My thoughts on the BSU game

[spinseeker]

Now I was at the game. There were a couple plays that I was completely shocked that they were not reviewed. The first play was the pass to Maehl along the sideline. He landed with his right foot in bounds then his left foot hit out of bounds. There was a little confusion and then the refs called him out of bounds. From my seat, I clearly saw him hit inbounds first. No review. I watched my dvr recording and they didn’t even replay it on tv. the announcers were busy talking about the late hit last year. And some body kept putting their arm in front of the camera. That play should have been reviewed.

Second play that should bave been reviewed was the BSU td. When I slowed it down it appears the players legs most likely dragged the ground prior to his shoulder hitting out of bounds, but in live motion and even at the game it was very questionable timing wise if he was in or out. That play warranted a review. Again no replay on tv and the announcers were busy talking about something else.

A play that didn’t warrant a review but got one was the obvious bad snap by BSU that resulted in a t.o. for them. That was reviewed and called appropriately.

First half so far= terrible camera work and announcing. Even at the game it was the worst replays you can imagine on their small “big screen”. Bad camera angles and terrible timing changing views.

More to come on my take on how the Ducks and Broncos performed.

[spinseeker]

Okay, Kellen Moore is an excellent passer. I keep seeing people complain our us using a bend but don’t break defense again and not getting pressure on the quarterback. These people were not watching the same game I was. I thought our defense did a number of different things than in years past. Positive things. I saw them constantly sending someone after the qb. The problem is Kellen Moore makes his reads very quickly. When you send someone after the qb it leaves someone open. Moore found him almost every time and had a great touch on the ball to get it to him. Every time he dropped back to pass if I saw someone get a few feet from their defender KM would drop the ball right to him. I was very impressed with Moore.

Also, with the pressure being sent after the qb, it put our guys in bad positions to stop the run. Often times the guy going after the qb would find himself to deep to help stop the run and our young d-line could not plug the holes enough without some help. this is partly why it looked like we could not tackle very well. They were too fast and got into bad positions before they knew where the ball was.

After KM completed 10-11 passes they started to run the ball because you can only defend one of them well. We had to try to defend them both. I came away with a good feeling for this defense. They will learn and get better. Remember, they were on the field for a long time.

All in all they held a very good team to 19 points. A lot of it was almost a comedy of errors, but the Duck offense gave the Broncos a lot of gifts as well, putting more pressure on our ‘d’.

Duck defense grade = B+

[spinseeker]

The Ducks offense could not get in a rhythm. Was that an understatement? The Boise ‘d’ looked fast and covered very well. They put a lot of pressure on our O line and brought the house to stop the run. The O line had trouble opening holes for the running game to get going. Masoli didn’t have much time to get comfortable in the pocket.

So the offense did not look good, but you have to give some credit to BSU’s defense. They played very well. It was nice to see some play calling mixing it up near the end of third en route to the only td. Raise your hand if you liked seeing James run the sweep and the fake sweep. I thought so.

Now raise your hand if you thought Blount would break one to the house on a short pass out of the back field with 30 seconds left in the game. Anyone? Anyone? (Buehler? Buehler?) Chip, Masoli, Blount put your hands down you don’t get a vote in this. Okay… apparently no one else did. What? Oh, apparently Mark Helfrich objected to this play also. (Just kidding, I made that up.) But seriously, who didn’t think a deep pass to Holland would have had a much better chance at success?

Offensive grade = D-

BSU Defense grade = A

I gotta admit BSU is probably in the top three. maybe two, for teams we play this season. Can’t put Cal in there until Riley proves himself.

[spinseeker]

While those plays being reviewed would have made minimal difference. I think we played a very good BSU team and we definitely have issues to take care of at home. I just felt they needed mentioning since it was such a terrible job of camera work and announcing.

[echo31]

While those plays being reviewed would have made minimal difference. I think we played a very good BSU team and we definitely have issues to take care of at home. I just felt they needed mentioning since it was such a terrible job of camera work and announcing.

there was also a BSU catch (to convert 3rd down I believe) that hit the ground that was never reviewed

[duckgrad99]

The Boise St receiver definitely looked out of bounds to me on the touchdown, but I didn't see any replays to confirm that. The pass interference calls on Oregon were horrendous.

[EncinitasDuck]

I"m not one to complain about officiating but there were a couple very questionable pass interference calls. One that was called on us was blatantly an offensive push off to get separation.

[spinseeker]

I was at the game and from what I saw, most of the PI calls were for contact before that ball made it to the players. The terrible camera work and not showing replays made it impossible for those watching on tv to see.

Not all of them but the ones I have seen so far on the dvr. Kind of like the 'basically' off sides call on BSU. the BSU guy that was offsides was not in the picture when the announcers tried to find out why they were called offsides.

FWIW, there was at least one really bad holding call (that would have went against us) that was not made ending a BSU drive. Right in front of the ref the DE had one arm around the BSU players waist and he almost made a complete circle around him with his arm around his waist.

[gofightingducks]

Those few questionable calls wouldn't have made any difference in the game. The offensive play calling and execution was terrible, the worst I have seen in a very long time from the Ducks. It was their lowest total yardage in 15 years. Oregon beat themselves with terrible play calling, it wasn't because Boise State's D was anything special. Plain and simple neither the coaches or players were ready for this game. The O-line couldn't block, Masoli was terrible in every aspect, decision making, passing and running, Blount kept running sideways and backwards, the receivers still can't catch. Purdue put up 52 points today.... granted it was against Toledo but their RB had 232 yards rushing so unless our offense can pull their heads out of their a** the Ducks will be 0-4 before they win a game.

[echo31]

I was at the game and from what I saw, most of the PI calls were for contact before that ball made it to the players. The terrible camera work and not showing replays made it impossible for those watching on tv to see.

Not all of them but the ones I have seen so far on the dvr. Kind of like the 'basically' off sides call on BSU. the BSU guy that was offsides was not in the picture when the announcers tried to find out why they were called offsides.

FWIW, there was at least one really bad holding call (that would have went against us) that was not made ending a BSU drive. Right in front of the ref the DE had one arm around the BSU players waist and he almost made a complete circle around him with his arm around his waist.

well, it's fair to say that we didn't lose because of bad officiating, so none of this matters anyway

[spinseeker]

Those few questionable calls wouldn't have made any difference in the game. The offensive play calling and execution was terrible, the worst I have seen in a very long time from the Ducks. It was their lowest total yardage in 15 years. Oregon beat themselves with terrible play calling, it wasn't because Boise State's D was anything special. Plain and simple neither the coaches or players were ready for this game. The O-line couldn't block, Masoli was terrible in every aspect, decision making, passing and running, Blount kept running sideways and backwards, the receivers still can't catch. Purdue put up 52 points today.... granted it was against Toledo but their RB had 232 yards rushing so unless our offense can pull their heads out of their a** the Ducks will be 0-4 before they win a game.

Boise's D was pretty good last year (top ten in points allowed) and I definitely think they look better this year. Obviously our O line was a major culprit for us and probably limited the play calling as the coaches had to try to figure out ways to minimize the damage the o line was doing. With three and outs and no T.O.P. they didn't get many opportunities to do that. It looked like they may have figured some things out when they finally rallied for a score, but then it was turnover city and that really didn't help our momentum.

[Canard]

The way to minimize poor O-line play is with draws, pitch outs, QB roll out passes, screens and shovel passes. You have to make the D-line hesitate that their penetration is suckering them.

We ran exactly none of these. I know they are in the play book because J-Stew ran a very famous third down draw for over fifteen yards in the 2007 USC game, and the shovel pass has been here since at least 1999.

BTW, I hate those plays, but they exist for a reason: to calm down the pass rush and run blitzes.

I think what I am most mad about is that accurate passing could have opened up a lot of things, and Chip says he never even considered going to Costa. The oline was not responsible for Masoli's inability to get beyond his first read on Thursday, Masoli was. The middle was open all night with all of the bracketing done on Dickson, and yet Masoli kept only looking right sideline to Maehl, and doing it poorly.

Maybe I just don't know enough about football to have a valid opinion regarding Masoli's totally craptastic game.

[spinseeker]

Masoli did look to Maehl a lot. However, there is a reason for that. Maehl is excellent at getting open and shedding defenders AND making the catch. His second? pass to him was completed but the refs called him out of bounds and there was no review. I was at the game and saw his right foot hit in bounds prior too his left foot landing out of bounds. ESPN didn't even show a replay and the announcers were in their own world. His next pass was just too short and he almost made the catch, it bounced out when he hit the turf.

It would be nice to see masoli check down his receivers though. He just kept looking the same way the whole time.