Excellent assessment as usual Charles. Thanks!
I have a couple of comments that I haven't heard expressed much yet:
First, both teams had two weeks to prepare for this game. It had the feel of a bowl game. Oregon never got the Washington D off balance, and that's probably a result of an extra week of preparation. Washington often appeared that it knew what Oregon was going to do at the point of the snap. I think Oregon did a better job in the second half to disguise their plays.
Second, I have to take exception to the fourth-down play with two minutes left. I was yelling at the TV for Oregon to punt the ball, and for many of the reasons noted above. Also, Penix was banged up at that point, and one more hit may have put him out of the game.
Third, fourth down calls. I encourage coach Lanning to be aggressive, and trust his players, and win first downs. That being said, the next step is to have a plan, a strategy. What typically happens on key fourth-down plays, is a coach calls time out, discusses the call with his coaches, lines up, and runs a play that is usually designed to allow the D to catch their breath, rotate players, and stack the box. Unfortunately, I believe that scenario puts the odds back in the D's favor.
What Oregon needs is a reliable system that puts the odds in their favor. Chip was the first Oregon coach to take on the philosophy of 'going for it on fourth down', and a master of in-game momentum. However, he had a system of playing fast and wearing out a defense. By the time the Ducks either went for it on fourth down, or got deep in the red zone, the defense was so gassed (and didn't have time to rotate players) that Oregon could just run through arm tackles. Coach Lanning doesn't understand this, and coach Helfrich didn't either.
I really like coach Lanning and believe he's doing a tremendous job! Oregon went on the road to face a very good team, with a hostile crowd, and put themselves in position to win. Oregon was and is the better team. The stats are impressive!