The crabby fighting Duck can stand the heat. He can get up in your kitchen too.
Chip Kelly eats breakfast 47 miles from 105 Beavers who are trained to kill him, and the tense border war that is the PAC-10 season opens Saturday with an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with a jacked-up Sun Devil defense. Yesterday Duck fans got great news broadcast by Rob Moseley in a tweet: Kenjon Barner and David Paulson have had time to nurse their injuries and are ready to ratchet up the intensity. The big fella's got a helmet, and all we need him to do is roam up field and raise his hands.
Midweek, it looked like Oregon would face the Devils with two-fifths of their offense missing, a daunting task for a young quarterback on the road. Now it's less likely that ASU's front seven can tee off on Thomas and James. The Ducks have their multiplicy of weapons, counters and options, misdirection and unaccounted-for threats. Despite winning big in games 1-3 they haven't had to go deep into the playbook. They have plenty of new stuff to throw at the Sun Devils, plenty of ways to get them frustrated and out of position.
Despite Rich Brooks protestations to the contrary, Oregon can line up and play physical too. You don't rack up a school record 511 rushing yards in one game without winning at the line of scrimmage. Arizona State played the Vikings too, and didn't run for half that.
Here are some links and web bites to get you ready for the game:
George Schroeder explores how Chip Kelly keeps his mind and body fresh in the stress of coaching.
Here's a breakdown of how Arizona State played against a common opponent.
Rob Moseley features Jeff Maehl, quietly emerging as one of Oregon's great wide receivers of all time.
Ken Goe has a video forecast of Oregon-ASU game. The weather's a factor, but it's far from the only one.
The crabby fighting duck loves a business trip. Especially when he can mix in a little border tussle too.
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