I wish I could say the same but I am just not confident that our offense can do enough to hang with the yucks (LOL!). I think our defense will be able to hold them from completely running wild, but their defense isn't Cal bad. If we had a top notch running back like Sankey/Polk then I would feel very confident. Coleman/Washington just aren't good enough to be able to Stanford them out.
If I was an Oregon fan I would be less worred about winning the game and more worried about the potential damage that Shelton and Kikaha could do to Mariotta and that tissue paper OLine. If Shelton gets a clean sack on Mariotta it will probably look like this
@RaceBannon's mojo hasn't been on point since he predicted the 3-and-6 2010 Huskies to win out and become bowl-eligible, much to the shock of iDawg. He deserves credit, did anyone actually believe that smug confidence behind the 1980s Yugoslavian cell phone?
Arizona123 was so clutch that whenever he popped up with a prediction for a UW loss my confidence in the game sky-rocketed. That guy was money.
I also appreciate that no one has created a fake Arizona123 handle here, as that would be a very dangerous road to cross. Respect what he did, remember him, Long live Arizona123!
I think our defense will be able to hold them from completely running wild, but their defense isn't Cal bad. If we had a top notch running back like Sankey/Polk then I would feel very confident. Coleman/Washington just aren't good enough to be able to Stanford them out.
Cal's defense is terrible against the pass. Statistically, they are better than Oregon against the run by almost a full yard per carry.
We don't need Coleman and Washington to be Sankey or Polk. We need them to continue averaging around 4.4 to 4.5 yards per carry, setting up favorable down and distance situations for Miles, and creating just enough problems that Oregon's got to push up a safety so that Miles can work the play action game enough to find open throws in the intermediate to deep game. That's the exact playbook that Arizona used very successfully to beat Oregon.
My crystal balls are now saying Oregon wins 39-24 but they have been wrong, shrunken, and wrinkly before.
I'll be watching to see how RS-Frosh Coleman Shelton (has started 4 or 5 games now IIRC) does against their DL / Tony Washington. I don't think TW is all that great but he's pretty productive for them. At least Shelton already was thrown into the fire against Henry Anderson of Stanford a few weeks ago.
Jake Fisher being back for them is a big plus but how will he play as a LT (he started at RT for them in 2012 and 2013) coming off a leg injury against Kikaha? How will the U-Dub pass-rush do when Kikaha is head up on their walk-on starter at RT and RS-SR Andrew Hudson is over Fisher as a down-lineman? Or what if UW uses Kikaha and Feeney (or Littleton) as stand-up rush guys on the edges with Shelton or E. Hudson and A. Hudson as the interior DL? I love Kikaha or Feeney / Littleton going up against their walk-on RT!!11@!!!#@1!!!
I'll also be interested to see how we defend their read-option to start the game. Do we mostly focus on stopping their RBs and let Mariota carry the ball so we can attempt to (legally) incapacitate him and / or make him extremely uncomfortable. Mariota is very good but he's human so his accuracy and decision making will suffer if he's taking hits (preferably high-low hits):
I think our defense will be able to hold them from completely running wild, but their defense isn't Cal bad. If we had a top notch running back like Sankey/Polk then I would feel very confident. Coleman/Washington just aren't good enough to be able to Stanford them out.
Cal's defense is terrible against the pass. Statistically, they are better than Oregon against the run by almost a full yard per carry.
We don't need Coleman and Washington to be Sankey or Polk. We need them to continue averaging around 4.4 to 4.5 yards per carry, setting up favorable down and distance situations for Miles, and creating just enough problems that Oregon's got to push up a safety so that Miles can work the play action game enough to find open throws in the intermediate to deep game. That's the exact playbook that Arizona used very successfully to beat Oregon.
Comments
If I was an Oregon fan I would be less worred about winning the game and more worried about the potential damage that Shelton and Kikaha could do to Mariotta and that tissue paper OLine. If Shelton gets a clean sack on Mariotta it will probably look like this
And when Race began to GFA
I also appreciate that no one has created a fake Arizona123 handle here, as that would be a very dangerous road to cross. Respect what he did, remember him, Long live Arizona123!
We don't need Coleman and Washington to be Sankey or Polk. We need them to continue averaging around 4.4 to 4.5 yards per carry, setting up favorable down and distance situations for Miles, and creating just enough problems that Oregon's got to push up a safety so that Miles can work the play action game enough to find open throws in the intermediate to deep game. That's the exact playbook that Arizona used very successfully to beat Oregon.
I'll be watching to see how RS-Frosh Coleman Shelton (has started 4 or 5 games now IIRC) does against their DL / Tony Washington. I don't think TW is all that great but he's pretty productive for them. At least Shelton already was thrown into the fire against Henry Anderson of Stanford a few weeks ago.
Jake Fisher being back for them is a big plus but how will he play as a LT (he started at RT for them in 2012 and 2013) coming off a leg injury against Kikaha? How will the U-Dub pass-rush do when Kikaha is head up on their walk-on starter at RT and RS-SR Andrew Hudson is over Fisher as a down-lineman? Or what if UW uses Kikaha and Feeney (or Littleton) as stand-up rush guys on the edges with Shelton or E. Hudson and A. Hudson as the interior DL? I love Kikaha or Feeney / Littleton going up against their walk-on RT!!11@!!!#@1!!!
I'll also be interested to see how we defend their read-option to start the game. Do we mostly focus on stopping their RBs and let Mariota carry the ball so we can attempt to (legally) incapacitate him and / or make him extremely uncomfortable. Mariota is very good but he's human so his accuracy and decision making will suffer if he's taking hits (preferably high-low hits):