For those who pick Oregon 4+ in Pac-10

[freedjr]

So I listened to Phil Steele's on the radio talking about why he picked Oregon as low as he did. His arguments made sense, because they were mostly statistics driven. Now obviously I'm 100% Duck homer so I completely disagree, but it seems like a lot of "ordinary folks" think Oregon's not going to be nearly as good, mostly because of the new head coach and the offensive lines.

Of course it fires me up, but what do you all think? Will the head coach and new lines make that big of a deal? Will the number of starters returning from UCLA and/or Stanford push them over the Ducks? Can ASU finally make the leap? Will Cal have their annual meltdown?

Personally, I don't think Chip's transition will make a difference, especially since he's still calling plays. I also think that Chip is smart enough to overcome the line problems. And personally, until they prove otherwise, I'm not on the UCLA/ASU bandwagon, but Stanford really does worry me. But I still find it hard to believe the Ducks will be anything but 3rd at worst.

Thoughts? My absolute favorite was the husky blog homer who had Oregon 6th, and the Huskies 5th. Like I said, Phil Steele made sense even though he didn't take a lot of factors into account and I completely disagree with many of his arguments.

Try and be objective though...I know everyone on this board thinks the Ducks are going to have a magical year!

[Duckxing]

I also heard Steele on the radio the other day and his reasoning is very solid. Personally I think that Oregon is being ranked to high in the preseason. While skill players can come into a college program and make an immediate impact, rarely do you see lineman come into college and dominate, let alone play. The inexperiance in the O-line and D-line worry me more than a new head coach or new WR's. This combined with the difficult schedule are the reason i am tempering my expectations. I think Oregon is a 7-9 win team this year, and will finish 3rd or 4th in the Pac 10

[uodux1212]

For people on the outside looking into Oregon Football I can see why there could be a perceived "drop off" from last year. From a statistical standpoint there's a reasonable expectation of a drop off. But to those of us that pay real close attention to our beloved Ducks we know we're going to do well this season.

And really Phil is the only guy in the nation that has us completely off his radar. We finished 9th last season, to be preseason ranked around the 15th spot is totally reasonable IMO (due to our lose of skill players/OL departures).

Until I see ASU/UCLA/AZ/Stan start to win games they're not "supposed to" or start winning on the road I still see them filling out the middle of the P10 field.

GO DUCKS

[northbeachsf]

I actually agree with him 100%. Totally rebuilt lines on both sides of the ball and a new coach. This is a 9-3 to 7-5 team this season, with losses to BSU, Cal, USC, and possibly loses to OSU and / or Utah.

[GoDucksIn09]

The offensive line will be the key as I see it. Really a team's success offensively can solely be related to the play of the offensive line. They make the holes for the RB and they give time to the QB to make the throws. If they do not do their job then it will struggle. Look at the pro's and what Harrington had when was in Detroit. One of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. They couldnt rush the ball and Harrington didnt have enough time to throw with any great amount of success. If look at all your superbpwl champions the offensive line is a great contributor to them getting there. I can remember in years past the offensive line was a concern and it turned out they took it as a challenge and showed to the Pac 10 they could do it. I am hoping this year they do the same. If they do and Masoli stays healthy.. I see them going 10-2... If Masoli goes down or offensive line doesnt do their part I see them going 8-4 or 7-5. As far as defense goes until we replace Allow A Lot E.. i do not expect much.

[echo31]

The offensive line will be the key as I see it. Really a team's success offensively can solely be related to the play of the offensive line. They make the holes for the RB and they give time to the QB to make the throws.

True except that given his size, Masoli usually rolls out of the pocket to make a throw anyway ... the WRs are his blockers once that happens.

[buckmarkduck]

I guess we will see, but I see the QB as better than last season, the WR better, Rb Even, and TE Dickson will be better. With the way our O is ran by putting speed in space, it can/will hide any deficiency on the oline. Oh and no way UO loses to BSU and OSU and we owe Cal.

I actually agree with him 100%. Totally rebuilt lines on both sides of the ball and a new coach. This is a 9-3 to 7-5 team this season, with losses to BSU, Cal, USC, and possibly loses to OSU and / or Utah.

[UOducksTK1]

I actually agree with him 100%. Totally rebuilt lines on both sides of the ball and a new coach. This is a 9-3 to 7-5 team this season, with losses to BSU, Cal, USC, and possibly loses to OSU and / or Utah.

I'm pretty confident our OL will be quickly on track this season... Lots of duck fans are worried about our OL, but our OL always seems to be a strong point on our team year in and year out.

Plus, we have enough talent on the offensive side of the ball to make up for our 'rebuilt' lines.

And btw, you just implied that we will lose 4 home games. Don't underestimate Autzen.

[Elduderino]

I disagree with Steele almost 100%. He's right about "starting" inexperience on the oline; but many of these guys are not without at least some playing time.

To me, if the line holds up and with our coaching I think it will, our offense will be awfully tough to stop. I might sound like a homer but I see a team ready to compete for the conference.

[ducksin2010]

We weren't expected to do well in 2007 because QB was an unknown after the 2006 meltdown. I think we had a pretty solid season in 2007. Last year we thought we were going to be mediocre because we lost dixon and stewart and some valuable DL players... we did pretty well last year. We need to remember that replacing a starter doesn't mean we are putting some no name high school player in there. These are D1 athletes and our best 5 OL will be on the field.

[brich75]

We weren't expected to do well in 2007 because QB was an unknown after the 2006 meltdown. I think we had a pretty solid season in 2007. Last year we thought we were going to be mediocre because we lost dixon and stewart and some valuable DL players... we did pretty well last year. We need to remember that replacing a starter doesn't mean we are putting some no name high school player in there. These are D1 athletes and our best 5 OL will be on the field.

exactly ^^^^ Oh by the way, is it just me. or does it seem like its been a long time since we have had a clear cut leader at the qb position coming into the season. Even running workouts meshing with the whole team. We have had controversy at that spot seems like the last 4 or 5 years and still managed to put together some good seasons.
Now we have leadership and what appears to be strong bonds all over this team on both sides of the ball. This is a very dangerous team. they know they are being doubted the O line and D line knows they are being doubted and they will train, practice, and play harder because of it. The best thing people can do is doubt the ducks and underestimate the ducks.

[uodux1212]

We weren't expected to do well in 2007 because QB was an unknown after the 2006 meltdown. I think we had a pretty solid season in 2007. Last year we thought we were going to be mediocre because we lost dixon and stewart and some valuable DL players... we did pretty well last year. We need to remember that replacing a starter doesn't mean we are putting some no name high school player in there. These are D1 athletes and our best 5 OL will be on the field.

Thank you very much...

GO DUCKS

[SuperDuck]

The O-Line will be fine. With our unique blocking schemes and the way that we spread defenses out across the field, that will offset any major lack of experience. Not to mention the excellent talent we have at the skill positions. We're going to be very hard to stop offensively.

Personally, I'm more concerned about the D-Line. We're very strong at linebacker and strong in the secondary, but we don't have much depth on the D-line. Teams like Cal, with a lot of experience on the O-Line, could give us real trouble, especially with a back like Javid Best running the ball. They lost Alex Mack, but left tackle Mike Tepper returns this season after being out last year with an injury and I'm pretty sure the rest of their O-Line is intact. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Honestly, if Cal can get decent play at QB, I have to pick them to win the conference. They're loaded in most areas and don't have many glaring weaknesses - except QB.

We may even have a 2 or 3 way tie for the conference championship this year. I expect USC to lose at least one game on the road to either the Ducks or Cal and we'll have our hands full beating both of them, even at home. The good news is that we'll have already faced some really stiff competition by the time we play those games. That will give us some excellent game experience that will help prepare us.

I hope for the best for the Ducks, but I'm cautiously optimistic. If I had my way they'd go 13-0 every year.

C'mon September 3rd!!!!!

Go Ducks!!!

[wheaton4prez]

Does someone have a link to Steele's commentary? I'd be interested to hear which statistics and arguments he uses.

I don't think the inexperience at OL will be as much of a factor as some think. One of the reasons that teams go with the spread option is that it takes pressure off of the line. You can't use statistics that have measured mostly cloud-of-dust offenses to anticipate how a spread option offense will do with similar personnel.

[RuhlandAsherBestEver]

If blount gets hurt we will be in for a long season. Everything
else will be fine except for our depth at RB.