Who'll Stop the Reign?

Photos from Oregonian, SF Chronicle, and SI.

The injury to DeAnthony Thomas, the monsoon-like weather, and Cal's defense holding the Ducks scoreless in the fourth quarter -- it all added up to Oregon's offense being held to its lowest score of the season: 55 points.

No one would've asked Oregon to score 50-plus under those unbelievable conditions. But they, nevertheless, asked it of themselves. This is one tough team.

In today's Oregonian article, Mental toughness just another part of the Ducks' impressive repertoire, center Hroniss Grasu said,
“A lot of other teams could have made excuses with this weather,’’ Grasu said. “But I think our team did a great job of keeping out the distractions of the weather, and just go out and play Oregon football. We set a standard for ourselves, and I think we met that standard.’’

Granted, Oregon had as many fumbles as Cal in the 1st quarter (Four each), but lost none of them. And to running back Byron Marshall's credit, who had three of those drops in his first three carries, he figured it out and secured the ball better to finish the game with 130 yards and two TD's.

Bralon Addison, who had two amazing punt returns for TD's, added this:
Receiver Bralon Addison,.... said head coach Mark Helfrich began establishing a mindset as early as Monday, when the weather forecasts started coming in. Every day, Addison said, Helfrich addressed the weather and delivered a variation of his message: You can’t worry about what you can’t control.

“I thought we showed a lot of discipline and maturity,’’ Addison said. “They said it was one of the worst rainy days in Eugene in some time and we didn’t put our heads down.’’

Cal putting their heads down.

Poor Goff . . .

. . . just could not hold that slippery rock.

While Cal's freshman QB Jared Goff had an absolutely terrible time just holding on to the ball, let alone throwing it, Marcus Mariota and his receivers seemed to play as if the skies were clear and calm for most of the evening. He finished 11 for 25 for 114 yards, 2 TD's, no interceptions plus one rushing TD.

Darryle Hawkins, Josh Huff, Bralon Addison
and the other receivers handled the ball superbly
given the conditions.

Said Mariota in this SI article,
"I've been playing in the rain since I was a little kid. Hawaii has its passing showers," the sophomore quarterback said. "So it really doesn't bother me."

Watching you play like that, Marcus, none of the 50,000 soaking wet Duck fans were bothered by the rain that night.

What rain?

Even Hipster Duck likes it.

How's DAT?
We all saw the way DeAnthony Thomas twisted his ankle. He was clearly injured. It was wise for the staff to put him in a boot, give him a crutch and declare him done for the day.

I'm not a doctor, but I am no stranger to diagnosing myself from stuff I read on WebMD. And since we know that we will not hear word one from Oregon about his condition, what the hell . . . 

Looking at the moment of that twist, I believe it won't be a long rehab. DAT twisted the outer ligaments to their limit, but it was a sideways twist and not like he came down on it with all of his weight.

We may not see him at Colorado, and frankly I hope we don't. The Ducks don't need DAT to beat the Buffs.

Ducks got his back.

They might need him the week following against the Huskies; but if they can spare him that week too, he can go a whole two additional weeks until UCLA comes to town.

Besides, Marshall is establishing himself. And freshman Thomas Tyner is surpassing all expectations. There's no sense in making DAT play at 70 or 80%. Let him heal and be good to go for the second half of the season.


Who's fired? ME?!?!?!
I once heard a manager say that if the person you're firing acts completely shocked like he's the last person in the company to suspect he might be fired, then you made a good decision.

USC's AD Pat Haden did not even wait for Lane Kiffin to get back to campus after their loss at ASU. He met the plane at the airport at 3 a.m. to tell Kiffin that one of them needed to sleep better at night.

Poor Kiffin didn't even
have his dad to blame.

What astonished me was the report that Kiffin then spent 45 minutes trying to defend his performance and keep his job.

Hey Kiffin, you've lost 7 of your last 11 games. You're 0 for 2 in league play consisting of a home loss to the second tiered Cougars, and another team (Does it matter who?) that hung 62 points on your sorry Trojans. 62 POINTS!!!

Why SHOULDN'T you get fired? You should've been thanking Haden for letting you fly back on the plane.



Next: Oregon at Colorado, Saturday 3pm Pacific.
--KB

Lighting it up.

People on the East Coast saw a spectacular sight last week.
They saw Oregon light up the scoreboard and rocket past
one of their traditional powerhouses.
(See what I did there? Light up? Rocket?
You thought I was going to talk about . . . . OK, moving on.)

It looked like it was going to be a long tough game. It looked like Virginia was going to shut down Oregon. The Ducks were struggling -- for four plays.

Then Marcus Mariota demonstrated his Heismaness. Although his stats were relatively pedestrian (14-28, 2TDs, 0 int. 199 yards), he set the tone and led the way, starting with that 71-yard keeper up the middle for the first score. Said Scott Frost on calling the draw play.
"We were hoping to get a certain coverage and we did and he read it right," said offensive coordinator Scott Frost, adding it was a play in UO's original game plan after seeing a weakness of Virginia's "man free" defense during video study. "Man free is kind of feast or famine ... but when you hit them they're going to be big plays." 

Video of selected plays over whole game. Mariota's rushing TD is featured with replays near beginning.



 From that point on when Virginia stopped one play, Oregon had another. The Cavs couldn't plug every hole. And they certainly couldn't stop DeAnthony Thomas.

Whenever Virginia fans had seen anything blow by as fast
as DAT in the past, it usually had the word "Hurricane" in
front of it's name.

Photos from Oregonian.

"Oh cheer up, Lyerla. Ya big goober.
Just know that we got your back.
And if you drop any more balls,
we'll slap that back pink."

Even with Colt Lyerla dropping three out of four passes thrown to him and starting running back Byron Marshall carrying the ball 15 times for only 31 yards, the Ducks still found ways to get the ball out of Virginia's hands (three interceptions, a blocked punt and one fumble recovery) and into the hands of a their own playmakers (Five Ducks scored touchdowns.) to put 59 points on the board -- a score beyond most anyone's expectations.


As time wore on, so did Virginia. All fired up and flying in the first quarter, they were clearly gassed by the third. The fast pace and constant guessing of who had the ball took its toll.

Virginia's offensive line is doing such a good
job blocking that they don't even notice
Tony Washington has separated their QB
from the ball.

Dior Mathis returns an interception 97 yards.
More like 105 when you count where he picked
the ball deep in the endzone.

Then Oregon did something downright mean. Included in their package of

Tyner. Brutal.

benchwarmers to play in the fourth quarter was their third string freshman running back. Five star recruit Thomas Tyner carried the ball just four times, but punished the tired Cavalier defense for 51 yards and two touchdowns.

As amazing as the win was, the story of what happened in the locker room afterwards was even amazinger. Under the leadership of Helfrich, the players criticized their own performance. They expressed dissatisfaction with 11 penalties for 105 yards including way too many personal fouls. Here is an excerpt from Monday's great Oregonian story by Jason Quick

Some members of the offense didn’t like the four sequences when the Ducks went three-downs-and-out. Or the shoddy execution deep in the red zone, which included a botched shovel pass from Marcus Mariota and Byron Marshall unable to gain a yard on fourth and goal from the one.
Even the defense, which endured 86 plays in 80 degree heat, lamented a missed arm tackle here, a jock strap left there, and damage all around from Virginia’s tight ends. [Note to Ken Goe: Could you do us a favor and follow up on that 'jock strap' story?]

Coach Mark Helfrich summed up their self assessment this way . . .
"We want to be perfect. We want to be great. We want to be elite," head coach Mark Helfrich said. 

The team is hurrying the offense even faster this year than last. They are critiquing themselves. They practice as hard as ever. They talk to the younger guys about the "Oregon Way" of doing things to create a proper attitude and culture.

These are a group of super mature and focused guys who don't wait around for the coach to tell them how to prepare, how to play or how to behave. They know what they want, and it ain't another Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.
  “We look at other teams that say, ‘I can’t wait to get to the Rose Bowl’ and we are like ‘What? Is that really a goal for people?’’’ [left tackle Tyler] Johnstone said. “That’s like, not a failed season obviously, but it’s not where we want to be headed.’’

"Strange man from another planet."
If the score didn't make Virginia fans head for the exits early,
Josh Huff's Superman pose most certainly did.

Ya. I love my Ducks.

OTHER TEAMS
Is Washington State that good, or is USC that bad?  After playing Auburn tough down south, the Cougs posted a major upset over an anemic Trojan offense. With ferocious 'D' and patient 'O', WSU beat USC 10-7 at The Coliseum. Cranberry and gold-clad mobs were seen walking the streets of L.A. with a rope tie for Lame Kiffin's neck.

The Cal Bears fought hard at home to come from behind and defeat the always tough . . . . . (wait for it) . . . Portland State Vikings. At one point the Viks led 20-10, but couldn't hang on as the Bears escaped with a 37-30 win. New Cal coach Sonny Dykes said of Portland State, "We were fortunate to win. They outplayed us and outcoached us."

Cheer up Sonny. Maybe Portland State will be the toughest team you face all year.

CALL THEM THE PHILADELPHIA DUCKS
Everybody is talking about the game last night when Chip Kelly debuted his style on Monday Night Football as his Eagles defeated the Redskins 33-27.

The Eagles ran 53 plays in the first half. By Duck standards, that's about average. In the NFL, that's a marathon sprint.

Ken Goe and the Oregonian have done a great job gathering all the stories, videos and quotes here, including the significant Oregon connection in Philly.

"TENNESSEE FOOTBALL IS TENNESSEE FOOTBALL."
That's what Coach Helfrich said. Not sure what it means; but when you sing it to the tune of Rocky Top, it sounds downright scary.

More on the Vols in the days to come.

The Fieggens were at the Virginia game.
That's Bruce with the 3/4 selfie, the twins Jack and Liam,
Connor, and there's Kathy waving.
Connor is enrolled to go to Oregon this fall!!!
Study hard, Connor. Oregon's a really difficult school . . .
. . . .OK not so much, but study hard anyway.

--kb