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