Get out of the way, Beavers.....

CIVIL WAR KEYS TO THE GAME:

OREGON
The keys for Oregon will be to distribute the ball evenly amongst all their offensive weapons -- their three running backs including Byron Marshall coming out of the backfield to receive passes; their corps of tight ends even without Pharoah Brown; their endless supply of excellent receivers; and of course the one who makes it all happen, Heisman front-runner Marcus Mariota.

On defense, they need to watch out for the Beavers two weapons, the long passes down the center, and Coach Riley's patented tool -- the always dangerous, tried, true, and traditional Fly Sweep.

NO. NOT THE FLY SWEEP!!!

OREGON STATE
The keys for Oregon State will be to run fast, jump up and down, flap and wave their arms, and gosh dang it, just try their darndest to be the best they can be and work really hard to believe in themselves. As long as they show good sportsmanship, their moms will be proud.

On defense, they need to feel privileged that they have front row seats to view the best offense and single best football player that they have ever had the honor to be on the same field with. It'll be a great story to tell the grandkids. 

"Gee Wally, That Marcus Mariota sure is good."
"Ya he's really nice too. He saw me crying as
he ran by me to score and said 'Sorry'."

PAC-12 TITLE PICTURE
Oregon will play for the Pac-12 Title December 5th regardless of what happens tomorrow. Their opponent will be decided as UCLA hosts Stanford and Arizona State travels to Arizona. Both games start at 12:30 today.

UCLA, a 4-1/2 point favorite, will go to the Pac-12 Championship if they beat Stanford. If they lose, the winner of Arizona - Arizona State meets the Ducks.

The Ducks aren't concerning themselves with who wins. They are completely focused on just taking care of their own business to get to the big dance. The Beavers are an obstacle. The Pac-12 South Champ is an obstacle.

SEC CRUMMY OPPONENT OF THE WEEK AWARD WENT TO...
Last week it was #1 best-in-the-nation Alabama's turn to host a crummy opponent in late November as the playoff polls get more critical.

Two weeks ago you'll recall we had SEC teams scheduling a church (Ole Miss vs. Presbyterian) and a labor union (Missy State vs. UTM) . Last week Alabama played against Western Carolina.

OK now they're just making teams up. You got North Carolina and South Carolina. There IS NO West or Western Carolina. Yet there they were, from the WTF league I guess. The Catamounts, they call themselves.

Here we are in late November,
and the #1 team in the nation
played this team:
The Catamounts.

This coming Saturday is no exception to SEC teams scheduling cupcakes. Florida will be going up against what I am convinced is the most overrated team in the nation, Florida State.

Last week Florida State squeaked by a mediocre 6-4 Boston College 20-17 at home with a last minute field goal. This can't last. Eventually they will come up against a complete team capable of playing a full 60 minutes and get blown out.

It'll be a shame if it doesn't happen until the playoffs and locks out a more worthy #5 team, whomever that may be.

ALOITTI SHOULD TAKE THEIR MONEY
This story from The Oregonian's John Canzano last week:
 NFC East teams try to hire Nick Aliotti as consultant to combat Eagles
Former Oregon Ducks defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said on Monday that he's been contacted by NFC East teams that want to hire him as a consultant to help them solve the Philadelphia Eagles' offense.
Not an NFC East team -- every one of the NFC East teams.
"I have been asked by everybody in the NFC East ..." the retired Aliotti said on Monday. "The Giants asked me to come back when Chip got the first job. I didn't feel right doing that. Some teams have called when they're getting ready to play the Eagles and they call and have certain questions on the thing. Unless I know the guy and he's a good friend, I don't get involved with that."
The Eagles (8-3) are tied with the Cowboys (8-3) on top of the NFC East. [Dallas got crushed.]
Aliotti, who coached alongside Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, saw the offense every day in practice. He turned down the requests, he said, but Aliotti said he's talked scheme with some of his coaching friends such as USC defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, who played under Aliotti.
"Sometimes it's about scheme, sometimes it's about how you handle what's going on with a situation," Aliotti said. "I have quite a few good friends ... mostly it's X's and O's or how you handle a situation or a player."

I think Nick Aliotti should set up a Pay Pal account and take their money. Once the transaction clears, he could give them the following valuable information. . . . .

1) You need to condition your defense to be ready for snaps every 17 seconds for an entire game. If you start conditioning now, you may be ready for the Eagles in 2015.

2) Because the Eagles QB is just letting the movements of your defensive players decide where the ball is going, you need to have all your men play straight up and honest. Don't lean to the right or left. Don't cheat up or back. Play your position, mind your own gap and territory. If you don't have 11 players on the field that can handle their own for the entire game, Kelly will exploit your weakness. And so your best chance is to just find better players in the next draft.

Really, do you think Chip would care if
Nick offered his opponents some "secrets"?
I think they both would just laugh.

In short, there's no trick. No scheme. No gimmick. If you're worried that Kelly's Eagles are going to shred your defense, you need a better defense.

That's it. Thank you for your business. Good luck.

--Nick Aliotti.

Civil War game time Saturday, 5pm Pacific on ABC.

--KB

Heisman Trophy? How 'bout the Mariota Trophy?

I wasn't able to put up a post about Oregon's sweet victory over Stanford the week before last. So shall we just take a moment to enjoy these photos of Stanford losing?

 

UTAH TO BE KIDDING ME!
The greatest touchdown in Oregon history, of course, is The Pick. They're calling this The Pick-UP.


This single play has gone super viral. It immediately hit YouTube from several different angles. Twitter and Facebook blew up. And last Sunday night, there it was on both the ABC and CBS Evening News with the anchor saying something smarmy like, "Let that be a lesson to you kids out there."

Ute Kaelin Clay could not wait to drop the ball so he could begin his dance. In the press conference after the game, he said he took "full responsibility" for that.

Well GREAT, Clay. Was there someone else trying to steal the blame for that one?

And here is a reaction from a Utah fan . . .


This game was a battle. A cage match. It was so nice to have beaten Stanford the week before with the Cardinal putting up little fuss. But these Utes were particularly fussy, sacking Mariota four times and forcing him to fumble once.


Cheaters!

Down goes Marcus.

Injuries were huge. Guys on both sides were dropping right and left. Utah's starting QB and wide receiver. Oregon's center Hronis Grasu, then Tight End Pharoah Brown went down.

Watching the replay of Brown's injury the next day, I listened to the announcers say the guys in the truck had a camera angle on the injury, but thought it best not to show it. So I checked YouTube. Here is a 3 second video of what happened to Pharoah Brown. Warning: This is not pretty. If you're eating, stop for a second. If, during this cold and flu season, you're already battling nausea, don't even watch it.

But when you do watch it, you'll instantly understand why he was in so much pain, why he spent days in a Salt Lake Hospital and is now recuperating in his hometown in Ohio, and why the coaches said, "Obviously he's out for the season."


Here is what I don't get. The four big injuries mentioned above -- they were all non- or otherwise little contact. They were all weird twists between the person's leg and the ground. I'm looking at all of them wondering "What is with that turf?"  It's like it has funny seams or a sticky surface that suddenly grabs a foot and won't let go. Maybe just bizarre coincidences.

Pharoah Brown scores in 2nd quarter.

MARIOTA AND OREGON'S #2 RANKING.  
ANOTHER COINCIDENCE?
After the barrage of sacks he had received from Washington State and Arizona, It appeared to me that Mariota finally came to full acceptance of what everyone was telling him. If he didn't play like Super Mariota, Oregon would lose. If he didn't dedicate himself to doing EVERYTHING he could to make the plays needing to be made, Oregon would not go anywhere. No Pac-12 Championship. No College Playoff. No Heisman. Nowhere.

Granted he could not have done it without his offensive line suffering through their own wake up call. But together, they all regrouped and rededicated themselves to the cause. In this latest stretch of wins, I think Mariota has kept the ball and run it more often than he did all last season.
*(If I were a responsible journalist, I would actually research the stats and compare how many rushes he's had then and now. But I'm too lazy and it's easier just to offer that point and say it's true -- you know, like Fox and Friends.)
 The result is Oregon is on target for the College Football Playoffs, and Marcus Mariota is on target for the Heisman Trophy.

I mean is there any doubt? At this point in the season, does anybody see Oregon playing at this level without Mariota? Does anyone not see any other team with Mariota suddenly vault to the upper slots in the polls.

Not only should they give Mariota the Heisman already,
but they should recreate the Heisman
in this image of him.

The rest of this season is just hoping nothing terrible happens. Word is Mariota has got this. Here is an excerpt from USC's SB Nation blog "Conquest Chronicles".

But the biggest takeaway from this week's update of the college football odds is that Marcus Mariota is now dominating the Heisman Trophy odds. After another four-touchdown performance (239 passing yards, 3 TD; 114 rushing yards, 1 TD), Mariota's odds are now an overwhelming 1/5.

Everyone else on the Heisman odds list dropped with the exception of Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett and TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin. Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott is second but dipped for the second week in a row. His odds are now down to 13/2.

 

It's his to lose. 

 

HEY SEC, QUIT BEATING UP ON CHURCH LADIES

I propose a new rule in college football. If you play a patsy lower division school in November, it counts as a loss regardless of the score. Last week two SEC teams, Ole Miss and Mississippi State played football opponents in the loosest sense of the words.

 

#11 Ole Miss played a church, Presbyterian, and beat them convincingly 48-0. And then #1 Mississippi State got by a team called UTM 45-16. I've checked around, and I still don't know who UTM is. I think they're a labor union.

 

Although they have beaten every SEC team they've played, Missy State's strength of schedule rating is tied with Oregon's at #7 thanks to their scheduling very weak non- league teams.

Missy State vs. UTM
"Ha ha. We're KILLING these guys!"

Meanwhile in that same strength of schedule tally, Florida State is ranked #14. Being a member of the Atlantic Conference, they have played only one other ranked ACC team, Clemson. And their tough win over Notre Dame now looks suspect after ASU just slaughtered the Irish. That explains why Oregon passed them in the Playoff poll. Oregon has beaten three ranked teams this year (Michigan State, Stanford, and at UCLA) and they lost to a currently ranked Arizona team. Pollsters tend to see that as a "good loss".

 

I point this out because when I see these allegedly awesome teams schedule unbelievably weak teams, it just pisses me off further knowing that Texas A&M had a perfectly good home-and-home series scheduled against Oregon, and they pulled out. Now let's hold our breaths to see what cupcakes Jack Boot U. schedules in those open slots.

Oregon is bye this week in perfect time to heal and finish strong against Colorado, Oregon State, and then the Pac-12 Championship.

In a few days, I will post a special report about a different team. Which team (mentioned above) best comes to mind when I say the word "shame"?

--kb

Send The Message

OK Ducks, now you're just showing off.

Just like in the old western movies, Oregon put Tennessee's dead body up over it's horse, pinned a note on it, and slapped the horse's butt to send it running back to the SEC ranch.

What did the note say? If you listened, you heard the Autzen crowd chanting it.

"WE WANT 'BAMA!  WE WANT 'BAMA! ...."

Or LSU, or Georgia, South Carolina, A & M . . . . We don't care. Send out your best. Send out someone who can play against us. Let's finish this.

59-14? Are you kidding? The Ducks coaching staff were left scratching their heads asking, "How did Tennessee ever score 14?".

The point spread was 28. Tennessee was hoping to keep it closer, maybe make it a game, a little bit of a struggle. Instead they got their worst defeat since 1910 -- back when people who were living are now all dead.
Pics from Oregonian and Daily Emerald

Say what?!?
Does somebody need to explain the definition of 'homecoming' to them?

I was really hoping the Vols would have given Oregon a better game. Indeed they came out hot to start, stopped Oregon's first drive, scored first, held Oregon to a rare field goal on their next drive. . . .

Then Oregon fired off eight touchdowns, including one on a 4th and 6 in the middle of the field.

Gotta be the shoes!
The Vols' Adidas failed against Nike U.

The Duck calls it as Huff cruises to the endzone.

 

March of the yellow hi-liters.



Gotta be the shoes 2.
Still not getting to Mariota.



Who will end up with the ball, DAT or Mariota?
Your guess is as good (or bad) as Tennessee's.

Taylor Hart: Yellow People Eater

DAT's fast. But good blocking makes him faster.

OK now that's just pretty.
Like a yellow daisy with an orange center.

Nope. Still not gettin' him.

DID THE DUCKS FIND THEIR GEHRIG?


Freshman Jon Mundt, #83. "The Mundster"

Oregon has a man-child for a third string tight end. True freshman John Mundt,  blasted his 6'4", 232 pound frame over poor defenseless defensive backs with just five catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He played in the absence of Colt Lyerla, who was out for unclear reasons (He's ill.  No, he's being punished.  He's
being punished for being ill . . . ???)
 
But as Columnist John Canzano tweeted: Colt Lyerla… meet Wally Pipp.
(For you young kids out there, Wally Pipp was a Yankee first baseman back in 1925 who sat out a game and. . . . Oh just google it, dumbasses.  I ain't your history teacher!)

OREGON HAS A DIFFERENT AND INNOVATIVE . . . DEFENSE?!?!?
Another surprise may have been brought to our attention by a Vol player. Just how especially good is Oregon's defense? Read this quote from the Oregonian:
Added Antonio “Tiny” Richardson, the Vols’ 6-foot-6, 327-pound left tackle, who is a preseason All-SEC lineman: “You know what, I don’t want to get too technical, but the defense they ran, it was tough on us. It was hard for us to get any angles, double teams. It was different.’’

What does he mean "different"?  What makes a guy who supposedly has seen the toughest defenses in the SEC and perhaps the nation get taken aback by Oregon's.

At around the 9 minute mark of the third quarter, the commentator begins to explain Oregon's defense. Oregon only has three or four linemen up front playing what he calls "2-gap" assignments, meaning that they are responsible for the gaps on either side of the O-linemen in front of them.

Their primary job is to find and plug the running gaps, then the rest of the defense finds the ball carrier who may be searching for an unplugged gap.

He goes on to note the Duck D-linemens' set stance. "They squat down like frogs," he says, "and they're actually reading the helmets of the offensive line and just trying to build a wall. It's an incredibly difficult technique to learn. It's very hard for a team to get ready to play . . .You don't have anyone on the team of Tennessee that knows how to play this technique." 

And as I look, I see that he's right. They Ducks are in a four-point set with their butts squatted as low as they can. When they come forward, they shift to one side of the offensive linemen or the other, and then the rest of the D fills the other holes.

It's interesting to watch, I just still don't understand WHY it works. Do me a favor. Watch it for yourself, then explain it to me. Click on the video below and if it's not already there, slide the play bar about two-thirds of the way down to the 11-minute mark of the third quarter (1:33:36 on the video time counter). That's when they start talking about Oregon's D and how it is manhandling Tennessee's all star offensive line.



OTHER GAMES:
Hey 'Bama, 49-42 winners over Manziel's Aggies, congratulations on squeaking past the quarterback who decided not to come to Oregon when he heard Mariota was going there. (True story.)  At Oregon, Johnny "Football" would've earned his nickname for holding the football perfectly for point-after-kicks after every touchdown scored by Mariota. And then he would've been kicked off the team for being a pin headed idiot.


Oregon State went to Utah and defeated the Utes in a hard fought back-and-forth overtime battle. This win helps to make their fans forget they started the season with an embarrassing loss to Eastern Washington.
  So I'll remind them: HEY BEAVS. YOU LOST TO EASTERN WASHINGTION! 
HA HA HA HA HA HA . . . .


NEVER ASK A BADGER TO MANAGE YOUR TIME
Wisconsin was down by two to ASU. They drove down the field and got to the 17 yard line with 18 seconds left and no timeouts.

Stop the clock. Kick the field goal. Badgers win, right?

Watch this video.



Flash back to the Rose Bowl in 2012. Oregon and those same Badgers. Oregon is up by seven. Wisconsin is driving hard. Two seconds left, out of timeouts, they've given themselves one shot at the endzone, right?  Do you remember? Watch this:


Clock management in the final two minutes of a ball game is a game in itself. It requires a cool head, good instincts, belief in your team, knowledge of the rules, and most importantly, an awareness of the time.

Russell Wilson (a great QB for the Seahawks today) learned the hard way that you cannot spike the ball to down it with two seconds left. In fact these days it's an official rule in college football. Three seconds must show on the clock in order to spike the ball. If he had it to do over, he would've just run the play.

BREAKING NEWS: It has just been reported during the writing of this dribble that the refs of the ASU game have been reprimanded for their part in letting the clock run down. Fair enough.

But still, QB Joel Stive, WHAT WAS THAT? Don't make it hard for the refs. You've seen it a thousand times. Your coach says you practiced it. Drop FULLY to one knee, then give the ref the ball.

The truth is he panicked. He lost his cool. He lost.


Next week, BYE week. No game.
Oregon fans, surprise your sweetie next Saturday and tell him or her you want to skip your dumb ol' Duck game that day and do something special, just the two of you!

--kb