Meanwhile I'm at home yawning, holding my head. I want to go to bed, but it's only the end of the third quarter! Thank goodness there was no lightning storm delay.
We learned some things Saturday night. . . .
1) ASU is a good football team. They will win some games. Perhaps they'll upset USC or Stanford. Their rivalry game against Arizona will be a doozy.
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| Your worst nightmare, 6'7", 270 pound Brandon Bair is a mighty big duck swooping down on Threet. |
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| Oregon's (37) Talmadge Jackson III celebrates after intercepting an Arizona State pass in the end zone in the 4th quarter. |
3) There is just no quit in these Ducks thanks to their stamina. They could've fallen apart when they were 10 points down. They could've blown the lead had they allowed Threet's passing to get away from them.
4) QB Darron Thomas is young. He's talented and smart; but he hasn't yet learned to control the touch on his passes. Every throw looks like he's harpooning a whale.
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| Darron Thomas stars in Moby Dick |
This story from the R-G looks gives the final word on ASU and looks ahead to Stanford:
Oregon football: ESPN College GameDay, ABC and No. 9 Stanford are coming to Autzen Stadium
Kickoff has been moved to 5 p.m. for ABC’s telecast of Pac-10’s marquee matchup at Autzen on Saturday
By Rob Moseley
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Monday, Sep 27, 2010
Their win over Arizona State on Saturday was less than an hour old, and already key members of Oregon’s defense were being asked to look ahead a week, to Stanford’s visit to Eugene.
That would be the same Stanford that handed the Ducks their only Pac-10 loss of 2009, and did so in brutal fashion, behind a dominant offensive line, a record-setting day from running back Toby Gerhart, and a star-making performance by quarterback Andrew Luck. The same Stanford that is up to No. 9 in the country this season, with Gerhart now in the NFL but that studly offensive line still around to protect the projected No. 1 NFL draft pick Luck.
Both middle linebacker Casey Matthews and free safety John Boyett allowed for a slight smile when looking ahead Saturday night to a chance to avenge last season’s loss to the Cardinal. But if the Oregon defense spent all offseason champing at the bit for another shot at Stanford, the Ducks provided no hint of that following their 42-31 win over the Sun Devils.
“Of course we want to get back and get a little rematch,” Boyett said. “But that’s the way it is every game. Every game’s important to us.”
There will be nothing “little” about Stanford’s visit to Autzen Stadium on Saturday night, as the Pac-10 moved the start time up from 8:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. so that a national audience might enjoy what sets up as the conference’s marquee game of the year. And the national taste-maker for determining big games, the production of ESPN’s “College GameDay” pregame show, will be on hand for the matchup, the fifth time the show has originated from Eugene. [That's a relief. With all the clock-stopping passes anticipated, the Stanford game will likely last as long as the game in Tempe. And it was set to start 45 minutes later. A 5 pm start should hopefully put us to bed by 9:30 (Listen to me. Am I getting old or what?)
As for Gameday, they were already on the left side having been in Boise. After spending the night at a Motel 6 in Pendleton, they can just take a nice tour up the Columbia River Scenic Highway in their giant bus, stop at Multnomah Falls. Then spend a couple of days in Portland. Ask Greg Oden if his knee is healed (It's not.). Give Rudy Fernandez a box of tissues because he so misses the left sided driving and tiny refrigerators of Europe (Send the millionaire baby home already). Then they can mosey into Eugene and prepare for the game. ]
They’ll see if the Oregon offense can be more consistent than it was against Arizona State this past week, and if the UO defense can improve against Stanford after allowing the Cardinal to rack up 505 yards of offense in a 51-42 victory last fall.
“After last year, you definitely want to play them,” Matthews said. “Obviously it’s going to be a big game. School’s starting this Monday, so the students will be here. It will be a big game. It’s going to be a huge game.”
It will in fact be a matchup of top-10 teams, as Stanford was ranked No. 9 in the AP poll of media that was released Sunday. The Cardinal improved to 4-0 with a win at Notre Dame on Saturday, and also boast a victory over UCLA that looks mighty impressive in the wake of the Bruins’ win at Texas.
The Longhorns’ loss knocked them down in the polls, allowing the Ducks to pass them in the USA Today coaches’ top 25. Oregon (4-0) was sixth in that poll last week, and ahead of Texas in fifth according to the AP, but is now No. 4 in both polls after jumping ahead of TCU on Sunday.
Oregon remained first in the nation in scoring offense after beating Arizona State, with 57.75 points per game. Stanford is fourth, scoring 48 points per game. The Ducks fell out of the top spot in scoring defense to third at 11 points per game, while the Cardinal are 12th in that category, allowing 13.75 points per game.
“Obviously they’re one of the top teams in the country,” UO coach Chip Kelly said. “It’s going to be a dog-fight. But this league’s going to be a dog-fight. We didn’t expect that we were going to be playing, you know, like, New Mexico and Portland State again. We knew we had to battle.”
The Ducks got a battle Saturday night from Arizona State, needing a 28-point outburst to overcome a 10-point deficit and hold on for the win.
The Sun Devils disrupted Oregon’s rushing offense, leaving holes down the field that Darron Thomas and his receivers exploited only inconsistently. Defensively, the Ducks shut ASU down in the fourth quarter, taking advantage of some halftime adjustments but also their impressive conditioning to outlast yet another opponent down the stretch.
The strong finish allowed the UO defense to survive some shaky moments in the early going.
“We’ve just got to bounce back this week, make a few adjustments — which I know the coaches will do, because we’ve got great coaches on our staff — and be ready,” Boyett said. “Because Stanford will be ready for us.”
Thomas didn’t face the Cardinal last year while redshirting, but is as eager as anybody to avenge the loss. He also has a chance to take the rubber game in a personal rivalry with Luck, the two having split two meetings when they were both Texas high school stars, Thomas said.
“We’ve got a real good relationship,” Thomas said, “so it’s going to be a good competition. ... We owe one to the Stanford Cardinal, and I know our team’s going to come out this week, prepare hard and be ready to go.”
Kelly has hammered home that message to his players, of not looking past one day of practice, let alone a game, and the Ducks to a man have embraced it.
“We’ll take this game in for a little bit, and then we’ll get to work on Monday,” said cornerback Talmadge Jackson III, whose late interception Saturday made up for three earlier pass interference calls, and who fell victim last season to a number of pin-point Luck passes despite seeming to have good coverage on his man.
If the Oregon defenders were shaken Saturday by their performance at Arizona State, or intimidated by the upcoming rematch with Stanford, it sure didn’t show.
“Arizona State, they don’t get enough credit — they’re a good team, and they’ll win a decent amount of games this year,” Matthews said. “But now this game’s over with, and we’ve got to focus on Stanford. We’ve got a great team coming into our house. It’s nice — we get to prove ourselves again.”
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| So long ASU and thanks for the gifts. Lokombo picks up a fumbled lateral pass and returns it for a touchdown against Arizona State. |
1 comment:
Ya Ya Ya ASU was a good test. But uhhh tell me what you think of Andrew Luck of Stanford. What old Duck QB's can you compare him to? And does Stanford have a good chance or no chance in Autzen?
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