The Kamikaze Kid

I'm wondering how many times a BIG team has been scheduled to play a game on a Friday night after a road game against a team coming off a bye. My guess is probably about as many times as a team has been scheduled to play eight conference games in a row without a bye.

The only reason Iowa was even close in this game is because of three self inflicted disasters in or near the red zone after three unstoppable drives. One was an end zone interception, another was a third down trip over feet and another was a third down holding call. If OBD doesn’t self sabotage themselves and collect a mere three points from those three drives, the score would have looked as dominant as the performance. I would rather the Ducks be an actually dangerous team lurking under the radar than being fed rat poison at number one like last year.

And USC hasn't played tOSU in two years. Also got both Michigan and Penn St at home in separate years.

To me, the fact that a conference leading showdown between Texas and Oregon on ESPN (via partnership with Pac 12 network) never happened is a huge part of the Pac's demise. Also, just look at all the major media markets that kept hitting the snooze button since the Pete Carol era. LA (SUC, UCLA) Phoenix (ASU), Denver (CU), San Francisco (Cal) and Seattle (fuskies) were all mostly no shows the entire time in football. Only OBD (Portland), Stanford (San Jose) and Utah (Salt Lake City) were competitive for any long stretches of time. The Pac spent way too much time squandering viewership in it's biggest local markets while thumbing it's nose at a national one (ESPN) while relishing in badminton and tiddlywinks championships. The Pac got what it deserved and sometimes the truth hurts.

Apparently shutting out Citadel at home is more impressive than winning a rock fight in a near frozen car wash at Iowa.

I really hope our early game play calling/ decision making vastly improves. An early midfield 4th and go for it stop spotted Indy an early 3 points and momentum out of nowhere. Another early 4th and go for it midfield stop helped Wisky stay in the game longer than they should have. A three passing attempts and out started a game in a near frozen car wash before we even found out the run game was near unstoppable against Iowa. All three bad starts were due to a riverboat gambling mentality against tough defensive minded teams where chess like strategy was required. The Ducks have the horses to compete in these smash mouth battles and I wish they would act like it early on.

Calling that two feet out of bounds two point conversion good was the worst call I've ever seen. Even in real time, he was clearly out of bounds.

When you’re in a ‘65 Packers game but you think you’re the ‘85 Dolphins.

Man Penn St is trying hard to pull this off. A long run plus a short TD gets them closer. Indy still leads 20-17.

About as good of news as one could hope for after all the rumors and speculation since last night. This is a real gut check game due to opponent, weather and injuries. I think this is the type of game Lanning excels at motivating for. I hope to see some future leaders rise to the occasion. Go Ducks!

Interception! And the melt down in Happy Valley continues.

Wow. Penn St literally fumbles away the game with less than two minutes left in the half deep in their own territory struggling for a pointless yard on a no gain play on third and eight. Geeze. Indy up 17-7.

The Oregon injury report comes out at 10:30 (two hours before the game). No need to get too worked up until then as the rumors will fly in all directions until then. I expect a mix of truth and fiction in the rumor mill but who knows.

It’s like fate decided to shine on NW but they said “No thanks”.

Great stuff everybody! I think to sum up a general them, the Ducks just need to be the freaken Ducks! Aggressive play calling with passive execution has been a disastrous mix. Tone down the 4th and go for its and bump up the self confidence at QB seems to be a winning recipe to me. I think the Ducks should lean into whatcha gonna do about it plays with their whatcha gonna do about it players. Sadiq, Dak, Hill and Davison are problems. Make Iowa have to solve them. I love the punter/ returner chess match that could develop. I say punt even in field goal range and make Iowa live on their own goal line. Force them to get a couple first downs just to get back to the 25. I think this game comes down to Oregon's state of mind. Swagger without arrogance, caution without being timid taking the win without hoping for it is what I want to see. I think we do and the Ducks take a huge step towards maturing into a legit championship contender this week.

OBD 17-13 2 TOs 2 Sacks 150 Passing yards

I'll admit I cringed when OBD went for it on 4th down early at mid field against Indiana. They had already shown themselves to be sure tacklers and able to stop ball carriers at the point of contact and not be dragged for extra yards. That needles gamble gave Indy a short field to kick a field goal, grab an early lead and play the rest of the game with confidence. That game was setting itself up to be a classic field position struggle against a disciplined team and not a river boat gambling type of game. I don't mind gambles if they're properly timed and situational. Somewhere in between Kelly's stubborn bravado (Stanford, Auburn redzones) and Mario's mundane plod ball exists good coaching. Calculated gambles mixed with solid safe decisions takes time to understand. I hope Lanning gets there. We will be a regular legit championship contender when he does.

Can Oregon miss the playoffs? I sure hope so. I never want to be one of those teams that expects to make it just because we're us. I want to watch these games with everything on the line. That's what makes them extra fun. To me, if OBD can't win a defensive battle with Iowa or an offensive battle with SUC or a test of wills with the dang fuskies, they don't deserve to compete with top teams in the country for the crown anyway. I'm sure Lanning feels the need to win every game left and I'm fine with being in that boat. Can't wait for Saturday!

When it comes to the playoffs, what would be your priority? Is just making the field good enough? Championship contention? Making the final four? For me, I'm most interested in being competitive for a championship so I'd say being in the final for or even better, the championship would be a successful season with winning it all being the cherry on top. With that said, losing to Iowa or USC or Washington would mean the team is not at championship contention level this year and not making the playoffs wouldn't bother me that much. I'll always root for OBD no matter what level they are at in any given year, but to me when it comes to the playoffs, you're either in it to win it or you're not. This mind set is also what has me really excited for the game this week. It feels like the stakes are really high.

Just win baby!

Sad to see Florence go as I remember Lanning calling him up to recruit him as he was leaving the field after the Dawgs won the championship. That being said, it is almost unreal how amazing the recruiting has been that a guy who had early playing time and a sophomore starter became the third guy at his position. I’m sure he’ll be highly sought after and OBD’s number one pass defense will keep on keeping on.

Great stuff! I really hope to see Davison start and pounding it up the gut to be a part of the early game plan. I know that would be a good on good battle but we seem to have too many slow starts trying to work the edges and short passes early. A couple early Stanford esque first downs may open up the outside game. I'm just an arm chair OC I know but I think this will be an alpha dog pissing match early and I think we need to set the tone. Really excited for this one.

Here's where OBD ranks nationally in defensive stats. Points per game: 6th 13.5 Yards per game: 4th 239.4 Passing yards: 1st 124.6 Rushing yards: 30th 114.9

Mario's the Titanic in search of a berg.

It's bye weekend and without an actual game to ponder, I've been thinking about how good the Ducks actually are. Statistically, the Oregon D is very good but lurking just below the stats is some info that may make them elite. In the category of points allowed per game in the BIG, OBD find themselves in fourth place behind tOSU, Indy and Iowa. Oregon has given up 85 points in the BIG and 108 over all. If you brake that down between qtrs 1-3 and the 4th separately, some interesting info emerges. Below, I've done just that. Team Qtrs 1-3 4 Total Mon St 6 7 13 Ok St 0 3 3 NW 0 14 14 OSU 7 0 7 PSU 3 14 17 excludes OT points IU 20 10 30 Rut 3 7 10 Wis 0 7 7 Total 39 62 101 BIG Totals 26 52 78 Some conclusions. OBD have given up only 26 points in 15 quarters (5 games quarters 1-3) against BIG competition. That's less than 2 points per quarter. Two thirds of the total points given up against the BIG have been in the 4th quarter. Of the 52 fourth quarter points given up, only 24 were with the game still in doubt (Indy and PSU). I've never seen defensive numbers like these for the Ducks. If the offense can find more consistency and the D holds steady, this may be a championship caliber team.