The basics have to be there. Some of that is pure talent (arm strength) , some of it is knowledge, some of it is the ability to make plays on your own.

The development part is learning the game, the speed of the game, and your OC's philosophy.

Dante is way better than average. The speed and complexity of reading coverages under duress is very difficult to master.

I watched a play in the TTU game in which I knew what was open after the completion.

I reviewed it over ten times to see if I could time reading what was going on quickly enough to make the proper read. It is difficult to master for sure.

As usual, there are very good comments to ponder over. I am going to write another article. Not sure if it will drop tomorrow or Thursday. I have to talk to FishDuck about what I have so far. But I definitely feel like posting sunshine, rainbows and lollipops, even though I don't feel that way about this week.

It has been a great year. It is tough to remember how young this team actually is. I expected a 10-2 year, or maybe 11-2 at best. The roller coaster ride is a total reflection of how young this team is. I have seen improvement from all phases of the team-staff, starters, units and backup players.

I believe we expect too much perfection from a team that has its limits. And the fact that Indiana doesn't seem to make any mistakes makes that tough to swallow. Cignetti and his staff are an outstanding group of pure excellence. But he has a ten year head start on Lanning. For all of Lanning's aggressiveness, he has the second best record of any coach in FBS with as many games played.

Friends, we have one of the very best in the business. And he is growing right in front of our eyes. He has only lost three games of 10 points or more-two to title winners, and one to the only undefeated team this year. He has never lost to an unranked team. He has defeated the #2 and the #3 team back to back years, and has posted an Undefeated season himself as the regular season #1 team. He defeated every blue blood team in the B1G his first year in the conference. He has defeated every brand name team in the conference already.

Dan Lanning, with a much less than perfect team, has a chance to redeem his only loss this year. And a shot at a National Title in 16 short days. I doubt we lose by 10 this time. I expect an instant classic type of game-circa UW/Oregon in Seattle. Despite the questions on offense, and defense. This team is unpredictable, in a good way. We are very very fortunate. We are living Thanksgiving in January.

Well the Tech DL destroyed my narrative...but their WRs played exactly how I thought they would.

The playoff format helped OBD today. But the defense stepped up.

Another scenario when one unit bailed out the other.

On to the next one.

test

The reason we are seeing this "physicality" from Tech is the entire OL are the Manut Bol of Offensive Lineman. They are herky jerky against agile lineman. It is funny if it weren't so serious. Bully ball works against stationary players. That is not what our OL is up against.

I see a simple strategy. Run straight at them. No pulling, no quick screens. This is a one on one deal. They cannot stop us one on one. Not in coverage. Spread them out. They need to cover space. They do not have the speed outside their linemen. Take their speed away, make their LBs and DBs win the matchups. I don't see the reason to play a Big Ten game. This is a PAC12 game.

Naw, Moore isn't the problem. The strategy is. Look at what the checkdown does. They will have to account for that. That is what I want to see.

You HAVE to go off on that press coverage. There is no reason to waste time. Stein is trying to wear their line out. He just needs to attack.

Stein needs to chip those ends. That blocker should be the check down option. No need to prove anything here. Tech should not be able to cover with the additional time ( this has to be a strategy the rest of the playoffs). I don't want to waste the best mismatch we will have the rest of the year.

Ohio State and OBD don't have agile enough lineman to bully these quick DLs we've seen. This requires blocking heads up (one-on-one). Tech has been smart. They totally know they are not going to cover the WRs. So they are laying off the LOS.

I'm telling you, I wouldn't waste my time establishing a rhythm. Moore missed a wide open Benson for a TD. That mismatch is already apparent.

OBD

35-16

2

2

325

26 minutes ago, Krsmqn said:

Now we gotta listen to all the idiots who are gonna say that Miami is the greatest team ever and they beat Ohio State. Blah blah blah. But we all know that Ohio State just did not come to play.

Oh it's going to be worse than that...

Now ESPN gets to say the B1G isn't that physical. Nevermind Illinois and Iowa-two "mid level" B1G teams took out two mid level SEC teams

17 minutes ago, Duckhart said:

Geoff Schwartz

@geoffschwartz

Taking this a step further. Lanning is 47-7 as a HC in 4 seasons and the losses all have the same thing in common When the opponent scores 30+ points: 6-7 When the opponent scores less than 30 points: 41-0

I hope Dan Lannings known defensive expertise show's up tomorrow and hold's TT below 30.

My thought all year has been OBD need to average 42 in the playoffs to win it all. We just didn't have the kind of personnel to handle elite offenses.

2 hours ago, Charles Fischer said:

While I agree with Mike about passing in that 'Natty, I do feel I have to offer proof AGAIN that Barner made the bad decision on 4th down. The play call was fine, the blocking was there, but instead of running to the pylon....Kenjon ran right at their star DT Nick Fairley.

The orange line/arrow is the path Barner took...it was HIS choice that defeated the play.

(Yeah...I've kept a screenshot all this time because people keep getting it wrong)

I forgot about your take on that. I also believe the Tigers were lucky the first quarter ended before OBD ran another play. They got to rest... otherwise it may have been over before it started. Auburn didn't start stopping OBD before that point.

2 hours ago, 1Ducker1 said:

I think its going to be closer than comfortable.

I hope not ...and pride has nothing to do with it. I want to see an annihilation tomorrow. It's time people respect OBD.

35 minutes ago, Ktmguy2018 said:

tOSU is getting done to them what they did to Oregon last year. Their fans are NOT happy on the forums!!

Yeah,

Well see whether Bucknut fans about their Rose Bowl victory was the flex they bragged about all year.

10 minutes ago, Duckhart said:

wow....Im amazed at how big AND fast, the Miami D lineman show.

This half of football for Mario is going to really help his recruiting and portal picks.

You should watch the Miami/Florida game. That front door was g ferocious. I was pretty concerned about the Hurricanes from them until they lost to Louisville.

I wasn't sure which Miami team would show up today. I guess they've shown us.

1 hour ago, WTD25 said:

I don’t believe TTU is a fraud; perhaps more “unknown”.

“Unknown” because all their stats are derived from B12 competition. Without much cross-conference competition, it’s hard to effectively rank teams.

I do hope many of @Mike West predictions come true.

Go Ducks!!

I don't either...

I happen to believe the Red Raiders did their job winning the games they were supposed to. They do have a stout defense. It hasn't really been tested though. None of the teams they've faced are elite.

I also believe Indiana changes the narrative about OBD. The response reminds me of all the talk about Auburn after they stuffed out running game.

I will always believe that Chip was so bent on proving he could run in the Tigers instead of exploiting their weakness against the clear advantage OBD had passing that day

In my mind Auburn was lucky he did, because OBD were by far the better team. We held the most explosive SEC team to 19 points ( in a conference known for its physical prowess) and had the opportunity to drop 30 plus if we had just passed the damn ball.

The SEC and ESPN got away with a false narrative.

50 minutes ago, AnotherOD said:

Enjoyed the article.

As EastBayDuckDad, Solar, and Triphibius have pointed out, the one thing that has stood out is Texas Tech's offense really feasting on turnovers and short fields this season (getting them a full 2.2 standard deviations more often than the FBS median).

It appears simply not turning the ball over, being patient and playing field position, and bending-but-not-breaking might be unusually successful against Tech. Their conversion numbers when they have to travel further to score (and string together 6+ plays) apparently fall off unusually rapidly compared to the remaining playoff teams.

Yep, this is the time to force Tech to play a complete game, not just feast on turnovers and explosive plays.

1 hour ago, Triphibius said:

Two deductions from Hythloday's analysis of Texas Tech at ATQ:

1. The prolific scoring of their offense resulted not from offensive efficiency, but additional possessions made possible by turnovers. If Tech does not have favorable field position, their chances of scoring fall considerably.

2. Their defensive tackles are competent, but not the stars their edge players and LBs are. Teams have had some success running between the tackles against Texas Tech. Oregon's interior linemen (Pregnon, Iuli and Poncho) are powerful run blockers.

I believe zone blocking will be more difficult on Tech. The edges are very quick. Surprisingly, running to the edges has worked on this defense though. If Lupoi forces Tech to drive the entire field, I don't believe the Red Raiders will score much. They need explosive plays to stay in this game in my opinion.

1 hour ago, BroncoSas said:

I can dig it, Mike!

Let's Burn Some Tortillas!

I prefer burnt steak. We used to call it burnt toast when this old dog played football!

1 hour ago, DanLduck said:

From here on our, the games come down to who wants it more.

And I believe the Ducks team love holds that advantage.

I also believe Tosh & Will want to win as bad as DL. They want to go out as champions.

I agree with Mike's points. We beat their secondary.

Also, our D-line is very, very good.

And deep. Their QB will be pressured. Their run game will be slowed.

As good as their O-line and D-line are, they haven't played a team as strong as Oregon. They will wear down. The time off always affects timing. Tackling the Ducks team speed will take a bit to readjust to.

I expect Kenyon and Jamari to have a big day. Jmac, Benson, and the return of speed-demon Dakorian and sure hands Bryant will give that secondary fits.

And our stable of backs will run and run and run.

Can't wait!

This is where we get to see if our young team has developed killer instinct. If it ever was necessary, Tech is the kind of team to put down early, and keep down late.

1 hour ago, David Marsh said:

One thing that your post Mike had me thinking about is when you said that most receivers get open by pushing off the defenders against Oregon... Basically offensive PI.

What we haven't seen for the vast majority of the season are officials throwing flags on that and we haven't seen many flags on opposing teams, especially when it comes to holding. Iowa had one penalty for zero yards against us and if you rewatch the lien of scrimmage play I saw Bear Alexander being dragged from behind multiple times away from the ball. Textbook holding... But no flags.

Against JMU flags were thrown for two offensive PIs and a bunch of offensive line holding.

Will see see the officials actually throw flags in favor of our Ducks this game? If we do I think it's a sign that our stats may have been deflated because of so many missing flags throughout the year.

David, the refs have cost us one title (Newton fumbled that TD run, he threw the pick, and we all know they got a gimmie at the end of the game).

I am going to have to keep my cool this playoff season, because JMU got two explosive passes on pushoffs the refs didn't call. So I have to expect that will be par for the course.

2 hours ago, ABNMoose said:

I don't recall now where i saw it, but one thing i haven't seen many questions or information about is how good is TT second defense line? Once their vaunted front 7 are winded, what kind of fall off is there? Can OBD go up tempo and gas them? Not swap out and force them to either get flagged for illegal substitute or just get caught flat footed? How will a long sustained drive affect their conditioning? How much effect will sustained drive after sustained drive, just dinking and doinking down the field in the first half wear them out?

Thats one thing i am interested in.

SCO DUCKS!!!

Agreed! I do not believe TTU has the type of depth to sub much in this game.