11. Oregon Ducks If any other team lost the school’s all-time leading rusher (LaMichael James) and its all-time leader in touchdown passes (Darron Thomas), there would be major concerns. That’s not the case at Oregon. The Ducks do have to find a quarterback and get some receivers to grow up, but they are still talented enough to challenge for the Pac-12 and national titles. After all, they do still have De’Anthony Thomas, an explosive player who can break away for big gains as a receiver or out of the backfield. Running back Kenjon Barner would already be a star on any other team. The linebacker corps, led by Michael Clay, is talented. Incoming true freshman Arik Armstead, at 6-8 and 297 pounds, should make an immediate impact. http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-fo...top-25-rankings-sporting-news-lsu-alabama-usc
I think Mariota is a massive upgrade from D Thomas, further we are sooooooo deep at TE's we're actually having to move some of them to DE's now! Let's not forget we have some serious studs that were redshirted who are now ready to rock, and Stanford and Brown are about to suit up! If that's our question mark? I couldn't be happier!
#11 sounds about right for the Ducks. I'm surprised WVU is #25. That team should be in the top 10 given it's Offensive juggernaut is returning.
Regarding TEs... Redshirt Freshman Christian French has apparently switched over to play DE/Outside LB. Conversely Redshirt Freshman Koa Ka'ai has apparently left the ranks of DEs and is now expected to compete at TE. True Freshman Evan Baylis is likely to be the main backup to Colt this season as (like Arik A.) he was an early entry kid who impressed the coaches this past Spring. Junior walkon Brian Teague probably is the 4th guy in the mix. I'll guess that Pharaoh Brown and Stanford Redshirt this year, but Dwayne is a WR not a TE... dude weighed 185 pounds his Sr. year of HS In both his HS highlight tape and then in the Spring game, Mariota has seemed better then merely good... he's seemed special. That said, our exposure to his abilities is pretty limited and Bryan Bennett has shown he's plenty capable too. I'm sure Kelly will make the right call. Whoever wins out will be winging it to the most highly touted & fastest WRs in program history. Among others, I'm really looking forward to seeing Tacoi [video=youtube;yoNa1NreGkc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoNa1NreGkc&feature=related[/video] STOMP
I'm more optimistic about this year's Ducks then I've been for any other season, so my feeling is it's too low. Their lines look in great shape and eye-popping bigger, faster talents are taking over at the skill positions. If they get = or >DThomas QB play & avoid key injuries they should crush STOMP
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm Oregon is ranked 5th, whereas LSU and Alabama are ranked 1 and 2nd respectively. USC is 3rd.
5th is way too high this early in the season. But nice to see us still getting respect from the other coaches.
I'm happy at the 5-7 range.... There are only in my eyes three teams that want anything we have to offer... LSU, Bama and USC! Every other team in this country can't run with us nor want to..... which is why we're playing Chemeketa for our first 5 games.... Our defensive line is going to be massive.... Think of this... Dion 6'7, AA 6'8, Bair 6'9 and Cody 6'6, Buckner 6'7........ That's a basketball team..... I see a ton of balls being swatted down for years to come......Oh and these are our "LIGHT" guys.... our DT's are 300 + and 6'4.... Oregon will have 5-6 games to get their groove going Sept through end of Oct and much like how we play, will pick up the pace every game till we win our 4th straight Pac-12 championship!
Stomp, I like both our QB's but Mariota has a calm and presence you just can't teach. I liken him to a college version of Dan Marino with Steve Young speed. That said Bennett is no slouch, but holy smokes, Bennet could play LB for us just as easy, looks like he's put on 25 pounds of muscle and starts walking like a LB too!
Nov 3rd is the biggest game of the year! It will put one Pac-12 team in the national championship and one in the Rose Bowl! Think about this, next year Oregon could have to play USC 3 times in one year under the new playoff system, if we kept the schedule we do today? Side note question? Next year we play UCLA not USC in season right? So if both of us are undefeated who gets home field for Pac-12 championship?
Depends on strength of schedule(or maybe a coin flip idk). Besides, USC is not going undefeated next year. They are losing a lot of talent to the draft
They play in a no talent Pac-12 south......The have a great recruiting class coming in..... they'll be right there!
Wittek doesn't look like a starter, yet Max Browne is. Best case for USC: 9:3. They lose to ND, Oregon, and some other team.
We don't play them next year, we play UCLA.... they'll beat the Irish with ease....... I'd say bt 14.....
And the irish has a good D and Gunner Kiel may start next year, and he was one of the best QBs in his class.
I've a friend who played on the Ducks scout team in 2009 & 2010 who got an up close look of how good Bryan is. We have a small wager riding on who is named the starting QB... I've got Mariota. I'm very excited/optimistic about him. I prefer a blend of Joe Montana feel with Dennis Dixon's size & athleticism but thats just me STOMP
Yeah but an inexperienced QB, questionable WR position and durability issues with our starting TB are enough reasons for me. We also have no one to run well between the tackles which will allow teams to really take away our outside running threat which is our strongest.
Both Mariota & Bennett ran spread attacks based on Oregon's in High School and both were Early Entry guys. Besides that, remind me of how they did the last few times with an inexperienced QB under Kelly. questionable? really? Huff toughed it out last year playing through a stress fracture so it only makes sense that he's going to be a lot better now that he's healthy. They've a bevy of other players with experience, speed & size plus the touted Redshirt Freshman I know you like to worry but even for you this is silly. Kenyon is a proven 200 lb. all around stud running inside & out + catching the ball. Wasn't DAT's 90+ yard Rose Bowl TD run between the tackles? I keep hearing glowing reports about Byron Marshall's readiness to play too. He's reported to be in Eugene this summer working out with the guys daily. STOMP
