Beating Biting Bulldogs

If you haven't already heard, Oregon lost two players for the season to knee surgery. Safety John Boyett and guard Carson York, two talented senior starters, each announced within a day of each other that they played their last games as Ducks. Story here.

Those who didn't have access to the new Pac-12 network couldn't watch this game. Fortunately DISH Network agreed to carry it Saturday morning so I could watch and record it.

Furthermore, those who could only see 30 seconds of highlights did not get the full story of how Fresno State came out in the second and proverbially punched the Ducks in the mouth before finally giving up the game.

Turnovers, sacks, tackles for loss, Oregon suddenly looked terrible in the third quarter. Text messages and tweets of panic flew up and down the Willamette Valley, "What's wrong with Oregon?"

Ken Goe wrote about the rough going in the second half. I'll let him tell the story while I interject my thoughts in green.

Editors note: All of this is done completely without Goe's permission, let alone knowledge ... until now.

Putting the ball in DAT's hands -- Sometimes its just not fair.

Goe: Ducks beat Fresno State despite stumbling through an ugly second half on offense

Published: Saturday, September 08, 2012, 9:39 PM EUGENE - Oregon scored six touchdowns and beat Fresno State 42-25, but the final score doesn't begin to describe how unimpressive the fourth-ranked Ducks were in the second half Saturday in Autzen Stadium.

The Ducks’ only score in the final 30 minutes came late in the fourth quarter after Fresno State had improbably rallied from a 35-6 halftime deficit to within 35-19.

It's not as if anybody in the announced crowd of 55,755 thought the Bulldogs were going to come all the way back, but the fans were restless.

The vaunted UO offense completely lost concentration in the second half, fumbling away possession three times, once giving Fresno State the ball on the UO 22 and another time on UO 12.

Redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota, for all his marvelous athletic gifts, was responsible for two of the lost fumbles and often looked like a quarterback making his second college start. The Bulldogs sacked him three times.

The Bulldogs were constantly in Oregon's backfield the moment the ball was snapped. Mariota always had a defender in his grill. The ball carriers struggled to spring through the line as they were constantly getting pulled down from behind.

Nice stiff arm. But the Bulldogs' pursuit frustrated Barner and Co.
for much of the second half.

The Ducks, who usually execute on offense like a finely tuned machine, seemed more like ‘73 Gremlin, misfiring and leaking oil. I once owned the Gremlin's cousin, a '75 AMC Pacer. It generally had more oil on the outside than the inside of the engine. My college friends liked to borrow it -- especially the ones with girlfriends. In fact a couple of you are reading this right now.

They would pay me $20 to let them take it to the coast for the weekend. I never knew what the big attraction was with my car until I figured out that when you tilted the seats back, you had LOTS of room in the interior. It all became clear to me when I found barefoot prints on the inside of the windshield.

Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh ya, Bulldogs were hammering on the Ducks for a short while.
“We knocked them off schedule,” Fresno State defensive coordinator Nick Toth said. “They tried to go fast, and our kids said: ‘OK, bring it fast again.’ And we knocked them off schedule again. …

“We’re not one of those teams that’s going to fall down and fake injury. I wanted our kids to fight their way out of it.”

The alarming thing for Oregon is they almost did.

The following from another Oregonian article further tells the story.
Oregon, after rushing for 279 yards in the first half, managed just 23 in the third quarter on 14 carries.

Mariota fumbled twice in the second half as the Bulldogs hemmed him in for much of the day. He completed 16 of 24 passes but for just 146 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked twice and had 65 yards net rushing.

Those turnovers resulted in 13 points for the Bulldogs and UO led 35-19 with 9:40 remaining.

It was a perfect storm of several factors that went against Oregon at the start of the second half.

1) The Bulldogs came out with a clear game plan. Obviously, their defensive coordinator applied one of the top two rules a defensive coordinator must follow -- the first being never let the offensive coordinator get the better parking spot.

The other one is: If your opponent's QB is a redshirt freshman playing only his second game, then you treat him as such. He ain't no Barkley or Luck -- at least not yet. They loaded up the box and blitzed. They shut down the running game and side screens and forced him to throw down field.

But Mariota stubbornly refused, opting instead to fumble, get sacked or handoff for no gain. The result was ugliness.

2) The Bulldogs are good. Their defensive speed is impressive. They strung out so many of Oregon's runs to the edges.

3) Obviously, missed assignments and poor blocking were factors. It's early in the season and those things take time.

4) (Danger. I'm about to get wonky and boorish with technical offensive sets here.) Oregon's offense basically sets up with 5, 6, or 7 linemen. In this game, they had their best luck when the tight ends were in to give them seven blockers. In the second quarter, DeAnthony Thomas's score on a 4th and 3 from mid-field came with the help of seven linemen.

In the third quarter, Kelly had them stick with six linemen to get an extra receiver. But it came at a time when Fresno State decided to disrespect Mariota's ability to avoid their pass rush and make the right decision with the ball. The Bulldogs were getting the better of that chess match through much of the second half.

The Ducks were five-touchdown favorites, playing a Fresno State team that had won four games in 2011, then fired the head coach.
The Bulldogs had lost their previous 14 games against ranked opponents, a streak dating to 2004.

They were supposed to be pushovers in a three-game stretch of visiting, nonconference patsies that included a romp last week over Arkansas State and another next week over Tennessee Tech.

For a half, the Bulldogs played their part. But while Oregon went to sleep between halves, Fresno State came out with something to prove.

Suddenly, it was Oregon’s blur offense that was off balance.

“When they get a 10-yard gain or a five-yard gain or whatever, they try to speed the tempo up,” Fresno State safety Phillip Thomas said. “They feed off of it. But when you get a tackle for loss or make a big play, they slow it down to see what the defense is going to do. They adjust to what we’re doing.”

Which is as good a way as any to explain why the Ducks were so out of sync in the second half.

Give the UO defense credit. While the offense was in limbo, the defense twice forced the rallying Bulldogs to settle for field goals.

The Ducks came after Fresno State quarterback Derek Carr with a clever variety of pressure and blitzes. Carr often was off-balance and antsy in the pocket, sometimes throwing off his back foot. They sacked him three times.

Carr completed 29 of 47 attempts, but most were short. The Bulldogs basically abandoned the downfield passing game.

UO defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti won’t like that Fresno State running back Robbie Rouse rushed for 115 yards.

But Aliotti’s guys stepped up Saturday while the offense stumbled and bumbled through six possessions before senior running back Kenjon Barner locked away the victory with a 16-yard scoring run with 3:51 left in the game.

This final TD came when Mariota managed a 11-play, 77 yard drive with Kenjon Barner doing most of the work. The drive looked like the ones in the first half. No problems. The difference was Oregon went back to seven blockers, and that took away Fresno States' ability to control the line.

Barner rushed for 201 yards on 34 carries. He is fast, tough and experienced – but still a 5-foot-11, 192-pound scatback. He won’t last the season carrying that kind of load. And sophomore De’Anthony Thomas, for all his play-making sizzle, isn’t a 20-carry back.

For Oregon fans, the good news is that none of this was fatal.

The Ducks won by double digits. They have overmatched Tennessee Tech next week, followed by Arizona at home and struggling Washington State in Seattle.

On paper, it’s hard to see a significant challenge before Washington rolls into town on Oct. 6. And even then. The Huskies really embarrassed themselves against LSU. There is plenty of time to get Mariota game experience, find Barner help and iron out the kinks.

Oregon is 2-0 despite sleepwalking through the second half of both games. Sure, the Ducks had a big lead early in both and, perhaps, second-half letdowns were unavoidable.

But letdowns don’t fit in with the “Fast, Hard, Finish” mantra UO coach Chip Kelly preaches.

It would be best not to make them a habit.

There will be tougher tests ahead.

So it would be natural for us reactionary Monday morning quarterbacks to yell, "Hey Kelly, keep seven men on the line at all times!"  But the truth is, Oregon had a big lead. Kelly may have kept that 6-set because Mariota could use the challenge and adversity. And there will be times when six or five linemen will be the better answer.

Beyond the 'W', the real prize of this contest was lots of game film. Mariota and Co. will get to see a whole bunch of things they did wrong. And it's better they learn against Fresno State than any Pac-12 team. Because you and I both know that EVERY team will test Mariota. They'll bring the heat, and he'll have to prove how good he is week by week -- especially to himself.

One more note. Give Fresno State a ton of credit. After so many years under Pat Hill's long tenure that slowly degraded into "We'll lose to anyone, anytime, anywhere",  new coach Tim DeRuyter has them joining the parade of teams switching to a no huddle pace. They showed grit and toughness for a half. I think they have the ingredients for a great season, and have a good chance at beating Colorado next week.

AND HOW ABOUT OREGON STATE?!?!?
Oregon State 10, Wisconsin 7.  A tremendous win. And it's kind of nice feeling for both schools beating the same foe.

Well ....OK.....Technically, Wisconsin was the same school. But the absence of some key personnel from the Badger team that Oregon battled in the Rose Bowl appeared to be kind of significant. They were the same, but . . . not really.

I'm not saying it was a cheaper win. . . . Did I say that? . . . NO!!

A win is a win. And a win over a traditionally tough Wisconsin team is something to be proud of. The Beavers ferociously fought Wisconsin . . . a much weaker Wisconsin team . . . but Wisconsin nevertheless. Good for them.

I have the write-up of the game below . . .
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Rabid beaver attacks 83-year-old woman
by Justin Jouvenal - Sept. 6, 2012 11:27 AM
Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- The creature knocked Lillian Peterson off her feet as she was climbing out of Lake Barcroft after a swim. The 83-year-old woman twisted around to see what attacked her and noticed one thing: large, orange teeth.

A 35-pound, 24-inch rabid beaver had bitten her on the back of the leg and would not let go, sparking an ordeal that lasted more than 20 minutes Tuesday evening. The Falls Church woman and a friend battled the animal with canoe paddles, a stick and bare hands as it came at them again and again. . . . . . .

Ha ha ha. I am so funny -- Making fun of the Beavs' win over a weak Badger team at the expense of some poor old lady. Actually this really is quite a frightening and unbelievable horror story! Click the title to link to the rest of it.

Next: Tennessee Tech.
--kb