#2 Oregon vs #3 Florida State (Rose Bowl - Semifinal)

[MFRDuckFan]

I can't imagine anyone thinking this is a cake walk. If they do, let us remind you of the AZ game loss as well as a few close ones we've had. FSU is lucky as hell and Ducks are going to have to be spot on from the first snap to the last. No slow starts.

[chapelhillduck]

The best part of all this is that it doesn't matter what anyone outside of the teams think. They'll both be ready, just hope we don't have those first half adrenaline jitters like the champ game

[SuperDuck]

I'm afraid some of you are selling FSU short. We won't blow them out with our B game. Maybe with our A game and their B or C game. Reminds me of the 09 Rose Bowl when many Duck fans bought the hype that we would be too fast for them. At this level, everyone is fast.

FSU recruits on a level close to Alabama, Ohio State, etc. If we don't play well, we will lose. If both teams play well it's a close game. I believe we will play well and win. But I wouldn't take it for granted.

Agreed. They're not the same team they were last year, but they're still a very good football team. It's hard to say if they're the best team we'll have played this year until after it's over. Michigan State was a very good football team, too.

My keys to the game are that we need to focus on stopping the run and keep constant pressure on Winston. As Matt Millen said today, "FSU has a good, not great offensive line".

I see them trying to ground and pound against us. It's nothing we haven't seen before. Teams want to control the clock, keep the Ducks offense off the field and wear our defense down. We need to shut that down, make Jameis have to beat us with his arm and hopefully our secondary will step up.

Nick O'Leary is a big concern. He's been a safety valve for Winston all year. The Ducks have to find an answer for him or he'll hurt us, especially on 3rd down and in the red zone.

We just need to do what we do and make them stop us. If they try to take one thing away we should be able to exploit something else. They'll almost surely try to emulate what teams have done against us in the past, Stanford, Auburn, Arizona, etc. They'll try to bring pressure right up the middle and disrupt our tempo. They have the talent to have at least some success, too, just as Michigan State did.

Both teams will make adjustments at halftime. I'm hoping that we've been able to run Royce, Tyner and Marshall over, around and through them until they're gassed.

Matt Millen also pointed out how huge FSU's D-Lineman are and how they'll have trouble with us running outside. That reminds me of their game vs Notre Dame earlier this season. I was watching those guys on Notre Dame's last drive and they were gassed - big time!

If we can start pounding them and our defense can slow or shut them down offensively in the first half, they'll be in trouble, because we can go 3-4 deep at running back and keep putting in fresh O-Lineman. Oh, and that's not to mention any carries that Marcus might take.

I can't wait!

[FlDuckFan]

Nick O'Leary is a big concern. He's been a safety valve for Winston all year. The Ducks have to find an answer for him or he'll hurt us, especially on 3rd down and in the red zone.

This!! and one area of concern for us is stupid penalties. We have to stop being one of the most penalized teams in the nation, penalties are drive killers in big games.

[MFRDuckFan]

Winston doesn't have a lot of go to guys but how the heck do you leave his tight end O'Leary open. Really? If you don't cover him, you're stupid. Our defense will be disciplined and if Pellum dials up a game like he did at the Pac12 Championship game, FSU will squeal real loud.

[QuackininBama]

I have no idea how this game will go down because I have no idea how good FSU really is. Their schedule really isn't that daunting on paper. Their toughest game was probably Miami or GT, and at least historically, keeping mind Miami hasn't been Miami in a long long time, they are two very average football teams. I suppose the same could be said for our schedule, and Michigan State isn't an elite program, Stanford had a down year, and UCLA is hot and cold. While I know transitive property doesn't apply in college football the only gauge we have at all is Notre Dame. FSU barely squeaks by the Irish, and both Pac-12 schools dominated them. What a tough game to call.

[Bud Lee]

one thing about that ND comparison, when they played FSU they were in the title hunt and after losing the game the way they did they give a s*** for the rest of the season might of gone out of the window as they literally have nothing else to compete for. Just a thought.

I actually think this is going to be a great matchup and a very close ball game. FSU can beat any team in this on any day because they bend and don't break in close games and find a way to win.

What Oregon has to do (and I think they will) is break them when they make mistakes and run the score early and never let up.

[UOducksTK1]

one thing about that ND comparison, when they played FSU they were in the title hunt and after losing the game the way they did they give a s*** for the rest of the season might of gone out of the window as they literally have nothing else to compete for. Just a thought.

I actually think this is going to be a great matchup and a very close ball game. FSU can beat any team in this on any day because they bend and don't break in close games and find a way to win.

What Oregon has to do (and I think they will) is break them when they make mistakes and run the score early and never let up.

Which is ironic, because against Arizona we couldn't convert their early mistakes into touchdowns, yet we ended up smashing them regardless.

[Greenblood]

one thing about that ND comparison, when they played FSU they were in the title hunt and after losing the game the way they did they give a s*** for the rest of the season might of gone out of the window as they literally have nothing else to compete for. Just a thought.

I actually think this is going to be a great matchup and a very close ball game. FSU can beat any team in this on any day because they bend and don't break in close games and find a way to win.

What Oregon has to do (and I think they will) is break them when they make mistakes and run the score early and never let up.

Which is ironic, because against Arizona we couldn't convert their early mistakes into touchdowns, yet we ended up smashing them regardless.

Exactly. Because of the way the defense is playing.

[pezsez1]

I'm reading all these comments, and still having a hard time feeling genuinely worried.

Why? Because although Winston is good, he's not much better than other QBs we've faced this season (mostly thinking of Halliday and Hundley), and the FSU offense simply isn't as good as what we see regularly in the Pac-12.

Total offense rankings:

FSU: 41st
Oregon: 3rd

But it's not just that. Look at the total offense rankings of teams we beaten this year:

WSU: 7th
MSU: 13th
Cal: 15th
UCLA: 22nd
Zona: 26th (They were ranked higher before our D smoked them)
Colorado: 39th

Yes, that's right... COLORADO moves the ball better than FSU! And the numbers are similar in the category of scoring offense, too.

Seriously, I'm not worried. If we come out firing, we'll kill Florida State. Our D should easily get more than enough stops to win, and Florida State's defense isn't anywhere near elite enough to slow down our offense. Heck, ask Stanford's elite D (ranked no. 5 compared to FSU at no. 51) how easy it is to stop us.

P.S. I'd like to thank the selection committee for such an awesome gift. FSU is an outlier in this playoff in that it's not really one of the nation's top four teams... FSU is only in this based on last year's glory. And to get them in the Rose Bowl? Makes me want to give Condoleezza Rice a high five!

[Bud Lee]

one thing about that ND comparison, when they played FSU they were in the title hunt and after losing the game the way they did they give a s*** for the rest of the season might of gone out of the window as they literally have nothing else to compete for. Just a thought.

I actually think this is going to be a great matchup and a very close ball game. FSU can beat any team in this on any day because they bend and don't break in close games and find a way to win.

What Oregon has to do (and I think they will) is break them when they make mistakes and run the score early and never let up.

Which is ironic, because against Arizona we couldn't convert their early mistakes into touchdowns, yet we ended up smashing them regardless.

Exactly. Because of the way the defense is playing.

Yeap, the D played out of their minds in the Arizona game. They won that game for y'all. I was very impressed.

[MFRDuckFan]

Oh crap..............new gear on my horizon.

http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/us-footb ... mond-quest

[greenyellow]

The promo shot on the top of the page with the yellow winged helmet, instead of the green helmet, looks amazing. Even though they'll likely use the new green helmet, it would have been awesome had they used the yellow helmet since the all-green combo doesn't have enough yellow in it.

[QuackininBama]

And now Marcus has swept the awards, there is nothing to do for two weeks..............and so we wait.......sigh

[chapelhillduck]

Plenty of time for Jameis to do something stupid though