Oregon Still A Work in Progress

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
It's a waste to create a list today of all the things we don't yet know about the 2016 Oregon Ducks football team. We don't have time for that with Nebraska next week. So I'll start here -- anyone think the Ducks are ready for a big game?


I don't.

But here come the Huskers anyway.

Oregon beat hapless Virginia 44-26 on Saturday night. The Cavaliers may take offense at the "hapless" slap. In my defense, I walked past the Virginia radio booth at the beginning of halftime and one of the radio honks in there declared within earshot of the visiting Athletic Director's box, "It's over." Nobody fired the guy. A few minutes later, one of the Cavaliers assistant coaches grabbed an oversized popcorn cup and attempted to fill the thing with ice water. There was a wet trail all the way to the coaches box.

But enough with the Virginia highlights.

Ducks running back Royce Freeman was electric, piling up 207 rushing yards against Virginia. Dakota Prukop was excellent, making all the right plays, especially on "Third and Lane County" against the same Cavaliers defense. Prukop threw for 331 yards and three touchdowns. Third down and 36-to-go wasn't a big issue for the Ducks. But even after a 2-0 start and two blowout victories, Oregon remains an untested and unknown entity.

"There are so many things offensively, defensively and special teams we need to work on," Ducks coach Mark Helfrich said.
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Link

 
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Interesting article. Seems the Ducks are equally as concerned about their team as we are about ours. I think home field will be the slight difference.

 
RedDenver said:
Interesting article. Seems the Ducks are equally as concerned about their team as we are about ours. I think home field will be the slight difference.
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The writer is, but not fans. Look at the comments, and a large chunk of the fans all vehemently disagree. They expect to roll.

 
saunders45 said:
RedDenver said:
Interesting article. Seems the Ducks are equally as concerned about their team as we are about ours. I think home field will be the slight difference.
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The writer is, but not fans. Look at the comments, and a large chunk of the fans all vehemently disagree. They expect to roll.
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I consider myself to know the game of football very well and after watching both games. NU passes the eye test more than Oregon for me. I'm not at all confident about Oregon winning. I expect NU to win. I also think Oregon will score 40+ but I think NU will score more.

 
rickfromburg 8 hours ago@oldretiredguy @GrateSwammi Nebraska's QB is prone to mistakes. Nebraska's O-line has new players and didn't get any push against Wyoming. The receiver corp is the strength of the team. On D, the line is young. The ends are terrible. The linebackers are average, and the secondary isn't that great. The kicker is good and the new punter is awful. Then there's the Banker factor. He's never stopped the Ducks.
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swd1 9 hours ago

@The Guardian @swd1

Nebraska was ahead only 24-17 heading into the 4th quarter and was struggling. They got lucky when Wyoming turned over the ball multiple times and gave Nebraska easy scores.

Had Nebraska been playing a good team, they would have been destroyed.
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Whole lotta that going around.

 
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saunders45 said:
rickfromburg 8 hours ago

@oldretiredguy @GrateSwammi Nebraska's QB is prone to mistakes. Nebraska's O-line has new players and didn't get any push against Wyoming. The receiver corp is the strength of the team. On D, the line is young. The ends are terrible. The linebackers are average, and the secondary isn't that great. The kicker is good and the new punter is awful. Then there's the Banker factor. He's never stopped the Ducks.
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Whole lotta that going around.
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I rarely look at what fans think, but thanks for the insight. I watched some of Oregon's games, and I agree with Coach Power'T, the Huskers look a bit better. I think the Ducks playing on the road will give the Huskers enough of an edge to get the W.

 
Both teams are flawed, and it will come down to who makes the least amount of mistakes. I could see NU winning by a score or 2, and also getting boatraced too.

 
This game will propel one team forward through the rest of the year, and one team backwards. It is a big game, despite the fact that neither team has yet "put it together" completely. I get absolutely jacked up for big games. Wish I could be in the stadium next week, but I'll be in a bar full of Husker fans here in Phoenix cheering and shouting!

 
Offensively Prukop looks like he has been running that Oregon offense for years and Royce Freeman is coming off of a 200 yard rushing performance. I'm still shocked that the Ducks actually hired Brady Hoke as their defensive coordinator. If the Ducks continue to lag behind defensively I don't see him lasting long at Oregon.

 
saunders45 said:
rickfromburg 8 hours ago@oldretiredguy @GrateSwammi Nebraska's QB is prone to mistakes. Nebraska's O-line has new players and didn't get any push against Wyoming. The receiver corp is the strength of the team. On D, the line is young. The ends are terrible. The linebackers are average, and the secondary isn't that great. The kicker is good and the new punter is awful. Then there's the Banker factor. He's never stopped the Ducks.
Click to expand...
swd1 9 hours ago

@The Guardian @swd1

Nebraska was ahead only 24-17 heading into the 4th quarter and was struggling. They got lucky when Wyoming turned over the ball multiple times and gave Nebraska easy scores.

Had Nebraska been playing a good team, they would have been destroyed.
Click to expand...


Whole lotta that going around.
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Some of their fans have gotten way too over confident way too quickly. They still think Chip Kelly is the HC and Marcus Mariotta is the QB. This should be a good game.

 
Oregon's biggest weapon will be playing with confidence and not letting mistakes rattle them. We want nothing to do with a shootout.

 
After watching a few possessions in the Oregon/Virginia game, I was left a little in awe of their team speed on offense. Not just the tempo but the way they utilize their players's speed with misdirection and efficient passing. Definitely looks different than anything we are likely to see in the B1G. The QB does look poised as well, so I doubt we rattle him much in Lincoln.

I think we will get our yards and points, but I hope we are able to play some ball-control and keep away with the running game. I agree that a shootout with Oregon may not be the best strategy.

 
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