How do we stop that team? Obviously we fucked up. There were some bad passes, there were some fumbles, there was some stupid penalties. If we play smarter, we are in the game. I get that. This doesn't feel like a fluke. Our team seems intimidated by Stanford. Mariota, specifically, seems intimidated by Stanford. Do you chalk this up to stupid mistakes or is this a problem that runs deeper than the surface? We can blow out teams all season, but if we can't win the games that count, it's all for nothing.
We need to play more games against physical teams, get used to them... beef up our non-conference schedule, grow some testes and play some beefy teams. Having a kicker worth more than a wet fart might help. Benching DAT forever would make me happy but isn't necessary. Overall, I don't see us being able to change directions for a few years, so you just gotta try to remain successful while slowly beefing up your lines. If Stanford can get a full set of He-Man action figures, so can we.
Don't fumble at the goal line, block in open space when your QB is streaking down the field for a TD. Not referring to anyone in particular, just saying....
Mariota seemed obviously injured to me. That wasn't the same guy we've seen executing the offense. What was truly stunning was that the Ducks couldn't stop their power run play. We've seen many teams try to pound it but none with that sort of success. Of course Stanford's OLine is huge and highly touted, but I just didn't see this happening as Oregon's DLine has good size and talent too. I thought the LBs looked overmatched as they consistently gave up chunks of yards after contact. Injuries happen and really can't be proactively addressed, but Aliotti needs reassess things STOMP
Um.... Stanford's power play, I think they call it the "SHREK" is very difficult to defend with traditional thinking. We could all call it from our seats and know it was coming BUT their O Line is NFL caliber technical and smart and sized, + they bring in a O lineman to play fullback to plow the field so Gaffney can pick up 4-5 comfy yards untouched. I wrote about his earlier in a game I saw Stanford play and I thought "damn they're using a freaking O line man as blocking fullback!" My thought was if they can open a gap with that line and let that Shrek clear the way it puts anyone LB's at a huge disadvantage. What Oregon should have done in my opinion is every time they saw that formation, stack the box and bring in Balducci as an ILB to smack the Shrek in the gap. This would make Gaffney have to go east to west and we could use Lokombo to chase him down for a loss. Size meets size! Further if we have the best secondary in the nation as people claim, the entire game we should have stacked the box, no 3-4 advantage them, and make them earn it in the air. That's how Utah beat them, made them throw. We should have been able to go man coverage with their receivers all night with extra D man in the box.
This is a tough question. In the PAC-12 we have probably one of the 3 best D-lines and yet they have dominated us for two years running. I think it comes down to they execute better and seem to save their best for us. We have the talent to beat them. We just have to play better, that's all. Stanford was very beatable this year and they were blocking with 6-8 players, rushing 8... There are ways to combat that and we didn't respond well.
The last 2 years Stanford was just a tough match-up for us. We needed a blocked FG/TD and a TD on 4th & goal from the 12 to make the score 26-20. Let's be honest, it wasn't really that close. But we should have NEVER lost last year's game (Maldonado!) Stanford graduates 17 of their top 22 defensive players this year. We won't have to worry about chopping down the tree next year. Guaranteed, even if it's J-Rod taking snaps instead of Marcus, we beat them handily. They will beat us in the trenches, because they always do. But they won't have LB's and safeties that can cover our skill players and tackle as well. It's one thing to think you have the formula for beating Oregon. It's another thing to have the horses to actually do it. Tip your cap, especially this year. But this isn't going to be a perennial issue.
Oh I do! I think Stanford's loss to UTAH screwed them out of the national championship and further a win against a team in Bama they could have Bama'd! Stanford has 26 seniors and their O line is damn near pro. It yanks me that the national media isn't saying just how strong Stanford is there! Instead they focus on a FSU team who sautéed a high school team in Wake over the weekend. Stanford will be a shell of itself next year with that kind of turnover but I hope this year we learned what it will really take to beat a very poised physical O line.
It was the same shit last year with Notre Dame. A team in a weak conference being propped up by the media. FSU will play against Bama, the Tide will monkey stomp them, and they will be exposed as the joke that they are.
IF Bama gets to the national championship, I know you are right! They still have Auburn and the SEC title game, where FSU plays an almost winless Idaho, a pretty crappy Syracuse team, and a Florida team asking fans to play now because of injuries, while never once leaving the state of Florida. The only poetic justice I can see in FSU's schedule, is the ACC championship, where they'll likely be playing Vtech a school Oregon is being compared to for not EVER being able to win the big game.
We beat KSU last year... we beat Wisconsin the year before.... I think it's bullshit to say we can't win the big game. Andrew Luck never beat us....
Remember when the Duck D was christened "Gang Green"? They didn't just wait for mistakes and capitalize - they forced mistakes. How can a team with the defensive depth and talent of the Ducks be so passive? Aliotti needs to rethink his approach. IMHO he has become too fixated on concerns over fatigue and time-of-possesion.
Luck did beat us his Freshman year. Well, Toby Gerhart beat us. Luck was simply the guy that handed him the ball 40 times that day. But you're right, we've won plenty of big games. Just not THE big game . . . yet.
I was at that game and beg to differ, Luck was a whole lot more then a bystander. Here's what his coach had to say about his play that day... ''Just an unbelievable performance by Andrew,'' Harbaugh said. ''I don't know how you can play better. How can you play better as a quarterback? What can you say he should have done better? Who could have done better?'' http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/gameflash/2009/11/07/39804_recap.html STOMP
You're right. I remember it well myself. Saying Gerhart did it all was an overstatement. But it was all set up because we couldn't stop Gerhart. It was Gerhart, Gerhart, Gerhart, play action . . . . dagger.
