PittDuck

Ok FishDuck fans: here is the situation. It is the 4th quarter, 1:58 left in the game. Your mighty Ducks are down by 4, 32-28 to the team from the north that shall not be named. It is 1st and 10 at the 25, with 75 yards to go. You are the Head Coach. For the sake of argument, your O-line is Penei Sewell at LT, Shane Lemieux at LG. Max Unger at C, Kyle Long at RG, and Jake Fisher at RG. Your TE is Ed Dickson, and at WR you have Josh Huff and Devon Allen. Your RBs are Royce Freeman and DeAnthony Thomas. At QB, you have your choice of the following starting Oregon Quarterbacks since the 2000 season. You can choose from Joey Harrington, Jason Fife, Kellen Clemens, Dennis Dixon, Jeremiah Masoli, Darron Thomas, Marcus Mariota, Vernon Adams, or Justin Herbert. All these guys are at their peak collegiate form. You have a virtual plethora of leadership talent at your fingertips! Who ya gonna call, and why? Hint, it doesn’t matter, cause with that offense, you will not be denied! For me, I am gonna bring out #8, Marcus Mariota. My reasoning is that the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner had a QB rating of 181.7 his final year, connecting on 304 out of 445 attempts for 4,454 yards, 42 TDS with only 4 Interceptions. While Justin Herbert had a better NFL rookie season than MM, I think that is more about the team than the player. Captain Comeback was given his moniker for a reason, as was Big Play VA. FishDuck commenters, I am very much looking forward to your responses to this post. This site is graced by some of the most knowledgeable fans I have ever heard or read, and I look forward to your thoughts! Thanks again Mr. FishDuck, for creating this Duck haven (or is that Duck heaven) for us to play in!

I keep wondering (I’ll leave it to the learned contributors of this forum to educate me) what JM has done in the past? Not only is he OC, he is the QB coach. Does he lean toward giving the future QB some playing time, or will he play the best he’s got for 4 Qtrs? He seemed willing to change things up late this year for sure. Either way, with the talent and leadership in the QB room, coupled with a new and talented DC coaching up some of the most talented group of defensive players we’ve ever had, Duck fans have a lot to look forward to! Go Ducks!

Dare we call this another good pick by MC? Just asking for a friend...

It is pretty hard to win a game where you do not convert 3rd downs, and turn the ball over 5 times. 2 muffed kicks, 2 fumbles and an int.) One team came to play. The other team came to execute plays.

Thanks David, for a good and thought provoking article. I agree that a strong D can keep a mediocre O in a game. I am probably in the minority of fans, but I strongly believe that for the most part, College sports are played by kids, and in my experience, kids can be counted on to make mistakes. It is a huge part of growing up. For fans to expect perfection out of these kids, I think, is asking way too much. That said, the thing that corrects these mistakes is experience. We know the 2020 edition of the Football Ducks is one of (if not the) youngest teams in the nation. They are gaining experience and they are learning to trust each other to do their jobs. In this $#!%show of a Covid crippled season, I believe our boys are getting better, and learning to communicate with and trust each other. I think AA will have the D on point, and they will do their jobs in the Fiesta Bowl. They need to limit the ground game while disrupting the passing game. I think the Ducks can keep the Cyclones under 30 points. It will be up to MC to let JM do his job and score more than 32 points for the win.