Solar

Which teams have we struggled against with a high power passing attack? Indiana is the only one. Rutgers and Minnesota had pretty good passing attacks and they had little success. We have some of the best passing defense in the country statistically. It doesn't mean we are going to completely shut down their passing attack, but we can definitely limit them moreso than other teams have through the air. But they've also have had a lot of success on the ground. It's clear we are going to have to put up points. I think it will be first to 30 wins.

Good catch, I didn't notice that. One thing I have noticed, which Indiana and ever school afterwards exploited, is that Dante doesn't do well when the right side of the pocket collapses. He's not comfortable throwing and struggles to slide to the left. Moving Pregnon to the right helped with that I guess. And psychologically I think he handles the unseen blind side pressure better than the front side pressure. I also think he showed in this game that he has improved on these weaknesses, there were sometimes when the pocked was shrinking fast and he didn't get happy feet. Although maybe that confidence is more a function of our WRs running free all over the place with very little tight coverage. Minnesota's secondary is horrible tbh.

Johnson got a lot of run in this game showing the value he can bring as a pass catcher at any time.

They're been really bad on the road, so we shouldn't be too surprised I guess. But it's nice to dominate a team with a winning record. Moore going 27/30 was great to see against a team that supposedly has a great pass rush per the stats. I thought it was supposed to rain, but maybe that rain got diverted to So Cal for tomorrow..

1 sack and only a few pressures from a team that has the 6th most sacks in the country. That was an area of progress we were looking for. Minnesota also is really good at tackles for a loss. I don't know if they got any until our starting OL was pulled, then they got a bunch. Great job by coaches and players to get that cleaned up.

I like this Benson guy on punt returns. Sure hands, but also believes it's actually an opportunity to get some yards.

Interesting they let our touchdown stand. I think it was crazy close, but the shot they had from a mile away over the shoulder of the ref that had their eye on it sealed the deal. I bet they figured the ref looking right at it from 10 feet away saw it better than we can. Don't question it. Of course that ref could be trying to help Oregon beat the spread for Vegas, so we'll never know for sure!

They are 6 and 3 for a reas Minnesota is a good passing team. We were able to shut down Rutgers, but the Minnesota OC has been mixing things up pretty good.

I think play action passes are having a near 100% success rate. I think the coaches are seeing the same things everyone else is finally.

What the Duck was all that? 7 points I guess, we'll take it. This Minnesota team is not showing up on the road again. Their OL is bad and their defense is swiss cheese outside a few good DLs and pass rushers.

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.