#4 Oregon @ #24 Utah (Nov. 20, Sat 4:30 PM ABC)

[lmduck]

So yes, there is something really wrong when we are in the top of the nation in recruiting, but can barely beat really bad football teams and we are lucky to squeak out 7-10 point wins. All last nights game showed was, YEP, Oregon is who we thought they were.

This is a good take.

I feel I'd finally climbed aboard the Cristobal pain train, but now I'm off again. Basically threw myself from the moving train last night and now I'm taking a long shower.

That said, I still think it's too early to conclude he can't coach. I think he's an inferior game caller to guys like Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, for sure. I'd take either one of those guys with our roster any day, every day, and expect to beat Cristobal by two scores. But Cristobal is an excellent recruiter and has made moves to show he's a capable CEO.

Did MC make the wrong move at OC? I guess we'll see next season. If JM stays and TT comes in and lights it up, then we'll know AB was just that ordinary. But then we'll also know that MC stuck with AB for too long and maybe cost us a playoff berth because of it.

At this point, I'm hoping that JM gets fired or moves on and that we get a clean start for our offense. New coordinator, new QB. It was just so bad this season -- again -- and we won't be a viable playoff team without significant improvement of our offense. We cannot expect to beat complete teams if we can't throw the ball on a consistent basis. We also cannot win if we're doomed by a 2nd & 10.

Yikes- so now we're firing JM??? Come on- we're better than this. MOST here are reasonable, honest posters who offer good and fair insights, but this is beneath how decent fans behave.

I get the frustration from last night, I was pissed off too at the lack of preparation. It was ugly and there are valid questions to be asked for sure but this might be stretching it a bit.


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[Alan]

Oregon wasn't expected to win that game so what they did after that game has been gravy this season, especially when so many people were expecting 8-4 or 9-3 to be this team's limit.

I was one of the many whining and complaining last night about how bad AB is and how the O line was unusually bad and the Defense……..

I woke up this morning thinking I may be a bit spoiled and maybe being a little entitled as a Duck fan, a very long time Duck fan, mid 80’s.

As GY said, before the season started most of us picked the Ducks to finish with two to four losses, including myself. We beat Ohio St, we held the #3 ranking, we survived losing to Stanford but losing a shot at the title seemed to be too much to handle. Calls for Cristabol’s head came out, every, seemed like every presumed problem with coaches and team seemed to be voiced.

I believe, as a long time Duck fan, Cristabol is a great coach with some skills to hone. The last thing I want is to lose him, so I hope we open up the check book and make him one of the top paid coaches in the country, lock him in! He is one of the footballs elite recruiters and hire great recruiters……… I will admit I would like to see better player development……. But lock him!

I woke up this morning next to my lovely wife and felt a little guilty about my whining last night. My team is 9-2, has been consistently in the top 25 for many years. I remember when the Ducks finally became bowl eligible years ago, the toilet bowl. As a message to just myself, we are 9-2 and I have lived the down days and the raise to college football elite status. I could be a die hard Kansas fan still doing the happy dance a week later, I could be a Arizona fan just happy the streak is over. I am willing to bet Sagan gets grief from Bama’s fan base, even with six national titles.

I couldn’t agree with GY’s post more.

[buckmarkduck]

The OL wasn’t near as bad as it seemed. AB taking to much time to throw the ball is the issue, and not seeing the field and not throwing when the guy comes open. I guess we had to many open receivers, and AB couldn’t decide who to throw it to?

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[dthomas=ddixon]

The OL wasn’t near as bad as it seemed. AB taking to much time to throw the ball is the issue, and not seeing the field and both throwing when the guy comes open. I guess we had to many open receivers, and AB couldn’t decide who to throw it to?

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It’s the same story every game. I honestly wonder if the lack of effort we saw last night is due the the teams lack of belief in Brown. It’s obvious to anyone watching this team that a 3rd and 10 is essentially impossible to overcome, let alone a 2-3 TD hole.


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[lmduck]

Maybe we as fans need to do what the team is expected to do, flush this game NOW and move forward. We can analyze a million ways to Sunday and it won't make a difference. We can debate all day about AB, the OL, playing or not playing Thompson and on and on and it won't change what happened last night.

They gotta beat OS and it's gonna be tough . The upside is it's at home.

One of the Utah players said after the game last night IF they meet again in the P12 champ game, they will see a different Oregon
team. Let's hope he is right and the Oregon team they see is the one who played in Columbus.


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[OregonFan4Life]

Regarding Brown missing open guys, I heard from someone with inside info (take it with a grain of salt) that the coaching staff realized early on Brown struggles to progress through reads, so they adjusted the strategy so that he looks for his first read and if he isn’t open he throws to the check down, so basically the 2nd and 3rd reads are decoys. I heard there’s an article that addresses that too. It may seem crazy but it actually makes sense when on 4th and 15 there’s someone open and he throws to the flats for 2 yards. A good defense like Utah probably has figured that out and is accurately able to predict the 1st read and take him out of the play.

[rockthief]

All season it has been the same with AB Receivers are as open as they could possibly be and somehow AB does not throw to them. I have never seen such a thing, a receiver standing in the open waiting for the ball and AB leaving the pocket and being tackled. He never should have started even if that meant several losses. At least we would have one quarterback with lots of experience which would have been good for next season.What do we have now? The O line protected him and he failed to use that protection to gain what should have been easy yardage. We saw receivers open and nothing came of it, just more stupid dink passes.

[OregonFan4Life]

All season it has been the same with AB Receivers are as open as they could possibly be and somehow AB does not throw to them. I have never seen such a thing, a receiver standing in the open waiting for the ball and AB leaving the pocket and being tackled. He never should have started even if that meant several losses. At least we would have one quarterback with lots of experience which would have been good for next season.What do we have now? The O line protected him and he failed to use that protection to gain what should have been easy yardage. We saw receivers open and nothing came of it, just more stupid dink passes.

You must’ve skipped my post, it theorizes why AB misses so many wide open receivers. Might not be true but it’s an interesting theory I heard that makes sense of some things.

[rockthief]

All season it has been the same with AB Receivers are as open as they could possibly be and somehow AB does not throw to them. I have never seen such a thing, a receiver standing in the open waiting for the ball and AB leaving the pocket and being tackled. He never should have started even if that meant several losses. At least we would have one quarterback with lots of experience which would have been good for next season.What do we have now? The O line protected him and he failed to use that protection to gain what should have been easy yardage. We saw receivers open and nothing came of it, just more stupid dink passes.

You must’ve skipped my post, it theorizes why AB misses so many wide open receivers. Might not be true but it’s an interesting theory I heard that makes sense of some things.

Your post made sense to me and would explain much. why the coaches would start a six year QB who could not make reads or pass downfield is a mystery to me. That put the team at a a deficit all season.

[OregonFan4Life]

All season it has been the same with AB Receivers are as open as they could possibly be and somehow AB does not throw to them. I have never seen such a thing, a receiver standing in the open waiting for the ball and AB leaving the pocket and being tackled. He never should have started even if that meant several losses. At least we would have one quarterback with lots of experience which would have been good for next season.What do we have now? The O line protected him and he failed to use that protection to gain what should have been easy yardage. We saw receivers open and nothing came of it, just more stupid dink passes.

You must’ve skipped my post, it theorizes why AB misses so many wide open receivers. Might not be true but it’s an interesting theory I heard that makes sense of some things.

Your post made sense to me and would explain much. why the coaches would start a six year QB who could not make reads or pass downfield is a mystery to me. That put the team at a a deficit all season.

100% agree. I get each Sat that Brown might give the team a slightly better chance to win than Thompson, but it’s very likely that if Thompson has been starting since Cal that at this point Thompson with that experience gives this team a better chance to beat Utah. I feel like Mario has been short sighted with how he’s handled QB play.

[dthomas=ddixon]

All season it has been the same with AB Receivers are as open as they could possibly be and somehow AB does not throw to them. I have never seen such a thing, a receiver standing in the open waiting for the ball and AB leaving the pocket and being tackled. He never should have started even if that meant several losses. At least we would have one quarterback with lots of experience which would have been good for next season.What do we have now? The O line protected him and he failed to use that protection to gain what should have been easy yardage. We saw receivers open and nothing came of it, just more stupid dink passes.

You must’ve skipped my post, it theorizes why AB misses so many wide open receivers. Might not be true but it’s an interesting theory I heard that makes sense of some things.

Your post made sense to me and would explain much. why the coaches would start a six year QB who could not make reads or pass downfield is a mystery to me. That put the team at a a deficit all season.

100% agree. I get each Sat that Brown might give the team a slightly better chance to win than Thompson, but it’s very likely that if Thompson has been starting since Cal that at this point Thompson with that experience gives this team a better chance to beat Utah. I feel like Mario has been short sighted with how he’s handled QB play.

You should go read your posts in the Colorado game thread.


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[OregonFan4Life]

All season it has been the same with AB Receivers are as open as they could possibly be and somehow AB does not throw to them. I have never seen such a thing, a receiver standing in the open waiting for the ball and AB leaving the pocket and being tackled. He never should have started even if that meant several losses. At least we would have one quarterback with lots of experience which would have been good for next season.What do we have now? The O line protected him and he failed to use that protection to gain what should have been easy yardage. We saw receivers open and nothing came of it, just more stupid dink passes.

You must’ve skipped my post, it theorizes why AB misses so many wide open receivers. Might not be true but it’s an interesting theory I heard that makes sense of some things.

Your post made sense to me and would explain much. why the coaches would start a six year QB who could not make reads or pass downfield is a mystery to me. That put the team at a a deficit all season.

100% agree. I get each Sat that Brown might give the team a slightly better chance to win than Thompson, but it’s very likely that if Thompson has been starting since Cal that at this point Thompson with that experience gives this team a better chance to beat Utah. I feel like Mario has been short sighted with how he’s handled QB play.

You should go read your posts in the Colorado game thread.


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That I think he might be a bust? Yeah I do, but at this point I’d rather the coaches take a risk on a young guy than let the passing game rot with a 6th year Sr. I could be wrong but I think Thompson might be. If Thompson went to Ohio St or a school known to develop QB’s I wouldn’t think it as much, I just think he’s not gonna get the coaching he needs to develop his raw talent to be a high level college QB, I hope I’m wrong. But the main point I’m trying to make is that the coaches are being short sighted with QB play and aren’t helping the team out by stubbornly sticking with Brown, we KNOW he is a bust.

[pezsez1]

Yikes- so now we're firing JM??? Come on- we're better than this. MOST here are reasonable, honest posters who offer good and fair insights, but this is beneath how decent fans behave.

Yikes... I said no such thing! I'm not calling for anyone to be fired. I'm far more reasonable than that.

I'm pointing out the simple truth that something is wrong with our offense. Is it JM's schemes? Is it MC's reluctance to bench a senior for a more talented freshman? Is it that TT is a bust in waiting? We don't know the answers to these questions, but assuming nothing changes over the offseason then we'll probably have far more clarity next year.

Maybe we as fans need to do what the team is expected to do, flush this game NOW and move forward.

Of course we'll still talk about the Utah game, but I'm fully confident in our ability to still win the Pac-12 title and even the Rose Bowl. A lot of Oregon's flaws got exposed in the Utah game (obviously), but we still shot ourselves in the foot enough to keep it from being nearly tied at halftime. We had at least two drives killed by penalties, a blocked FG and a missed FB... that's potentially 20 pts that we left on the field. The second half could have unfolded like so many of our other games this season... running the ball and wearing Utah down until we pull away late.

I hope we beat OSU (not a given!) and get a rematch with Utah. I believe the outcome will be different and we'll win the Pac-12 title. I'm definitely worried about McKinley being out, and suddenly losing three rotation receivers for the year won't help our run game, but this team is still loaded with talent and we should still be able to run. We just can't afford to do our opponent's dirty work.

[lmduck]

Yikes- so now we're firing JM??? Come on- we're better than this. MOST here are reasonable, honest posters who offer good and fair insights, but this is beneath how decent fans behave.

Yikes... I said no such thing! I'm not calling for anyone to be fired. I'm far more reasonable than that.

I'm pointing out the simple truth that something is wrong with our offense. Is it JM's schemes? Is it MC's reluctance to bench a senior for a more talented freshman? Is it that TT is a bust in waiting? We don't know the answers to these questions, but assuming nothing changes over the offseason then we'll probably have far more clarity next year.

Maybe we as fans need to do what the team is expected to do, flush this game NOW and move forward.

Of course we'll still talk about the Utah game, but I'm fully confident in our ability to still win the Pac-12 title and even the Rose Bowl. A lot of Oregon's flaws got exposed in the Utah game (obviously), but we still shot ourselves in the foot enough to keep it from being nearly tied at halftime. We had at least two drives killed by penalties, a blocked FG and a missed FB... that's potentially 20 pts that we left on the field. The second half could have unfolded like so many of our other games this season... running the ball and wearing Utah down until we pull away late.

I hope we beat OSU (not a given!) and get a rematch with Utah. I believe the outcome will be different and we'll win the Pac-12 title. I'm definitely worried about McKinley being out, and suddenly losing three rotation receivers for the year won't help our run game, but this team is still loaded with talent and we should still be able to run. We just can't afford to do our opponent's dirty work.

Pez- I like reading your posts. You always make decent points and are factual.

Respectfully here is your last paragraph in your post:

At this point, I'm hoping that JM gets fired or moves on and that we get a clean start for our offense. New coordinator, new QB. It was just so bad this season -- again -- and we won't be a viable playoff team without significant improvement of our offense. We cannot expect to beat complete teams if we can't throw the ball on a consistent basis. We also cannot win if we're doomed by a 2nd & 10.

Maybe I misinterpreted what you are saying here and if so I apologize. I know we all say things in the heat of the moment and believe me, I said my share last night as I was 'speaking' quite loudly to my TV.

All good though. I was just surprised at the comment because as I said you are a sound and reasonable poster.

[pezsez1]

Wow, I guess I had a moment of extreme word spew haha.

I hope we make a big change. That would be an easy way to do it. I'm not calling for his head though, and if it turns out that AB was the problem the whole time then great.