In the wake of college football’s first weekend. . .
Just a few quick hits:
– Did we think after the first weekend there would be concerns about the Duck offense? I don’t think so. I can’t get over how poorly Boise State played in the second half of that game Thursday night. Yet the Ducks’ offense couldn’t get much traction when the game was on the line. Strange.
– I was suprised at how well Portland State played in Corvallis. That wasn’t a bad performance at all, given the Vikings’ youth. I thought the Beavers would get to PSU’s quarterbacks but that didn’t happen. At the same time, after that opener, I have some serious doubts about the Oregon State pass defense.
– Wow, California. The Bears were really something against Maryland, which may or may not be a good team. Kevin Riley out of Beaverton? Sensational with 298 yards and four TD passes.
– Washington hung in with LSU for a while. . . could that mean the sleeping dawgs are rousing from their long sleep? I’m not ready to say that yet.
– Washington State drew about 22,000 for its home opener. That right there tells you what you need to know about that program.
College football, Oregon Ducks, Oregon State Beavers, Portland State Vikings | Dwight Jaynes | September 7, 2009
California Bears, College football, Dwight Jaynes, Kevin Riley, Oregon Ducks, Oregon State Beavers, Portland State Vikings, Washington Huskies, Washington State Cougars
Pullman is in the middle of an H1N1 outbreak, and advised pregnant/elderly/weak & feeble to stay home. There’s more to the story Dwight.
“advised pregnant/elderly/weak & feeble to stay home”
And still the football team showed up.
Yeah, Senator, I know that. And about 2,000 students are said to be fighting the flu. And really, between those 2,000 students and the several thousand pregnant, elderly, weak and feeble fans that usually go to games there, it’s still not much of a crowd. Ooops, sorry — the weak and feeble are the ones playing for the Cougs!
“Ooops, sorry — the weak and feeble are the ones playing for the Cougs!”
…priceless.
Did you ever think that several thousand others stayed home incase some of this infected students stupidly came to the game?
Or in case there are people in attendance who don’t even know they’re sick yet. I agree that they probably would’ve drawn a small crowd H1N1 or not, though.
Washington did more than hang in with LSU for a while, they outplayed LSU for big chunks of the game, and beat themselves more than got beat by LSU, with those horribly inopportune turnovers (an int returned for TD, a fumble lost at the 4). I’m predicting 6-6 this year (biggest turnaround in PAC-10 history, I believe) and 9 +/- 1 wins next year.
Oh I do agree that they would have drawn a small crowd, but I think the H1N1 scare with so many students infected scared off a good number of people.
Ladies and gentleman, the always clever Dwight Jaynes!
So you did know about the worst swine flu outbreak on a college campus in the US and didn’t suspect it had anything to do with attendance or you wanted to wait it out until you could lay that zinger on us? Seems funny that that the attendance was the “only” thing that told the story about the program. Not to mention the fact that Pullman is the most remote campus in the Pac 10 and that attendance number is still better than 60% of capacity even with the swine flu advisory (better than Blazer game gate attendance a few years ago).
Seems like rebounding from a 58-0 rout from the same team last year to play a competitive game might tell a different story but I guess that’s just not that funny.
The Ducks should have played a easy team just to get a win under their belts and the sweet smell of victory before playing a potent powerhouse like BSU right off the bat.
Hope Portland State can rebound from their thumping from the Beavers and take care of business in the Big Sky for Glanville or it could be curtains for him.
Oregon: the wide open spread offense the Ducks run is impossible to stop when things are clicking, but when they are not clicking it is a train wreck. I am a big Duck football fan, but don’t like the spread offense. Masoli has cannon for an arm, but does not throw a very catchable ball. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Ducks put up big numbers next week and still come up with 9 wins this year. I just wish they would take the offense back to a more pro-set, use the clock and keep the defense off the field. Oregon has the talent to do this, they don’t need to be gimmicky.
I agree, but that won’t happen as long as Kelly is at the helm.
Personally I think Kelly offense, as well as his coaching era is going to end in failure. He started with a prefect storm with NFL caliber players, and the result was absolutely unreal. Its going to be a much different story going forward, now that he has average players, and defenses have had a chance to adjust it.
9 Wins seems very optimistic.
These are good points. I noticed this last season too. If Oregon does not attain a rythmn, the offense usually falls flat. That puts alot of pressure on a already scrutinized defense.
Thus, is the defense really that bad or is it maybe because they have to play an enormous amount of minutes?
PSU looked like they could move the ball. I agree the beavers defense in general will need to pick it up. Canfield looked really good for the beavs
California totally choked a game in Maryland last season and they knew it. They had this one circled for a long long time. That team has some serious speed
While OSU won comfortably, I also noticed that PSU’s receivers got open against OSU’s secondary pretty easily.
Also, if I’m not mistaken, OSU did not get one sack. Part of that can be attributed to the quick three step drops and throws that the run and shoot incorporates, but it’s still not a concern.
OSU will obviously see better wide receivers and offensive lines this fall. A lot of us were waiting for this Saturday’s game as the first “doubtful” game.
Many people were saying that if Oregon’s offensive line clicked, they would have a good season. They didn’t play well Thursday, so they’ll have to patch that up for the rest of the season.
Washington State is far away from population centers where most of its alumni live (and yes, I have been to Spokane, my brother lives there, and yes, it is a real city) so you have to give them a reason to drive out there.
Swine flu and 1-10 don’t exactly qualify.
Oops,that last sentence in 2nd paragraph should say “it’s still a concern.”
Happy Labor Day!
The eyeball test!
Just looking at the array of physical specimens at every position on the USC football team (not to mention the organization and discipline) this last weekend said volumes to me about our Oregon schools.
A down year? Are we are kidding ourselves? We need to be happy with who we are for now, and hope for pleasant surprises down the road. Let’s be real, the Oregon schools are not even in USC’s rear view mirror!
The Trojans being upset now and again due to a lack of focus is not anything close to our schools suffering defeats at the hands of a better teams. The records may look somewhat similar in the end, but the truth is there is a Grand Canyon sort of separation between us and them.
Oregon showed us nothing offensively, and this is before we lost the 1000yd stud RB from last year.
The Beavs ran I think 2 blitzes the entire game. I do agree there is cause for concern though. But the play calling was so plain that they didn’t even add Vanilla…. it was just plain ice cream. At least UNLV doesn’t have any film to study. Riley is a class act. He chose not to run up the score. Unlike Florida or Air Force. PSU has a big O-line for being in a lower division, a couple 300 pounders on that line. But yes it would of been nice to see more pass break ups and QB pressure.
Loved the BYU game over Oklahoma. Yes, their QB got hurt but it was still a great win against a mighty program. And they didn’t even need help from the “under review” booth.
Also got a big kick out of Syracuse and Minnesota. Greg Paulus is a good story. Yes, he sort of blew the game with a pick in overtime, but he looked terrific for someone who hasn’t played football in nearly 5 years.
By Saturday evening the Ducks game was a distant memory. Wow, did that suck or what?
Big win by BYU, but today I saw on ESPN a story on how the Sooners can still get a shot at the BCS championship
Let them decide it on the field. Seems to me teams like Boise State, Utah, and other western schools do a whole lot better when given the chance to prove it on the field
Happy for BYU, but sick of the monopoly and hypocrosy which is post season division I football
While Boise State,and Utah are very good teams, I wouldn’t say either are elite, and generally do not belong in the championship game.
Utah clobbered Alabama at the sugar bowl which was number one most of the season
Boise St. defeated heavily favored Oklahoma in a bowl game a couple of years back.
So according to you they aren’t elite teams. All they do is beat them huh?