Triphibius

In response to comments #14 and #16, Mendoza was good enough to beat OSU last night, with a lot of help from his defense. Mendoza made some beautiful throws, especially to Becker on fourth and short. Thomas's body of work is limited, so it is hard to reach any firm conclusions about his potential. I recall that he threw one "frozen rope" to the sideline of about twenty yards that led me to think that his arm strength is better than I thought. He also made an ill-advised throw on the run that nearly resulted in a costly interception. The problem there was judgment not physical talent. I admit that he is short, but he has excellent speed. I am not suggesting he is the permanent solution. I do not know.

The discussion of this at 24/7 sports a few weeks ago was informative. They said that in the practices that they had observed, Brock Thomas was clearly a more accurate passer than Luke Moga. It was apparent to me that Thomas runs quite well and has respectable arm talent. He was a 3 star prospect who had scholarship offers from other colleges. He is at the U of O because he wants to be there. They speculated that Novosad had a lingering injury at the time of the Wisconsin game. However, the Stetson Bennett comparison may be applicable.

Yes, let us give credit to our QB, receivers, and pass protectors for the success in the passing game. However... I do not want to be a grumpy fan, but it looked to me as if OBD were slow to respond to what UW was doing to stop the run. It appeared to me that the UW was putting extra defenders in the box. Even with our OL at full strength, it is hard to block seven with six. It also appeared to me at times that their secondary players were anticipating the run. I am not sure how much authority Dante has to audible, but OBD ought to have made adjustments earlier, perhaps with more play action on early downs.

But not into an 8-man box, please.

The champion would be the team lucky enough to avoid injuries through a 16-game season.

After three years, guests and Fisch smell.

Given Deion Sander's problems, perhaps he ought to be hired as OC at Colorado, thereby becoming Buffalo Chip.

I cannot say for sure whether this contributed, but I noticed that Iuli and Pregnon exchanged positions, with the former on the left side and the latter on the right.

I don't always watch Oregon State football, but when I do, I drink at least a six-pack of Dos Equis first.-- The most interesting man in the world.

Two thoughts: Perhaps Stein does not trust our tackles to provide enough protection for the additional time needed to throw downfield. They struggled at times yesterday. Geoff Schwarz asserted after the Indiana game that a more effective running game would enable downfield passing by forcing the opponent's defensive linemen to concentrate on the run and possibly encouraging their safeties to move closer to the line of scrimmage to provide run support. Both of these reactions would facilitate play action downfield passing.

The performance of the offense was disappointing. The defense was not outstanding, but possibly good enough for a win against a fine Indiana team if the offense had played better. Indiana's staff and players deserve much credit for their plan and execution, but I agree with many others that Stein was not at his best. Specific problems: Oregon had some success running the ball, especially with Jordan Davison between the guards. These kinds of plays featured our best two linemen and exploited their advantage against lighter defensive linemen. Many recall that Stein did not stick with this approach, for no apparent reason. I remarked in the thread that OBD ran the ball into a seven-man box on first down early in the game, which predictably put us behind the chains. DL seemed to think this was a more frequent problem. I do not recall this being a persistent issue. Erik Skopil stated that most of the sacks happened not because of our linemen lost one on one matchups, but when OBD were beaten by schemes that were not foreseen or not countered effectively. This issue was not fixed, but grew worse in the second half. I have not coached or played one down of organized football, but I would think that the issues with the running game ought to have been apparent on the field. I would think it might be easier to see what the pass rushers are doing from the box. However, Stein may find it easier to coach Dante and Poncho on the field, and clearly some of that was needed. To their credit, DL accepted responsibility rather than blame his players (unlike some other prominent coaches we have heard from recently), and Dante accepted blame rather than cast it on his teammates. I respect them for that, and hold out some hope for improvement because of it.

The U of O ran on first down into a seven-man box on first down. Adjustment?

My non-expert opinion is that their linebackers are better than he realized.

Congratulations to the players, coaches, staff and fans. Special kudos to those whose clutch plays preserved the victory: Dante Moore, Gary Bryant, Dillon Thieneman. Tip of the hat also to the opponent, who mounted a gallant comeback, and whose QB deserves more recognition and fewer catcalls. However, I could not escape the feeling that the Ducks had the game under control and nearly let PSU steal a victory after the U of O had outplayed them for three quarters. Thieneman accepted blame for the long pass play. I could not tell on TV, but it looked from the angle provided that he was still playing closer to the line of scrimmage than was prudent at that point in the game. The penalty for unsportmanslike conduct was inexcusable. I thought at the time that it would cost us the game. DL attributed PSU's late success running the ball to Xs and Os. He knows better than I, but it looked to me as if Oregon's defenders were getting blocked because they were tired. EAse to say, that more sbustitutions ought to have been made early, because Oregon was struggling on offense, but perhaps DL ought to have substituted more in the first half. Yes, there is reason to hope, but Oregon needs to learn how to finish games.

Would Florida choose Will Stein over Jedd Fisch, who is a Florida alumnus with P4 head coaching experience? Would they hop aboard the Lane Train if Fisch is available? If Florida were to hire Fisch, would the UW be interested in Stein, and vice versa?