Can Tyler get his groove back? Ducks prepare for a night game, a hostile crowd and a fired-up opponent

 

Some Oregon fans want to assume Tyler Shough will fold under the pressure of facing his former team, but that would be a mistake. Shough is talented, tough-minded and intelligent, and he's overcome a lot of adversity as he begins his fifth season as a college quarterback.

At Texas Tech the Arizona native is 8-2 as a starter, 8-1 in games he's started and finished. In his first season in Lubbock he led the Red Raiders to a 3-0 start before going down with a broken collarbone. Last year he worked his way all the way back and rewon the starting job, only to hurt his shoulder again in the opener against Murray State.

Another rehab, and another battle with despair, almost losing the will to continue. Shough considered medical retirement, chose to fight through it instead, going to work in the training room and getting another chance to start, even though some of the coaches had given up on him. 

Readying himself mentally for his last shot at college football, Shough decided to use a tactic often employed by Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, manufacturing disrespect to motivate himself.  This summer he told Mike Craven of Texas Football Monthly, "I wanted to trick my brain and put that chip on my shoulder. It was a heat of the moment thing at the time. I was playing pissed off and I needed that fuel, even if it was in my head."

The new mindset worked. After missing eight games Shough started at home against Kansas. He threw for 246 yards and ran for 76 as TTU began their quest for a winning season and bowl with a 43-28 victory.

They ended the season with four straight wins, battered Ole Miss in the Texas Bowl, and Shough decided to return for one more year.

For Shough, learning to play pissed off and resentful was a way to get out of his head, remain focused on the job in front of him. There's never been a doubt about his arm talent or potential.

Tyler Shough 🎯 Myles Price 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MgTjrfH5Yy

— Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) September 3, 2023

 

 

He got a bit of a raw deal at Oregon, working for a coaching staff that had made Justin Herbert look at times like an average quarterback. The three-way marriage of Mario Cristobal, Joe Moorhead and Shough never quite worked. 

Only 8 quarterbacks have led Oregon to a PAC 8/10/12 title, Danny O’Neil (1994), Joey Harrington (2001), Jeremiah Masoli (2009), Darron Thomas (2010, 2011), Marcus Mariota (2014), Justin Herbert (2019) and Shough (2020), yet Shough is the one unfairly remembered as soft and a failure. 

Succeeding a legend in his first season as a college starter, he finished first in the league in passing efficiency (160.4), 4th in passing yards per game (222.7), 2nd in total yards per game (261.5) and 2nd in TD passes (13). 

Despite the solid numbers, Moorhead and Cristobal benched him for Anthony Brown. January 2020, Shough decided he wanted a fresh start, transferring to Texas Tech to play for Sonny Cumbie, only to see Cumbie fired as head coach at the end of 2021.

There's the history, and then there's the way we respond to it.

The biggest likelihood is that Shough and the Red Raiders will be fired-up and emotional for Oregon, and they will play a lot better than they did in Laramie a week ago. Some national columnists, like Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman, think that tide of emotion and targeted rage will boost them to a shocking win over the Ducks, who are favored by 6.5 the day before kickoff.

Football is a game of matchups, emotion and momentum, but the matchups all favor the Ducks. Former Oregon and NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, now a weekend radio host for the Fox Sports Network, feels sure of that, though he added he doesn't bet on Oregon games. On his Bear Bets podcast with Chris Fallica he said, "If you look at this on tape and just personnel-wise, there's not a position group where Texas Tech is better than Oregon."

Film don't lie, but the emotional component of football is tricky. A night game, a frenzied crowd, a wounded opponent--all the intangibles favor the hosts. The Ducks have to have composure and avoid turnovers. They've got to have cohesive coverage in the secondary: Shough has some dangerous targets in Myles Price, Jerand Bradley and Drae McCray. Bradley is 6-5, 220. Price runs a 4.4 40.

Oregon should be able to run the football against Tim DeRuyter's defense. He likes to swarm, pressure, blitz and take chances. They're physical and strong in the middle with two veteran defensive tackles in Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford. Two starters are out for this game, inside linebacker Jacob Rodriguez has an injured foot and Edge Rusher Isaac Smith has a torn ACL.

In contrast to Shough's revenge-minded, shock-the-world intensity, Bo Nix has a calmer, veteran approach to the Ducks first road game of 2023. It's not his Super Bowl. 

Speaking to the Oregon media this week he said, "I don't know if it's necessarily any different from a normal road environment. They're gonna have a hostile crowd, it's gonna be a good road game and we're gonna have to go in there and play well. We're gonna have to communicate with each other and just really execute the plays that are called."

If his teammates mirror his focus and even-keel frame of mind, they'll execute, and talent will win out.