This one is a total mystery to me but a couple things stand out. *Their offense doesn't scare me in the least and *Their defense has never seen team speed like Oregon has.
*And unlike Stanford, they haven't had the advantage of playing us year in and year out.
Their offense looked pretty Stanford'esque in the highlights from last week. Good play action, sure handed receivers and the QB looked pretty accurate.
Their Defense also looked pretty sure handed and fast. They don't need to match our guys step for step if they can force a bad pass. I realize that JV State is hardly worthy of comparison but they looked good enough to have me concerned.
OregonFan4life -
My source just said Chip is officially back!
It will be announced at Autzen press conference tomorrow afternoon!
vagusnerve wrote:Don't see us stopping the run and play action. Close game, could go either way I think.
If Marcus plays lights out we could win.
This is how I feel, except I still think we pull out the win thanks to the home field edge. Cook is good, MSU's OL/RB are sturdy. Our defense is going to have their hands full all day long. But the crowd, and a few big plays on offense will be enough to give the Ducks a one score win.
I respect what they accomplished last year, but as odd as it may sound, I'm not in the least bit worried. They were nearly a .500 football team in 13', had an outstanding year last year, but then graduated the leaders of the defense in Max Bullough and Denicos Allen. Cook is average at best, hes not gonna beat ya through the air. They are a lot like Stanford without the great offensive line. They run off tackle left, run off tackle right, run off center, throw a short pass, run off tackle....yawn. They are completely reliant on the defense. If they get behind two scores the game is over.
And............they play in the Big Ten. This may sound disrespectful, its not intended to be, but the level of competition is not even close to the Pac. Eastern Michigan, Wyoming, Nebraska, Purdue, Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers, and Penn State. The big games are obviously Michigan, and a neutered Ohio State. Man, if that was our schedule I would be doing backflips. Undefeated is a guarantee in the 10. Hell even our crappy teams will overwhelm you if you take your foot off the gas pedal. Look at Washington State. Sleep on Halliday and you will regret it. Utah is a damn solid team without great athletes, Washington has great recruiting classes year in and year out and Oregon State is a sleeper. Think it will be an easy win and they will still be there in the 4th. Cal is about the only "gimmie" win on our entire schedule. The Pac-12 is frikking brutal....like SEC brutal these days.
This one is a total mystery to me but a couple things stand out. *Their offense doesn't scare me in the least and *Their defense has never seen team speed like Oregon has.
*And unlike Stanford, they haven't had the advantage of playing us year in and year out.
Their offense looked pretty Stanford'esque in the highlights from last week. Good play action, sure handed receivers and the QB looked pretty accurate.
Their Defense also looked pretty sure handed and fast. They don't need to match our guys step for step if they can force a bad pass. I realize that JV State is hardly worthy of comparison but they looked good enough to have me concerned.
I didn't watch the highlights of the game since I was able to record and watch it instead and I came away with some different thoughts about that game. The most impressive thing about MSU's offense in that game was more about the miscues by the JSt Defense than it was the Spartan Offense. Things like the CB and S messing up a call so they BOTH blitz leaving a WR wide open for a long TD don't strike me as concerning. I also saw a lot of DBs that just couldn't cover period. When I watched them play and how they line-up I didn't get the sense at all actually, that this is another version of Stanford on offense. They are going to try and implement more of a balanced offense and I didn't once see them bring on a 6th or 7th OL like Stanford does. If I was going to compare their offense to somebody, I'd say its along the lines of a Washington or OSU.
Defensively, I thought the Spartans showed both their talent on Defense as well as their youth and inexperience. There were times players (LBs) were out of position and allowed conversions and big plays, as well as times when JSt just dropped the f'in ball on what would have otherwise been a huge play/td. JSt ran a similar scheme as us so we were able to see that MSU is going to line up against us primarily in a 4-2 Nickel playing lots of Cover 0,1,3. The SS/Nickel will come into the box late on some plays to cover for a blitzing/scrapping LB and if we can keep the LBs out of place, I think we can win this quite comfortably in part because of our offensive talent and the speed.
None of this is to say that MSU isn't going to be a tough opponent but my reaction to watching them play that game as well as ours is that we're going to continue to pull away from them as the game goes on.
And for whomever used the Ali quote, please, in the future use the full quote, its much more encapsulating!
I know everyone is calling for Chuck Nelson to be returner, but the knocks I've heard from Moseley and others seem to indicate that he's had trouble hanging onto the ball throughout fall camp. I love his dynamic play ability, but in a game like this, we can't afford a muffed punt. My vote is either Ifo or Keanon...and those 2 (especially Ifo) are still threats.
rockthief wrote:Read on another forum last night that the Spartans' center is injured and out. If that is true it is a hell of a way to start the season.
Didn't they lose a guard as well? Maybe we are talking about the same guy.
OregonFan4life -
My source just said Chip is officially back!
It will be announced at Autzen press conference tomorrow afternoon!
rockthief wrote:Read on another forum last night that the Spartans' center is injured and out. If that is true it is a hell of a way to start the season.
Didn't they lose a guard as well? Maybe we are talking about the same guy.
Yes, they have two guys out
Bad for them, good for us unless the replacements play really well. Losing two guys next to each other ain't good.
rockthief wrote:Read on another forum last night that the Spartans' center is injured and out. If that is true it is a hell of a way to start the season.
Didn't they lose a guard as well? Maybe we are talking about the same guy.
Yes, they have two guys out
I hope it is nothing serious of course. But I appreciate any advantage we can get.
OregonFan4life -
My source just said Chip is officially back!
It will be announced at Autzen press conference tomorrow afternoon!
Just found the link below from the ESPN Pac-12 Blog, though it's a bit much for me to read at the moment. Maybe something for Fishduck and others of you Xs and Os analysts among us.
