Solar

The biggest thing missing in all of this is why we need this extra money in the first place. Is the conference going bankrupt due to paying students, or have grand plans to expand and improve the product in some weird way, or...?

This is the biggest crapshoot game this season. Minnesota is wildly inconsistent, we don't what the weather will be like and we don't know whether our players will really show up. I'm highly confident we win, but I don't think we cover the spread. Ducks win. 31-13 4 sacks 2 turnovers 230 passing yards

As a San Diegan, I can say southern California has the worst weather prediction ability, for the obvious reason that the weather rarely matters. Looking at precipitation estimates is a fools errand. And there is a lot of truth to the old saying that it never rains in California, but when it rains it pours. It's most likely to be dry even if they say it could rain, but if it does rain it could be a downpour.

I didn't think there was a question. You don't want to make the B1G Championship. It's an extra game with the chance to skip ahead to a slot that was 0-4 in last year's playoffs, or get beat badly enough to drop to a 9-12 seed play on the road slot. There's a world where coach Cig throws the game by blatantly resting his starters to keep them healthy and force the Playoff committee to discount the game enough that they stay a 5-8 seed. The conference championship games need to go in this current format. There needs to be a single bye week for each team in either the 6th or 7th week a single bye week after the 12th game then a single week of conference play-in games, no playoff byes for anyone. I hope Oregon wins out and stays in the 5-8 seed for a home game after a single bye week, same as their opponent. That's the best case scenario in this current format.

Our defense is the opposite of bend don't break this year. I'm not sure what it is called but I think it is intentional. Our team is fast enough and good enough in the secondary that we play more aggressive in some ways that leave us more vulnerable to occasional dagger plays, but on the whole is very effective.

6 on 4, what could go wrong? It's not like having the DC up in the box would have had him screaming at DL for a timeout or something.

If I were king I'd just make all OOC games not count for the regular season, just like preseason in the NFL. If you want to schedule Georgia and Ohio State, go for it, or schedule cupcakes. Either way you may only see the starters for a few drives, but it gives an opportunity for every player on the team to get good in game reps and show their value to the depth chart. Of course the fans won't show up for games that don't matter just like the NFL, but more playoff teams and games would make up for it. (Round of 24 anyone?) It's almost like the NFL already figured this stuff out..we'll get there eventually after we've worn down compromise for tradition to a barely perceptible nub.

There is one name that never seems to come up when it should be first to mind for any team needing a coach: Kenny Dillingham I realize he's an Arizona guy through and through, but you HAVE to at least make a run at him. He's got it all. The youth, the offensive mastermind and the record, nearly picking off Texas in the playoffs.

I'm thinking like this. Will Stein has no excuse to have any tendencies with this offense, but if there is one tendency he could get away with, it is running the ball too much, because defenses can't stop it even if they see it coming. We should not have tendencies of screens of any kind, trick plays, reverses, predictable pass only formations. It's great to have variety and use those to keep defenses honest, but that's about it.

Jericho Johnson was a great development for us against Iowa. He was the DL I was most excited about in his class based on his his film and measurables. ROC boys gave him a shout-out during their post game analysis that our run D was more stout when he was in. And he was only in for running situations, but that is crucial depth to have to make sure we don't fade late in games.

I agree with all the comments. It's great to have the most capable rushing attack in the country, but you have to be careful about how you use it. I think we all agree it should be used more than it was against Indiana and not as much as it had to be against Iowa. I think we should try to marry it with more tempo and create rushing sets where we don't sub to keep beating a defense back on their heels.

If Stein leaves and MSU cans Smith, let's hire him for our OC.

Agreed. I think there were still times in the second half when Iowa was respecting Dante's arm which gave a little more space in the box.

I agree with everything you wrote. Lanning played the hand dealt to him marvelously. I certainly said we had to Make Gronowski and their receivers beat us. While they almost did beat us that way, they only got 100 yards on the ground, due to our bias to stop the run. Noah Whittington took this game over at one point in the second half. It was his best game in a Ducks uniform of his career.

That's a function of their style of play. Against good teams it turns it into a whoever gets the ball last coin flip. Their style is gimmicky in its own way.

I don't think it's really debatable at this point. We have gone against some of the best rushing defenses in the country in conditions they knew we would be running the ball and still averaged 6-7 yards a carry. Nobody does that. It isn't necessarily the James, Barner, DAT style from a decade ago, but it works against everyone. The big question is how to maximize that against our opponents the remainder of the year. Just because we can play Iowa ball doesn't mean we should. Playing that style 4 quarters every game is only good for convincing yourself you can hang with anybody, not actually consistently winning. We can certainly use it at the end of games when first downs become more important than touchdowns. We can use it to retain leads and shorten games. We can certainly use it in place of bubble screens. We can use it to set up play action pass to keep the pass rush honest and create more space behind the LBs. I think in short we need to go to a more pro style offense. A little spread is okay to keep defenses honest, but the rule should be to run it down their throats and pass it over their heads. Maybe not as clever or cute or entertaining as we'd like, but we have to play to our strengths.

I was preparing myself for disappointment the entire game. When we made the field goal it was like everything went silent and the earth stood still. I'd be just fine if we never played Iowa again. Their style is high risk season wrecker style of ball. They don't care if they win that much as long as they at least have a chance of winning late, and any time you can have a low scoring game you have a puncher's chance. Screw them. That could have ended our bid for the playoffs. I mean, we beat them at their own game, but I don't want to play that game, you know? I'll be a million times happier watching us play our last 3 games.

My parents asked why the review was taking so long and I said they were on the phone with vegas looking for a big enough bidder to uphold a blatant fumble as not a fumble.

There is a psychological effect of others feeling the need to pick up the slack when the best players go down. We need our possession receivers Lowe, Perry and Bryant to show up, and our TE Johnson.

That's quite the list. Sounds like we attacked the bye week and it attacked us back.

I watched the Indiana vs. Iowa game highlights this morning. Iowa's front 7 is fast and gets really skinny to get between the offensive linemen. We absolutely shouldn't be be handing the ball off to an RB on 3rd or 4th and short. I'm not feeling very good about our chances to put up points on offense unless Moore can get in a rhythm and pick apart their secondary to open up the box.

When points are hard to come by special teams and turnovers make all the difference, so it's a real crapshoot to be honest. Oregon 23-20 1 TO 1 sack 168 yards passing

It definitely makes sense for Fisch to punch out and for JS to backfill him.

Great feedback everyone. I think we are all of a similar mindset here. Hopefully this is a great minds think a like situation and Dan the man has some answers with Will, Dante and the rest of the Offense.

I think it's no turnovers on downs. Giving Iowa a short field is playing into their hands. Our punter is a stud. Let's give them a taste of their own medicine of a long field by punting on every fourth down outside of field goal range. Make them fight our defense the length of the field. We can't afford to hand the ball off to Whittington straight ahead on the first few drives for 2 yards a carry. Give him a wheel route, or other outlet routes if we think we can pass early. If we want to run straight ahead, it has to be Davidson or Harris. And don't keep doing it into a loaded box. If we find something that works early run it again and again until they stop it. I don't care if we are just getting 4 yards per bubble screen, keep doing it. Get them chasing our scheme instead of us running away from theirs. I'm so sick of us trying to challenge every blade of grass and seeing a defender beat us to it. I really want to see Stein and Moore evolve beyond their predictable weaknesses that defenses keep attacking. WRs need to learn how to maximize open space in zones and show their numbers, raise their arm to Dante so he is comfortable with making the throws then they truly are open. We're young and our weaknesses have been obvious. Let's hope we really took advantage of the bye week and come out with some answers to these tough defenses.