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Unofficial Oregon lamentations thread
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Sorry Cam, you're going to be that senior.GrundleStiltzkin said:Two ways to look at this
A) this gayme is all Ducks have left in the season
B ) Chip's guys would have never acknowledged us? and Slingster has lost them. -
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The losing coach should be fired on the O
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Exactly. Either way we win and Oregon loses.DuckHHunterisafag said:
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BWNEM doesn't quite have the ring.
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GrundleStiltzkin said:
BWNEM doesn't quite have the ring.
Usually I try and wait a couple of days to write this article. It's usually a Monday piece.
Why?
I like to let cooler heads prevail and try not to be overly reactionary. Perhaps some of my message board posts and tweets are. But I've always tried to take a somewhat level-headed approach when I write this piece.
It's ugly out there right now. Wazzu laid down a drubbing of Oregon Saturday night. And really it's not anything that probably surprised many of us. You still hope for a win, but deep down you could see that was a dangerous game for Oregon.
Oregon's bad defense against their high-powered offense. Mike Leach versus Mark Helfrich.
The one element in Oregon's favor was an 'expected' high-powered offense versus a pretty porous Washington State defense. I mean Eastern Washington rolled up 45 points on them in week 1. Oregon struggled to get 33.
Wazzu out-rushed Oregon 280 to 214. That's crazy.
But really, it's also just good coaching.
You don't have to be a scout to see Oregon is soft in the middle. And I mean all the way in the middle. From defensive line to linebacker there isn't much presence. And Washington State mauled the point of attack on both sides of the ball.
Oregon clearly expected the 'air raid' offense. What they got was a heavy dose of running to make easy 2nd and 3rd downs, followed by simple crossing routes further exploiting the middle of the defense.
Every fan in the building could see what was coming after the 2nd quarter. It didn't matter.
On the other side of the ball, Oregon and Wazzu both knew getting Royce Freeman going was the key to Oregon's offense. Leach forced Oregon, more so Prukop, to beat them with his arm.
He didn't.
Oregon threw for 202 yards and not one passing touchdown. Prukop only put up 132 passing yards on the night.
Mike Leach knew exactly what would beat Oregon and he executed. Oregon had no answer.
Fine, Oregon is 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. And yes, a bounce here, a catch here, a play here and Oregon is possibly 4-1. That's seriously how close it is.
It's easy to forget that because they aren't. It's easy to pile on because of the way Oregon has lost.
And that's Helfrich's No. 1 problem. It's not that he loses games, it's HOW he loses them. Oregon will always lose games. Chip Kelly lost games. Even Nick Saban, occasionally loses games.
The last two losses to Washington State have been brutal. The loss to Colorado, using a freshman backup quarterback, was brutal. The way Arizona and Utah thrashed Oregon in the past years. (Both in Autzen stadium) And yes, the Alamo bowl and national championship game loss to Ohio State are the icing on the cake.
Heck even the Civil War victory last season was relatively brutal.
So I go back to last week's Inside Read where I tell all of you to buckle up, Helf ain't going anywhere. And even with this loss to the Cougs, I'm sticking by that.
For now.
Sure his seat's warm and he's got all of the eyeballs on him. And ultimately we are all just guessing on what Phil Knight will eventually want. Will he pony up? Will Mullens make the move?
But now Washington comes to Oregon. And Oregon can do something they haven't been able to do in a long time.
They can play the spoiler.
Through 5 games, Oregon is completely out-matched. The Huskies pounded Stanford, whom I felt was over rated. That said, they are still a better team than Oregon is right now.
Washington hasn't beat Oregon in a decade but now it looks like that's where the streak ends.
If this Oregon team can't get up for a game with Washington, they shouldn't pad up again in three weeks.
I'm not advocating Oregon will win, because I'm not. But show some fire. Show some pride. Show some effort. I don't even care if Oregon wins or loses, I just want to see them try. I just want to see them play better.
I know a lot of folks felt the Wazzu game was a 'turning point' game for Helfrich. But I believe it's this game.
If Oregon gets boat-raced at home, I'm afraid we will fully see a team that quits. I don't think they have yet. I think they can play better than they have, but they haven't quit.
John Neal offered some incredible insight after the Wazzu loss. And he's one of the more embattled coaches on this roster. But he's right. Oregon needs to be really careful about 'blowing this thing up' even with a 2-3 record. Because as bad as it's been, this team is still just a few plays away from 4-1.
You guys think Les Miles is coming to Oregon? Why would Oregon want him even if he did? Tom Herman is a pipe dream. It really is.
Yeah, I don't see Oregon favored in another game on its remaining schedule today. Maybe Oregon State but is that ever a gimme? Not for Oregon this year.
So Oregon loses its next seven games. Then what? Maybe they only lose five. Maybe four. It seems like catching a unicorn to even think Oregon ends up at 500 right now.
I guess we'll see what happens. Every week will be a long week with us hearing 'best week of practice' or 'best Friday' yet or whatever.
Just show me on the field. That's all I care about. Show me you can coach. Show me you still have pride putting on an Oregon uniform. Show me you can make an adjustment.
Grow a set and yell at somebody Helfrich. Yell at a ball boy, I don't care. Stage a tirade with a player before hand and tell him you apologize for yelling at him in advance. Light up some member of media at a press conference if you have to.
Show this team you have some fire in your belly.
I'm not telling you guys to accept mediocrity. Because we all know that isn't how excellence is achieved. That isn't how Oregon got to where it is. Or at least where it was 2 years ago.
I know there is a huge part of the team that hasn't quit. Maybe a few have, but there's a lot of guys still hoping to scratch out some wins and turn this thing around.
Mullens isn't going to send Helfrich packing on the tarmac. I believe he's committed to seeing this season play out. I doubt he has any backup plan right now to even sell PK on even if he wanted to.
It's up to the coaches in that locker room to turn this thing around. There's enough talent there to win some games.
May as well start with one this week.
