Foles with another fourth quarter comeback, as the Wildcats escape Cal 10-9. Wouldn’t have guessed that total would go below 20.
Oregon-ASU was one of the ugliest games I have ever seen. Nine turnovers and 172 yards in penalties.
The Ducks’ offense was inept, beaten at the line of scrimmage, stretched out and defeated laterally. The blocking was horrible. ASU has a fast defense, but so do several of Oregon’s other opponents. The line looked overwhelmed, slow and intimidated.
Darron Thomas will have to make teams pay for overplaying LaMichael James. He has to continue to improve passing downfield, find targets and exploit what he has been given.
A lot of teachable moments. Some great resilience. Many contributions and big plays. A stubborn effort by the defense, which gave up a lot, but made up for it with ballhawking tenacity. They played hard and fought for the ball. Seven turnovers Is a good night’s work, and easily was the difference in this ball game.
Ducks were outgained 597 yards to 405. They have a lot of work to do before Stanford. Rich Brooks may be right. Maybe they are not physical enough for Arizona and Stanford. I think they can be, but it will take some resolve.
This was a win full of teachable moments. It won’t get any easier, but a win is better than a loss.
The Ducks will have to continue to improve to achieve their expectations, or ours.
Here is my take on the game.
ReplyDeleteFirst & foremost, in all the decades I have watched college football, that was the single worst officiated game I have ever seen. There were two clear facemasks not called (one on each team), miserable calls (and I mean M-I-S-E-A-B-L-E) with respect to pass interference calls- two of the worst were on third downs against UO where rather than losing possession, it allowed ASU to score TD's, so take 14 points off the board for them. I think the lateral call allowing UO to scoop up the ball and score was not a good call (close, but not good). It was not overturned because there wasn't "clear proof", but it was a sideways pass and had it been called differently, it also would not have been overturned- take a score off for UO. There were a lot of debatable late hits ob QB's and out of bounds (against both teams) and taunting whereby a few should have been called to maintain order. The refs were clearly intimidated by both players and ASU coaches. That officiating crew should be suspended for gross incompetency. Hands down, the worst called game I have ever seen.
I might disagree just a bit with you about the line play. I felt our O & D-lines did OK (D-line better than O-line). It's hard for the O-line to block when AU is flooding the area to stop the run. We had 4 sacks, so defense was getting penetration.
I think you are spot on about Thomas. He's not a passer. But our receivers dropped too many catchable balls as well. Oh yeah, tell Paulson to tie his shoes better.
As to our pass defense... despite good pressure on the ASU QB, it was porous. I understand the "bend but don't break" theory of pass defense Allioti likes so much, but your better QB's and receivers will break it, as we saw. I think the heat got to the ASU QB and he made some poor mistakes that gave us a win. Credit our safeties and corners for standing tall in the withering heat of the desert.
Despite the win, I'd grade the offense a D+ and the defense a C+.
A win is a win is a win is a win- and I'll take it.
Throughout the day I was saying this is the worst officiated game I have ever seen. The referees completely ruined the game for me. I couldn't watch a drive without worrying about a flag.
ReplyDeleteA win is a win...is a.... Anytime the Ducks win on the road it's huge no matter what happens. I'm convinced that ASU is the best D we will play until the bowl game. ASU was faster, tenacious and much more physical. AND we scored 42, could've easily been 56. That's how good this Oregon offense is with Barner at 90%, no Brandon Williams. The Ducks really need to step up and catch the ball next week, can we please recruit some GOOD wide receivers!!!
I don't think the Ducks D was that bad considering how undersized they are. Multiple INT'S, many sacks. ASU did run it up in the 1st half, but they only gave up 1 cheap TD in the entire 2nd half. That was also thanks to terrible special teams by us and bad field position. (ugh) I am used to seeing the opposing team find wiggle room in the 1st half, only to be corraled in the 2nd half after some adjustments by the D. The key is pressuring the QB, if we do that we can stop the run and our db's aren't exposed. If we pressure the QB our offense can simply outscore any Pac-10 team. We need to recruit D-lineman to stop the run! Good win.
44-24 Ducks
BP, Anon--
ReplyDeleteThose are two very strong takes on the game. The officiating was uneven, and the worst part is that they didn't seem to be in command of the game. They were reacting to everything, with indecision and a lack of consistency.
The positive of the defensive effort is that they were opportunistic and stuck with it. They only allowed one touchdown after the half, and it came after 28 unanswered points. Agree with you anon that pressure on the QB, and containment of the QB is paramount. Andrew Luck can run--he has a 50+ rushing td this year. Stanford does a lot of max protect and lets him sit back there and look vertically.
A win is a win, but they'll have to play much better and match up physically to get the next one.
Thanks again for a couple of strong contributions,
Dale