bbmichaels

Love this thread! I'm very pragmatic, so I tend to agree with Solar. Also, I have kids and other things tugging at my time, so knowing in advance that the game is worth watching or not...almost priceless All of that said, would you rather lose to the buckeyes and have them win it all over the SEC, proving that the B1G is legit, or beat the buckeyes and then lose to TX or GA, and listen to the SEC crowing? Enquiring mind wants to know...

Charles- This site exploded on to the scene years ago with your zone-read analysis. And your moderation since then has maintained it as an amazing community. Thank you for all of your insight and for everything else that you do to keep this thing running, for all of us. This forum is a reflection of you, and I think that I can speak for most of us in saying that it is much appreciated.

Agreed, even though I know we're in the minority. To Charles' points: *Playing fast is playing fast - it's on the officials to keep up, or on the other team to call the timeout to get it reviewed. *Delay of game penalties can be declined by the other team. Intentionally abusing the illegal substitution rule, IMO, is more in line with faking an injury to slow down a hurry-up offense. It's abusing some trust in the way the rules are written. Was it "brilliant gamesmanship" when Tosh told his Cal D-linemen to flop on the ball to slow down Chip's offense? Maybe. But is the game better or worse for that type of tactic? I don't lose any respect for Dan/Tosh based on that one play, but I would rather not see it. I don't personally feel that the game is better when played that way. And I'm not surprised that the NCAA is considering addressing it.

NCAA mulling in-season action after Oregon's controversial late-game situational move helped Ducks beat Ohio State WWW.YAHOO.COM The NCAA Football Playing Rules Committee is actively “engaged” in examining Oregon's controversial play for possible action.

I'm fully prepared to get dog-piled on for this, but I'm not personally a fan of flirting with these loopholes in the rule book. The penalty for this would be different if meant to combat coaches intentionally abusing the system by running additional players on to the field. The penalty was what it was because the assumption is that the substitution in the heat of the moment mistakenly left an additional player out there. In other words, there is some level of trust built into the penalty system, not so unlike stopping the clock with no penalty for an injured player. We weren't so fond of that back in the day, were we? And yet, I seem to recall the Ducks using that tactic during one of the UW games last year as well, with the player basically admitting as much after the game. My mind goes back to the boos raining down from Autzen as "injured" Cal D-linemen kept flopping on the ball before it could be snapped. I can't quite remember - who was the Cal D-line coach back then...? I'd rather see them play it straight. Just my 2 cents. Let the piling begin. 🙂

...and for that they get a half-share of the revenue.

I tend to agree with Duckpop. We as fans see through our team-colored lenses and will shout conspiracy, but most of the time it's not really there, IMO. The refs are generally doing their best. Over on the tOSU boards they're crying about the offensive PI call and feel like they got cheated too (though I obviously disagree as IMO it was a pretty easy call). I also believe that when comparing ourselves to other fanbases we consider the best of our own, such as the rational and thoughtful people on this forum, but we compare that to the worst fans of the other teams. There are irrational blowhard Duck fans too, and while there are definitely many of those for tOSU, I've also read several rational and thoughtful posts on 11warriors the past couple days. They shouldn't all be painted with the same brush - except for the guy repeatedly emailing Charles - he should definitely be painted with something.

Could Ohio State have defeated Oregon? Of course. Should it have? Not on this night SPORTS.YAHOO.COM Ohio State arrived in Oregon as the No. 2 team in the nation, but after losing 32-31 to the Ducks... Article with the quote ducker mentions above. Good read.

Apparently the secret sauce to beating the buckeyes is having our best defensive player out.

Thumbs up for posting a trivia question. I was late to the game, but I like the idea.

I've been somewhat of a doubter since the Idaho game, but i awoke with a good feeling about today. I think they turn the corner this week. That is all.

Love it! Thanks Charles! The second half did look much improved in terms of blocking - giving me some hope that we'll see them playing closer to potential this week. No fumbles please.

I had this same thought. That team out west doesn't seem to be very good... It feels like all of the preseason hype really snowballed and we all bought into it to some extent. Meanwhile down on earth they're a team with good talent on paper but replacing a Heisman caliber QB and relying on many incoming transfers in key positions. Of course it wasn't going to be easy. The national pundits somehow had us looking past that. Please give us better blocking on offense and penatration on defense. I don't need to see end zone dances and the ball being dropped on the 1 yard line. When they're playing at this level such things really do make them look like they're all flash and no substance.

It's gonna be a long season.

I completely agree that the sun impacted his ability to see the field, as I posted earlier this week. It might have impacted him seeing Tez in the example posted above. The shadows tell that tale. Just joking around, and trying to make light of the idea that they have some serious issues to work on, and hoping for a better performance tomorrow.

And yet, it had to have just been the angle of the sun, right? ...please tell us it was just the sun, Charles. Great article. I'm really anxious to see how they look tomorrow.

I think this might be a solid point. The sun was bad during most of the game due to the 4:30 start. I'd be curious if there was any correlation between missed reads and when they were playing into the sun. In the first three examples you can tell by the shadows that he's staring at the sun. The fourth was later in the game with the sun likely not a factor.

Dale Bliss at Athlon noted that the Ducks looked sluggish yesterday, and had this thought: “Duck fans love Dan Lanning for his passion, conviction and intensity. He's driven and 100% real. But a game like this should inspire some self-evaluation: The Ducks came out of camp banged-up and looking tired. Did he push them too hard?” Hearing player quotes about it being the toughest camp they had experienced made me excited, but might there be some truth to this…?

O-line play was awful. Not sure what to make of Gabriel yet.

This is why verbals aren't worth getting super excited about.

There is not a single program or fan who wouldn't love to have Nike and Division Street. All of the sound and the fury is nothing but jealousy. No need to defend or apologize. Maybe just commiserate a bit...as times can be tough for fans of programs unable to compete nationally.

Major upgrade. My biggest issues with the last one were the choice of color and that the trees were too bold. They corrected both. Not only were the old trees brown, but they were also orange, which made zero sense for obvious reasons. More muted and now in shades of green - I'll take it.