With the Civil War looming less than 6 days away I figured it would be pointless to deviate from this monumental match-up between the Beavers and the Ducks, therefore, I'll have 2 or 3 posts dedicated to the topic this week. I don't think there is any other team in the nation that can be defined by one singular offensive like Oregon State and their vaunted "Fly Sweep," but outside of last weekend that play has had little success in the overall tone of their season. When I say, "little success" I mean that James Rodgers hasn't consistently torched teams for 100+ yards week after week, but there is no doubt that it has been a tremendous factor in shifting defenses and creating diversions for their running game. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what exactly Arizona was trying to accomplish by not getting in position at least once to stop James Rodgers when he ran the sweep more than 10 times last week for 110 yards and a Touchdown. You have to give the Beaver coaches credit though...they kept running it since Arizona showed no signs of truly dedicating an effort to stop it. Thankfully, I don't think we need to remind Oregon of how critical that play is to the Beavers success due to the outcome of last year's contest.
The old adage, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." seems too fitting for Nick Aliotti and the Ducks this time around against Oregon St. I can only hope that the Ducks defensive unit all watched Oregon St. chew up yards against Arizona with the "Fly Sweep" and have already made a huge mental effort to slow that down. Ultimately though, this defensive effort will fall square on the shoulders of Aliotti. Oregon fans still have the sickening feeling of watching Rob Gronkowski kill the ducks through the air time and time again 2 weeks ago, and the Ducks showed no signs of being able to stop that offensive barrage. Mike Riley made it known today that Jacquizz Rodgers is "very doubtful" to play this Saturday, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Ducks job will be any easier. I seem to recall a converted fullback with the name "Sieverson" stitched to the back of his jersey take a 70 yard touchdown run to the house against Oregon last year on the first play of the game. My point: it doesn't matter who Oregon St. has at running back...they will make plays. It is a serious blow to the Beaver offense though considering that their backups have less than 90 carries combined on the season.
Jacquizz Rodgers: 259 attempts for 1,253 yards and 11 TD's.
Jeremy Francis and Ryan McCants: 86 attempts for 367 yards and 3 TD's.
That's a huge offensive drop off, and not to mention the offensive scheme's that the Beavers were getting used to with "Quizz" on the field. Alright, now it's time to watch the Ducks put up a fight against No. 1 ranked North Carolina in the Maui Invitational. It's pretty cool to see 5 black kids on the floor all at the same time for Oregon...I don't know if that has ever happened in the history of the basketball program. Michael Dunigan has the potential to be a Pac-10 player of the year...doesn't take long to notice that. Goodnight Now!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment