.  College football players live the culture 24/7 when they are under scholarship and the fragility of said culture is on full display this season.

That said, all props to Oregon State and Smith for coming out and punching hard for 60 minutes.  They needed every one of those to overcome a program loaded to the brim with talent but lacking focus and heart in these times.  I believe that a full offseason with Spring camp and all hands on deck again that the Ducks will be the one to beat in the conference. 

And I’ll be contrary to close- I am not convinced Shough is the guy moving forward after this season.  Good player but gets rattled easy IMO.  A full spring and fall camp might see a full on battle at this position once Moorhead had a better ability to evaluate his players...

Last edited by Jiffy Jeff (11/28/2020 6:23 am)

you are always going to give up some run yards in the 3-4, but the safeties need to contain the big plays -- good 'ol bend-don't-break. with Breeze and Holland gone early and Pickett injured, the Ducks's weakness at this position was really exposed yesterday. some atrocious angles taken.

I was one of Arroyo's defenders last year. yeah, it was conservative and boring sometimes, but he got Herbs through 14 games upright and won a conf championship & a Rose Bowl.
Moorhead had the beavs spun sideways the entire first half. the OS D made some nice adjustments, but UO simply went away from what was working too easily. where was Jaylon Redd the 2nd half?

Ducks had an 11-pt halftime lead, got a stop on the opening possession, and had a chance to put the pedal down. instead they went 3-and-out: run for a loss and two swing passes to tailbacks. beavs got the ball back and scored, and it was game on.

gotta give credit to Smith and OS. he's found players who believe in his system and just keep plugging. they were clearly the more motivated team last night, led by seniors and juniors who were on the short end of 69-10 and 55-9.

Ducks are simply not a 'team' right now. collection of individuals with personal goals and agendas. lacking that senior leadership they had last year from Herbs, Troy, Hanson, Doc Throck, et alia. they can dominate a game for 10 minutes, and then just disappear.

never want to lose to OS, but if you have to, might as well do it in a wasted half-season that's little more than glorified exhibition games. now, lose to the Dawgs and I'll get mad.

onward.

Last edited by OldMacManaic (11/28/2020 9:12 am)

I would like to see a breakdown of our run game using the pistol versus the read option. Seems to me Tyler has a hard time running out of the pistol, whereas earlier this year he ripped off some nice gains out of the read option. I've never been a big fan of the pistol. Moorhead is showing more innovation than Arroyo, but this team is a lot younger than last year. In this strange year, I really just want to see the kids avoid any health issues. Onward!

were missing Troy Dye and I agree about Thib and just about everything else you posted but Im worried about hard head play calling. Also, Shough doesnt handle 4th qtr game mngmt very well

Last edited by radar1 (11/28/2020 6:57 pm)