Hats Off to the Idaho Vandals

[1Ducker1]

They played for the most part flawless football taking all things into consideration. At the end of the day the Ducks talent won but barely. I'm not sold on NIL.

 

Boise is waiting. Scary to me, how bout you?

 

[Mike West]

Idaho outplayed OBD today.

 

 

We don't have an athletic OL this year.  That could be a problem long term.

 

It's the first game.  Doesn't decide the season.

 

We are definitely not the third best team, and we sure aren't That Team Out West.

 

Even if Idaho wins the FCS title, they sure lowered my expectations of OBD this year.

[OregonDucks]

They played fundamentally sound football and should do very well this season. However, they had no business being in that game.  

[GeotechDuck]

I can’t remember the last time our OL played that bad in a game.  The right side of the offensive line was like a sieve all night.  
 

Hopefully we get Bedford back next week for Boise and can slide Poncho back over to Center. 

[Chuck Duck]

Though l’m disappointed in Oregon’s play last night, I did enjoy watching a whole bunch of farm boys put on a clinic on how to play disciplined football. Hats off to Idaho and I hope the Ducks can get their crap together.  

[Jon Joseph]

 

Please, repeat after me: Week 1; Week 1; Week 1; Week 1. Do not make knee-jerk judgments. 

 

OL play is a ballet. Yesterday, Oregon played with a makeshift O line which affects everyone on the line including the tackles. And of course, affects the passing game when the QB does not have, or believes he does not have, time to go through the "West Coast O" progressions. 

 

Idaho is a proud FCS program. Idaho was the No. 4 seed in the 2023 FCS playoff. Idaho's coach had bulletin board material the size of Moscow. Idaho was inspired. The Ducks were prepared to play a game they believed would be over at the end of the National Anthem. 

 

Talent is one thing, attitude, leverage, and want-to another. 

 

Get Poncho back at center with Bedford playing next week and Gabriel using his wheels when the opportunity to do so is there, and I believe we will see a different team vs, Boise, one not coasting on preseason laurels. 

 

WEEK 1.

 

[Solar]

Last time an FCS team looked this good at Autzen was 2016.

 

Thinking we will go 4-8 would be an overreaction.

 

Thinking we will go 9-3 is not.

 

The only problem here is the bar was set too high. We are wrong to think our prior chemistry of Stein, Nix, Irving, JPJ, and Franklin can be perfectly replicated. Yes we will see significant improvement as the team gels, but our ceiling is simply not at that level.

 

Back to the subject line of this thread, I'm extremely respectful  to the Vandals. And thankful to them for showing us where we are actually at. Saying they vandalized us may be the perfect metaphor for what they really did yesterday.

Edited September 1 by Solar

[Haywarduck]

Much love and respect, much like watching what once was, playing against version 3.0.

 

Hopefully this is just the beta version, not the alpha version. We need to get the bugs out and Idaho was the perfect game for that. 

 

I also hope the coaches expected a few glitches and are ready to clean up this version of Oregon Football. Putting a beta version out there against real D1 teams might just cause catastrophic losses. 

 

Maybe, just maybe Lanning knew this team needed a wakeup call, and the troubles we saw were just what he wanted?

[EastBayDuckDad]

On 8/31/2024 at 8:24 PM, 1Ducker1 said:

Boise is waiting. Scary to me, how bout you?

A worthy opponent, yes. Scary, no.

 

The last Boise State game at Autzen was 2009. Whatever lingering fanny hurt is felt by those players (LaGarrette and the BSU dude he clocked notwithstanding) and those of us who had to watch the ignominious start to the Chip era. Most of Oregon's current players were six or seven years old at that time. So they (including DL and the rest of the staff) don't have any frame of reference for that loss.

 

Lots to clean up after yesterday, particularly on the O-line, but the Ducks are still the significantly better team. They have plenty of egg to wash off their faces but they will be humbled and determined this week and I predict they come out against the Broncos with some fire in their eyes.

 

And as long as we are remembering that 2009 season, let's also recall how the ship got righted and resulted in a Rose Bowl appearance.

[tee duke]

If that wasn't a wake up call I don't know what is. Vandals appear solid, especially up front. They came close to knocking off the Ducks and brought the team back down to earth. They pressured Dillon the entire game thus so many short throws, even way short of the yardage needed. I sure hope this was a combination of a makeshift O Line and costly penalties and miscues—all soon to be corrected. Or we will be way out of the top 25 and unable to claw our way back.

[Washington Waddler]

     Tend to agree with those who suggest it’s a first week work in progress. The recruiting/transfer/NIL process is to a point where you have to say Dan’s stamp is upon this group. But, identity and team character are funny things. You have to develop them in real time. 
 

     Time to wave good-bye to expectations, and get down to work.

[Charles Fischer]

Remember how former Offensive line coach Neal Zumbokos used to say, "no sugar for my group." He forbid them to accept any praise as, "we can always be better."

 

I think our O-Line obviously had a bit too much sugar from the media...and believed it.

 

 

[Washington Waddler]

On 9/1/2024 at 11:22 AM, Charles Fischer said:

I think our O-Line obviously had a bit too much sugar from the media...and believed it.

     At times it's a cliche that’s easy to overlook, but it does all really start in the trenches.  Find the answer there, and the run game starts putting more pressure and creating doubt in the LBs and Safeties which is key to creating explosion plays.

[Utki]

You can NIL the talent all you want but you cannot pay for heart.