Slow intertubez today so unable to join you all during the game thread, but here's my thoughts on this one:
--Hats off to the defense, again. I figured the front would do well against this scheme and they did. Hercules took some attention and Luvu played out of his mind as a beneficiary. Having Herbert and Nelson would've turned this into a dogfight. The Ducks aren't what they were, but they can still play.
--I was worried about the punting before the season started, and man I clearly had reason to be. I don't care if they trot Sweet out there to rugby roll the ball 30 yards downfield everytime as long as it works, just figure something out. Man.
--This game was chippy as I expected. Cougs gettin the chance to jaw at the 4 and 5 star guys and vice versa, but they did it a bit too much at times. The Pippins call might've been more about what was said than anything, I've seen more jawing go uncalled before. The bad one was the Silvels play. That push in the back after the whistle was a cheap play, and I don't like that stuff. Let UCLA do that, and we'll win clean, thanks.
--Running game was ok, and it was nice to see Wicks out there breaking tackles. I hope it continues.
--Leavitt knows how to beat this offense. He won't shut it out much, but he's going to be a challenge for as long as he's in Eugene with that talent. He has that defense playing hard and they have the athletes to man up on our guys, and will for years to come. Taggart and Leavitt got some heat in the preseason for their conditioning practices, but the Ducks are not 5 star softies anymore. And they sure made USC look that way by comparison. This defense is better than SC's.
--Not Falk's best game but he certainly played well enough, and there will be more tennis balls for the wideouts this week. If only Johnson-Mack's hands matched his athleticism.
--We're running out of linebackers. I hope DeRider and Dotson are able to go by the time Stanford comes to town, but I guess we'll see. Hanser and Woods held the fort just fine in the run game, the safeties continue to play well, and even George Hicks got some time out there tonight.
--Would've preferred to see Hilinsky out there for the last possession. Even if he'd done something out of Benny Hill again it wouldn't have lost us the game.
--Hats off to the defense, again. I figured the front would do well against this scheme and they did. Hercules took some attention and Luvu played out of his mind as a beneficiary. Having Herbert and Nelson would've turned this into a dogfight. The Ducks aren't what they were, but they can still play.
--I was worried about the punting before the season started, and man I clearly had reason to be. I don't care if they trot Sweet out there to rugby roll the ball 30 yards downfield everytime as long as it works, just figure something out. Man.
--This game was chippy as I expected. Cougs gettin the chance to jaw at the 4 and 5 star guys and vice versa, but they did it a bit too much at times. The Pippins call might've been more about what was said than anything, I've seen more jawing go uncalled before. The bad one was the Silvels play. That push in the back after the whistle was a cheap play, and I don't like that stuff. Let UCLA do that, and we'll win clean, thanks.
--Running game was ok, and it was nice to see Wicks out there breaking tackles. I hope it continues.
--Leavitt knows how to beat this offense. He won't shut it out much, but he's going to be a challenge for as long as he's in Eugene with that talent. He has that defense playing hard and they have the athletes to man up on our guys, and will for years to come. Taggart and Leavitt got some heat in the preseason for their conditioning practices, but the Ducks are not 5 star softies anymore. And they sure made USC look that way by comparison. This defense is better than SC's.
--Not Falk's best game but he certainly played well enough, and there will be more tennis balls for the wideouts this week. If only Johnson-Mack's hands matched his athleticism.
--We're running out of linebackers. I hope DeRider and Dotson are able to go by the time Stanford comes to town, but I guess we'll see. Hanser and Woods held the fort just fine in the run game, the safeties continue to play well, and even George Hicks got some time out there tonight.
--Would've preferred to see Hilinsky out there for the last possession. Even if he'd done something out of Benny Hill again it wouldn't have lost us the game.
