mikethehiker

Ducks 41-10 2 turnovers 4 sacks 209 passing yards

Student athletes and coaches both should have to sit out a year when they transfer to another FBS program with the exception of graduate transfers who can play immediately. I know what the ramifications are and I think they're healthy.

Oklahoma is getting a lot of mileage for their win over a mediocre Michigan team at home. They are no where near top 5 in the country.

Before the last two drives of the 4th quarter, PSU had a total of 67 passing yards and 67 rushing yards. That's astounding!!! I was pleasantly surprised with our overall defensive performance, particularly in the ground game. Our tackling was superb! It would be very difficult to find a more dominant D-line performance by OBD in a big game like this. I was surprised at just how bad Drew Allar was Saturday night with making decisions and throwing accuracy. His long TD pass was an absolute dime though. Penn St. had some success running late, but almost all of it was Drew Allar on QB sneaks or busted plays. Even on the last drive, if you take off 20 (3rd and 9) and 8 (2nd and 10) yard scrambles from Allar, we were still holding PSU under 3 ypc (9 for 25 yards). They just had two big 4th down conversions (one was initially stopped short). Most of their rushing yards came from obvious or most likely passing downs.

Penn State 24-13 0 turnovers 1 sack 240 passing yards I hope I'm dead wrong, but 2 weeks to prepare and a must win situation for Penn St. They shorten the game and play mistake free. Oregon plays solid but makes a few mistakes (e.g. untimely turnovers or drive killing penalties) in a tough environment. Tough learning opportunity for a young team. Now I'm depressed already.

Ahhh. I appreciate the nuance with the rollout. Maybe the author took that same factor into account.

I think we have had one sack. It was in the 3rd quarter against Oregon State. I remember thinking when it happened, "Oh well, get the first one out of the way." With the one exception of the Rose Bowl last year against Ohio State (8 sacks), Oregon has had an unprecedented run of protecting the quarterback. 2022 - 5 sacks (#1 in FBS) 2023 - 5 sacks (#1 in FBS) 2024 - 13 sacks (#10 in FBS minus 8 sacks vs. Ohio St. We also gave up 3 sacks to Idaho, and 4 to Boise St.) 2025 - 1 sack (#2 in FBS)

Charles, I'm so sorry you won't make it to the game. I know you had to have been looking forward to this for many months. Praying for the pain to quickly subside and for increased mobility. I so appreciate all the work you do for this forum.

I like our chances much better on defense without TE Tyler Warren on the other side. It really wreaks havoc on a defense when you have to pay so much attention to one player AND you don't have the personnel to neutralize him. Hopefully, no more double teams, bracket coverage, or otherwise leaning the defense towards that player. Just let the boys pin their ears back and play. I know they have other great skill players, but I like our backend much better this year. Offensively, play calls have to get in quickly and our offense should presume they will not be able to hear a word. I wonder if we might sneak in a little more no-huddle and two-minute. Why give the crowd another 40 seconds to ramp up before every play? Neither team has had to play deep into a 4th quarter. So wear the defense out and don't let them substitute. Let's flip the script and outrush them. And please, if you have a chance to take your first 3 points on the road in a big game and hostile environment - KICK THE FIELD GOAL! I don't care what the score is. Put points on the board. (Only exception to this is down 4+ with under 2 minutes to play). All the pressure is on Penn St. Stay ahead of the chains. Stay ahead on the scoreboard. If they don't win this with their upcoming trip to Columbus looming, they are staring at a road playoff game.

I'm glad we don't have to play us at Autzen 😄 Yes, there have been some wild environments in our old conference. Fans can cause the home team to get frisky and turn what should be easy games into nightmares.

This week, OBD will face a harrowing task going into white out conditions at Beaver Stadium for a prime time, Top 5 battle with Penn St. This venue should not be underestimated in a way that Ohio St. appeared to have underestimated Autzen last year. The question I have is whether this Saturday will be the toughest road environment the Ducks have ever played in? I think it could be. There is bound to be some recency bias, but here are some potential previous candidates and reasons why I don't think they reach the level of this Saturday: 1) Anything prior to the 1990's - were the Ducks ever good enough to command the attention of a frothing fanbase like a Top 5 battle warrants? Did fans froth prior to 1990's like they do today? (Just kidding - I know they did). Also, I'm looking for good Duck teams where it was clear the venue affected their play and they weren't just overmatched. 2) Any Pac-8/10/12 venue. I have to be careful here, because if I discount Pac-12 venues, it throws some shade on Autzen as well. We all know smaller stadiums can still affect games in significant ways. There have been some wildly difficult conference road games like Washington (2023), Arizona (2009, 2013), Utah (every night game), Arizona St. (every night game), Cal or USC in early 2000's, or Washington St. (2018). But do any of them rise to the level of Beaver Stadium this Saturday? 3) Michigan (2007, 2024) and Tennessee (2010) - these are two of the largest venues the Ducks have played in, but the games ended up being uncompetitive and it turned out the teams were going in different directions. 4) Nebraska (2016), Michigan St. (2015), Boise St. (2009), Oklahoma (2004) - All tough road losses. 5) "Neutral" Site Games - Auburn in the natty (2010-2011), LSU (2011), Auburn (2019), Ohio St. in the natty (2014-2015), Georgia (2022) all proved to be virtual road environments, but not quite at the level of playing in Death Valley or Athens. 6) Ohio St. (2021) - We all have to admit that Ohio St. fans were not quite awake for this game. We came in under the RADAR, took the crowd out early and earned an awesome road win. Are there any other candidates for the toughest Duck road environment ever?

I agree with Charles that this team is still very young and has a ton of upside to improve by the end of the year. I was paying very close attention to run defense today and I do have a concern at the linebacker spot and I’m not sure what we can do about it this year. Boettcher plays his heart out and makes a ton of plays, but he misses some, too. And who’s after Boettcher? Jackson is consistently blocked. I watch Boettcher come across the field to make plays on Jackson’s side. Mixon is coming on, but I still see only 2 tackles. If we send Boettcher on a stunt, who cleans up behind him? Overall A for effort, but I’m not sure we have true, natural linebackers. I hope Tosh can coach these guys up.

Improved run defense. We shouldn't need run support from the secondary unless the numbers dictate it. Gap control, beating blocks, setting the edge, staying low, and improved tackling where the pile doesn't keep falling forward for 2-3 extra yards. Save the stunts for next week.

This summarizes my curiosity as well, but with the added element of new-to-each-other players all over the field. It takes time to learn to trust and gel. You start anticipating how the guy next to handles that blocker, that pulling guard, or that QB read and you complement their move with a move of your own (all at game speed). I am slightly concerned, but you have to believe we’ve been running a pretty vanilla scheme knowing there has been no competitive threat so far. Penn St. forums on the other hand are wringing their hands that their offense has yet to get untracked. They’re worried about Drew Allar shouldering high expectations and the slow start to the running game. They long for that one time last year when they ran all over us. Let them think that.

I don’t think it’s concern, but I’m interested in investigating why NW was able to sustain drives. They had a few unforced errors and questionable play calls that stalled their drives that we can’t count on great teams to make later in the season. Is it talent? Experience? Is it gap control? Are we not getting off blocks? What are the tackles being asked to do vs the linebackers? Was it a numbers game? We are interested in learning more about our defense along with the offense.