C J

Hmmmm....surprised Troy Franklin is not in that mix, but I bet he will get plenty of opportunity. I would love to see Thornton have a break out game here tonight.

Very inspirational !

If we win out it will definitely be a real good opportunity to determine a clear answer to your question Charles. The wheels are already turning to screw UofO, and I am pretty sure you all have heard and seen the campaign. I sure hope we can force them to show how biased this process is by winning the next three games. With Ohio State blowing MSU off the field today it is very likely they jump to #3 or possibly #2 actually.

Playoff hopes are dashed tonight I am afraid. I do think we come back and beat them in the Pac12 championship game though. Ducks 31 Utes 35 1 TO 2 Sacks 230 yards passing

While it is a bummer hearing hacks run down our team there is a worse problem on the horizon I fear. If we win out I am really concerned that ESecPN is going to cut us out of the playoff. Their main article up on their webpage right now reads as a manifesto about why Oregon doesn't deserve to be #3 right now. A case in point from the article: "Though the playoff protocol dictates the committee select the four "best" teams in college football, in reality what it has done in the past is select teams based on a mixture of "best" and "most deserving" or, for our purposes today, via measures of team quality and accomplishment. The Ducks fit neither bill." If we win out (which I personally still don't think we will....but IF we do) the college football mafia is already sowing the seeds right now and making their case as to why we shouldn't be included. So while I share your frustration Charles, I think we need to prepare ourselves for a much greater amount of frustration and plain old anger.

Why is Utah favored on Saturday? Because they are playing at home and have looked really impressive in their last several games. Not to mention that all the stats favor them as well. I for one am very happy they are favored and I certainly hope Cristobal and Moorehead use this fact to their advantage the way they did when we trekked to Columbus, OH.

Yep......and I am not kidding.

True........true 72. But I do think we are dealing with a much more savvy coach this weekend. Those other teams stacked the box but did not go all in and bring up the safeties to the extent that I think Whittingham will. He will make us beat his team through the air. I know we can do it because we did it against UCLA no problem. We shall see what happens though.

We have been leaning on the run game big time lately. I think we will realize pretty quickly in this game tomorrow night that it won't be that easy. Kyle Whittingham has a knack for scheming away a teams strength. He will stack the box and bring the safeties up. After a few 3 and outs trying to run it the way we have the last few weeks I sure hope Moorehead opens up the pass game playbook. My guess is we will be lucky to run for 125 yards in this game.

I suspect it is. Others will wait till after the season though, which in my opinion is what Mycah should have done. He just couldn't contain his emotions or anger about the situation I guess. His decision is the real life tangible result of what so many of us here on FishDuck have complained about all season......actually for four seasons now. I don't blame him one bit, but he should have waited. The exodus of top receiver talent will begin in earnest come late January.

I think the question may be "why not"? Not that I agree with him as it feels like abandonment and quitting, but I am sure he could see the writing on the wall after three seasons. There just aren't any stats to be had at UofO for wide receivers any longer under this offensive scheme. Heck there aren't a lot of eye popping stats for any offensive player to be had. When the qb is running 17 times a game it pretty much tells you what the situation is. The fact is that there haven't been good stats for wide receivers since Cristobal took over. Other than Dillon Mitchell in 2018 it's been pretty tough sledding. No one else has had anywhere near 1000 yards receiving (or been on pace for it i.e. 2020 season). It's crazy, because for being a 9-1 team and ranked #3 in the country our stats on both sides of the ball are pretty poor and middling. We win as a team and we win by brute force on the offensive line of scrimmage and to some extent with the defensive front 7. Under Coach Mario........"this is the way".

There is a very high probability that Whittingham and the Utes will stack the box after watching what happened the past couple weeks to Duck opponents. If they pull their safeties up tight enough it will get a lot tougher to run it against them then it has been the last couple weeks. I sure hope Joe is thinking about this high potential and sets up a plan b air scheme similar to the UCLA game. My gut says you have underestimated Whittingham and the Utes D Joshua. He will be making the necessary adjustments to stuff the run. I look for us to come out and get stoned a few times on the first few possessions of the game. After that, passing on 1st and 2nd down will be called for.

Yeah, I am not sure I have seen a beat down of an Altman team like that in his entire time coaching here at Oregon.

Harmon and Young do not make a Figueroa and a Omoruyi is what I am thinking after this game. Got to go to the big guys Altman.

Okay, now I am starting to think this is a great game for Oregon. Here is my thinking. They needed this to ensure they don't sleep walk later in the season. Altman will continually refer back to the first half of this game. This is a major learning experience. Look at how much more intense they are now. They are attacking the basket and diving after loose balls. Now they are physically dominating BYU, which they should when you compare the teams athlete by athlete. The Ducks seem like they walked in looked at the BYU team and were like "yeah, this should be no problem". A blessing in disguise getting blown out by 20+ to BYU tonight.

My word. Jacob Young = no bueno. He looked pretty good before so hopefully it's just one of those days. If I am not mistaking I believe I have watched him miss 4 or maybe 5 layups tonight.

If Altman put this in practice tonight then we would of had zero timeouts within the first 5 mintues. However he finished the first half with 3 out of 4 timeouts still in the bank so he definitely blew it not calling a bunch of early timeouts to break the runs that BYU made. Well this team is getting a big lesson here tonight. Hopefully it will come back to pay dividends later in the season. I really wish Altman would use his big guys. I feel like having 2 or even 3 big guys on the court tonight would be good to physically dominate BYU. So far BYU has been the physically dominant team by a long ways.

Yeah, I feel like he has a habit of letting the bleeding go for too long.

Wow, laying an egg was an understatement. This is straight up sh!*ing the bed here tonight. 11 points with 5:51 left in the first half....wha..wha...what??? 4-22 from the field. BYU is playing bully ball out here on this new Oregon team. They are being taken to the wood shed. Sure hope this isn't a foreshadowing of what the state of Utah is going to do to the Ducks all this week.

Yikes! 6 points in 8 minutes here in the first half. Can you say laying an egg??

Hmmmm......I bet Kris Hutson is feeling better about his potential to get more opportunities. This was predictable, as many of us predicted that the wide receiver group is going to get antsy with the type of offensive scheme we have been seeing. Obviously we weren't the only ones who are frustrated. It was just a matter of time. I expect to see much more of this once the season ends. My biggest concern is we lose Donte Thornton, who looks to me to be a poor man's DK Metcalf and could even turn into the full fledged thing.

Like I said a few weeks ago the committee is lining up everything to screw us right now. Putting Michigan in front of MSU after they lost to them was just another subtle way that telegraphs where they are headed. Prepare to be infuriated........IF we win the next three games.

Wow, watch #77 George Moore in that play just push his guy off the hole and Forsyth pretty much did the same. A great block of the safety downfield by Webb and that play was destined for pay dirt. Great hesitation and then burst of speed by Cardwell. He does look the part.

I can't blame Pittman or any of the other receivers for being frustrated. I too am frustrated about it. It doesn't seem like there is much that can be done though. Cristobal's "avalanche" offensive scheme is coming into its own at this point in the season. I don't think we are going to see the Ducks throwing the ball much from here on out as long as the avalanche (aka the Oregon offensive line) keeps dominating. Although Utah will stack the box and probably try to make us one dimensional.

A bit of both, but they definitely aren't being put in a position to win. They need to move up and play tight bump and run off the line of scrimmage and man them up. The zone is getting picked apart. Our pass defense is playing right into their strength. They are on par for over 400 yards of passing after that first half.