OT: 2017 Ducks and Beavers Football Thread

[britblazerdude]

I won't interact in this thread until PSU added to the title. #ViksAreD1Too!!! #BigSkyFootball #0-3

[JasonStern]

Wizenheimer: any idea what happened with Bruce Judson? Academic issues, family issues, ..? All I have heard is "setbacks". Shame because he seemed like one of the more interesting prospects and either situation could hopefully be helped for him long term by getting a fresh start in a positive environment.

[Wizenheimer]

Wizenheimer: any idea what happened with Bruce Judson? Academic issues, family issues, ..? All I have heard is "setbacks". Shame because he seemed like one of the more interesting prospects and either situation could hopefully be helped for him long term by getting a fresh start in a positive environment.

I'm not sure but I have heard it was academics and that he really wasn't that close to being qualified. Likely have to go the JUCO route

the new staff is a lot more aggressive in recruiting so, unlike the past 4 years under Helfrich when every commit qualified, there will probably be a miss or two, academically, in each recruiting cycle

tonight's gane against Cal will be an interesting contrast in coaching emphasis. Taggart said his #1 priority was recruiting and he went out and assembled an all-star staff in terms of recruiting. At Cal, Wilcox emphasized experience over recruiting. The two coordinators he hired have 15 years of head coach experience and over 40 years of coaching experience; and he also hired Azzinaro and Greatwood who have about 60 years combined experience.. Other then Leavitt, Taggart went in a different direction

well, coming into tonight's game, Cal has definitely appeared to be better coached. They are overachieving and have played inspired disciplined football. Oregon hasn't although the defense has certainly looked different. They did give up 490 yards to ASU but over 200 of those yards came on 4 big plays. Take away just one of those plays, the Ducks win last weekend

anyway, both teams were bad last season (Cal actually gave up more points on defense then Oregon, as hard as that is to believe), but at this point, Cal has established they are well coached; I don't think Oregon has yet

[PDXKnight]

Herbert and freeman down. Yikes...

[PDXKnight]

And now alie too... looks like alie might just be a concussion. Hopefully these guys make it back soon

[PDXKnight]

The bad: all the injuries... ouch.

The good: we got it done still, managed to run the ball even though call keyed in on the run defensively.

In the end if Herbert is out for long we will more than likely lose some games so hopefully this was just precautionary. Freeman is a tough loss as well but we have a lot more Rbs than qbs. Certainly it's not worth risking Herbert's long term health playing him but at the same time I'm scared at the prospect of playing opponents with a qb who can't throw the long ball. While we were able to run today cal's gameplan wasn't completely built on stopping the run so when teams have an entire week to plan for that I highly doubt the run game will look so effective

[Wizenheimer]

it's 'sounding' like both Herbert and Freeman have broken collarbones and if so, both will likely miss the rest of the season

the injury bug is wiping out Oregon. IIRC, these are the players that didn't suit up last night because of injury:

Jacob Breeland
Charles Nelson
Nick Pickett
AJ Hothchkins

all 4 are/were starters. Last night added to the list

Freeman
Kalauna Apelu
Dillon Mitchell
Herbert

that's 8 starters missing and I might be forgetting somebody.

But it's Herbert that the Ducks can't replace. I don't see them winning any of the next 5 games...just too tough a lineup of opponents. The last 2 games of the season, after a bye week, against Arizona and OSU...those are winnable and if won, would make the Ducks bowl eligible. And if the Ducks did make a bowl game, it would theoretically make Herbert eligible for a medical redshirt this season, still leaving him with 3 years of eligibility.

[PDXKnight]

it's 'sounding' like both Herbert and Freeman have broken collarbones and if so, both will likely miss the rest of the season

the injury bug is wiping out Oregon. IIRC, these are the players that didn't suit up last night because of injury:

Jacob Breeland
Charles Nelson
Nick Pickett
AJ Hothchkins

all 4 are/were starters. Last night added to the list

Freeman
Kalauna Apelu
Dillon Mitchell
Herbert

that's 8 starters missing and I might be forgetting somebody.

But it's Herbert that the Ducks can't replace. I don't see them winning any of the next 5 games...just too tough a lineup of opponents. The last 2 games of the season, after a bye week, against Arizona and OSU...those are winnable and if won, would make the Ducks bowl eligible. And if the Ducks did make a bowl game, it would theoretically make Herbert eligible for a medical redshirt this season, still leaving him with 3 years of eligibility.

Yeah do we even have a backup qb who can throw more than 10 yards? My gut feeling is that burmeister will get a chance to show if he's capable at throwing. Obviously starting a freshman isn't very ideal but Alie isn't much of a thrower injured or not

Edit: Apparently it's Alie starting. He looked surprisingly effective yesterday though obviously doesn't have a long arm. I have to think Taggart gives both guys looks at this point though

[monopoman]

Man I am surprised that Freeman has a broken collarbone he was walking off the field really worried about his shoulder and flexing it.

[a_sensei]

Taggart said Herbert has "fractured" collar bone, which I guess is not as severe as it could be, and "absolutely a chance" he returns this season. Freeman is day to day. Apelu out for the year with a broken ankle which means probably less energy but fewer penalties.

[JasonStern]

5 games into the Taggart era and he has as many wins as Helfrich did in his last 13 games.

despite the injuries, that was a hell of a game. rewatch the play that Herbert got injured and just look at the fight in him. once Herbert and Royce went out, I thought for sure the Ducks were going to go conservative on offense, keep a tired defense on the field for way too long, and drop the game. instead they end up winning by 21. had Oregon had to fallback on a third string quarterback last year, a 21 point victory would have happened - just not for Oregon.

[Wizenheimer]

Taggart said Herbert has "fractured" collar bone, which I guess is not as severe as it could be, and "absolutely a chance" he returns this season. Freeman is day to day. Apelu out for the year with a broken ankle which means probably less energy but fewer penalties.

yeah...the rumors running around Autzen and Eugene Sunday were right about Herbert and wrong about Freeman. Kind of surprising in that Freeman appeared a lot more injured then Herbert. Getting Freeman back will help although TBJ and Benoit sure ran well. They have more speed and burst then Freeman too. But I think opposing defenses worry about Freeman more especially if the Duck Oline can start playing like they were expected too...and they started a little of that saturday.

getting Charles Nelson and Dillon Mitchell back would help the limited Duck QB's a lot. Those two guys know how to get open

not sure how much Apelu will be missed. He was doing OK in pass coverage but a 200 pound middle LB is a liability against the run

[PDXKnight]

Oregon looks about as bad without Herbert as I'd expect. Yikes..

[monopoman]

Oregon looks about as bad without Herbert as I'd expect. Yikes..

Well Oregon faced its toughest team so far without multiple key pieces, so yeah I wasn't surprised this happened.

[Wizenheimer]

Oregon looks about as bad without Herbert as I'd expect. Yikes..

the Duck offense is just trashed right now. They are one-dimensional because of an injured QB and the WR corps being in shambles. They lost Darren Carrington, Devon Allen, and Jalen Brown in the spring (Allen should have focused on T&F before the 2nd knee injury); and that was after losing the top-3 tight ends to graduation (Brown, Bayless, Mundt). And now, both Charles Nelson and Dillon Mitchell are injured and it's unknown when they'll be back

And of course, this spring, well after the recruiting cycle, the #2 and # 3 QB's on the depth chart transferred. It also didn't help that Burmiester apparently can't make any proper reads in either the passing game or the run game.

yeah, offensive disaster

on the other hand, you have a Duck defense that was the worst in college football last season. And thru graduation, injury, or transfer, lost TJ Daniel, Rex Manu, Wayne Kirby, Austin Maloata, Canton Kaumatule, Johnny Ragin, and Danny Mattingly. And it has lost both starting inside LB's (Apelu and Hotchkins) to injury in the last 2 weeks. The result is the Ducks are playing several true freshman on defense at critical positions. At times last night, the Ducks had 3 true freshman in the secondary, 3 sophomores and a true freshman at LB, and two freshmen on the DLine.

and this took the field against the complicated and challenging WSU's Air Raid offense that came in averaging 500 yards a game, and over the previous 4 WSU/UO games had averaged 588 yards total offense and 467 yards passing, and were led by an NFL-bound senior QB

and the defense was saddled with an offense that was 1-19 on 3rd & 4th down until the final 3 minutes, turned the ball over 3 times, and gave WSU great field position all night.

in spite of all that, the Duck defense gave up only 369 yards, and held WSU to 2-14 on 3rd down; and this came after the Ducks were flagged for 3 blatantly bad pass interference penalties...at least they wwere blatantly bad when compared to what the WSU DB's were getting away with. A defense that was 126th in total defense last season giving up 518 yards/game and 6.4 yards/play, is 29th this season giving up 338 yards and 4.5 yards/play. Because of offensive injuries and the abilities of the Duck defensive coaches, Oregon's offense/defense script has completely flipped. For years it's been "if the Ducks just had a decent defense..."...last night it was "if the Ducks just had a decent offense..."

[PDXKnight]

Oregon looks about as bad without Herbert as I'd expect. Yikes..

the Duck offense is just trashed right now. They are one-dimensional because of an injured QB and the WR corps being in shambles. They lost Darren Carrington, Devon Allen, and Jalen Brown in the spring (Allen should have focused on T&F before the 2nd knee injury); and that was after losing the top-3 tight ends to graduation (Brown, Bayless, Mundt). And now, both Charles Nelson and Dillon Mitchell are injured and it's unknown when they'll be back

And of course, this spring, well after the recruiting cycle, the #2 and # 3 QB's on the depth chart transferred. It also didn't help that Burmiester apparently can't make any proper reads in either the passing game or the run game.

yeah, offensive disaster

on the other hand, you have a Duck defense that was the worst in college football last season. And thru graduation, injury, or transfer, lost TJ Daniel, Rex Manu, Wayne Kirby, Austin Maloata, Canton Kaumatule, Johnny Ragin, and Danny Mattingly. And it has lost both starting inside LB's (Apelu and Hotchkins) to injury in the last 2 weeks. The result is the Ducks are playing several true freshman on defense at critical positions. At times last night, the Ducks had 3 true freshman in the secondary, 3 sophomores and a true freshman at LB, and two freshmen on the DLine.

and this took the field against the complicated and challenging WSU's Air Raid offense that came in averaging 500 yards a game, and over the previous 4 WSU/UO games had averaged 588 yards total offense and 467 yards passing, and were led by an NFL-bound senior QB

and the defense was saddled with an offense that was 1-19 on 3rd & 4th down until the final 3 minutes, turned the ball over 3 times, and gave WSU great field position all night.

in spite of all that, the Duck defense gave up only 369 yards, and held WSU to 2-14 on 3rd down; and this came after the Ducks were flagged for 3 blatantly bad pass interference penalties...at least they wwere blatantly bad when compared to what the WSU DB's were getting away with. A defense that was 126th in total defense last season giving up 518 yards/game and 6.4 yards/play, is 29th this season giving up 338 yards and 4.5 yards/play. Because of offensive injuries and the abilities of the Duck defensive coaches, Oregon's offense/defense script has completely flipped. For years it's been "if the Ducks just had a decent defense..."...last night it was "if the Ducks just had a decent offense..."

Yeah I have no knocks on the defense whatsoever. I know an outsider would look at the 33 points allowed and say there was no d but I think if the qb situation wasn't such a mess we could have held them to 2 less td's at least. The playcalling was brilliant and the pass protection looked solid at least early along. And if they didn't have those penalties called that you mentioned wsu would have probably only netted 200 yards.

I had a good laugh when the broadcasters talked up wsu's defensive game plan. How hard is packing the line when you know your opponent can't pass beyond 10 yards?

[PDXKnight]

What's with the Oregon qbs continually diving bullneck into the defense? Seems like qbs are just gonna keep getting hurt doing that kind of stuff

[Wizenheimer]

What's with the Oregon qbs continually diving bullneck into the defense? Seems like qbs are just gonna keep getting hurt doing that kind of stuff

that wasn't how Herbert was injured

Herbert was hurt when he was already tackled and essentially on the ground, then a LB came flashing in and dove on Herbert, using the ground as an anvil and the LB's mass and momentum as the hammer. It's a legal play, I suppose, but it probably shouldn't be. Trouble is, the officials already do a bad job on judgement calls...last night's pass interference debacle being a prime example

here's a video...the Herbert play starts at 37 seconds, pretty clearly it was the hit by the LB that broke the bone:

Watch on YouTube

[Masterfully]

Anderson fired/resigned. Wow, didn’t see that coming.

[monopoman]

http://www.oregonlive.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2017/10/oregon_ducks_football_recruiti_24.html

Well it looks like no matter how bad this current season goes the Ducks look to be on the path of chasing that championship title in the near future. This is a pretty big deal for the Ducks when they have never had a top 10 recruiting class nationally or the top recruiting class in just the Pac-12.