Preparation For Oregon, Lane Kiffin Style

THURSDAY
Extra conditioning, as the SC staff has termed it, is not going to do you a bit of good against Oregon. Not when implemented just three weeks prior to game day. I am no expert here folks...just saying.
Oregon has been practicing at this speed, if not faster, for two years now.

You know the story. No need to tell it again.

Ducks will win by two touchdowns.

Looking Ahead, Your 2011 Ducks

SUNDAY

This is the most comprehensive look at this Duck team, transitioning into the 2011 season. Oregon loses a lot, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

What is important is these are leaders that are graduating. Leadership is the most difficult thing to replace on a college football team.

Brandon Bair, Casey Mathews, Spencer Paysinger and TJ3 were all senior captains on this team. The Ducks will need the underclassmen to step up in their place next season if Oregon is going to seriously contend for the Pac-10 title.

Great Piece on LaMichael James, Oregon's Heisman Candidate

SUNDAY
I know Ted Miller, ESPN Pac-10 Blogger, already posted this article detailing the up and down life of Oregon RB LaMichael James, but I am re-posting for any of you who may have missed it. A MUST-READ. Great detail from Thayer Evans of FoxSports.com

James is one of the very best rushers in the country and a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender. LaMichael finished last season with a Pac-10 freshman record 1,546 yards and 14 touchdowns. Try to put that in perspective...think back to all of the incredible freshman running backs that have run through the Pac-10 conference over the years.

Imagine the courage it took, as an 18-year-old high school student, to move across the country (from Texas to Oregon) with virtually no support from family...no mother, no father...

He is an incredible person. And, secondly, an incredible athlete.

This 72-yard across-the-field run against Tennessee is one of the very best of the year in this college football season.

Enjoy!

Breakdown of the Oregon vs. Stanford Game

SUNDAY

One of my favorite weekly columns across the Pac-10 is The Register Guard's Ken Woody Sunday breakdown of the Oregon game the previous day.
This piece in particular deserves a re-post for those interested in the X's and O's of the game.

Here are some game observations from Woody on the big win for the Ducks:

Stanford’s offense, lead by sophomore Andrew Luck had six possessions in the first half and scored four touchdowns (consecutively) and a field goal; the Duck defense seemingly could not stop the Cardinal, who have improved greatly the past few years under the intense leadership of head coach Jim Harbaugh.

The Cardinal running game, behind the speed and power of Stepfan Taylor, piled up 88 yards by halftime and Stanford averaged over nine yards per pop. More importantly, the Cards averaged 10.1 per rush on first down and converted four-of-six third-down conversions in totally dominating the Duck defensive front seven. Harbaugh’s offensive staff would seemingly forget about this as the game wore on.

The Ducks pulled to within 21-10 and in a masterful move (because it worked), Kelly called for an onside kick. Kicker Rob Beard topped the ball, getting a big hop and the Duck cover team on the right side cleared out the front players which allowed Beard to lunge and cover the ball. Oregon wasted no time in scoring again, closing the gap to 21-17.

Stanford regained the momentum and some breathing room 28-17, but the Ducks gamely came back to make it 28-24. They got the ball back with a little over a minute in the first half, just short of midfield, but Thomas, on a first-down pass, threw his second interception deep down the middle to a receiver who was double covered. That play is probably on the coach who decided to call it because the Ducks, who have scored several times on drives of less than a minute this year, did not need to try such a play. Because of that turnover, Stanford was able to get within field goal range and Nate Whitaker hit a 46-yarder with no time left on the clock; Stanford 31-24.

Little did Jim Harbaugh know at that time, but that was it for the Cardinal. Although they had 31 points and averaged 8.0 yards per play, they would score no more. Credit a Duck defense that never gave up and Harbaugh’s play calling, which seemed to be in the panic mode. In the second half, Stanford only averaged 2.3 yards per play on first down, which put the Cardinal continually in long-yardage situations.

Instead of sticking to the run, Harbaugh went to the pass and Luck had a poor second half. As in the Tennessee and Arizona State games, the Duck defensive front four kept coming and began to pressure Luck, causing off-target throws. One of the plays of the game came when the Ducks got their only sack, by Kenny Rowe, to force a Stanford punt with Oregon up 38-31. From then on, Stanford had three more drives: turning the ball over on downs, giving up an interception and having the clock run out at the end of the game. On the second drive, Luck mishandled the snap on third-and-a-foot-and-goal, which resulted in a five-yard loss. On fourth down, the Ducks pressured Luck and he threw incomplete, basically the last hurrah for a dangerous Stanford offense.

Kelly had his team focus at halftime and the Ducks performed brilliantly against a Stanford team that swaggered into Autzen aiming to play with “class and cruelty.” Frankly, when I read that in the Guard on Wednesday, it made me a bit scared. Later, I hoped the Ducks had read it, because one thing they really needed to understand coming into this game was that it was going to be a slug-fest and they would need to win the game in the trenches.

And that is just how it worked out. The big boys in green upfront outfought and outlasted the Cardinal, which does not have the depth Oregon does, especially on defense. Owen Marecic, the excellent athlete from Jesuit High School in Portland, started on both offense and defense for the Cardinal. In case you’re interested, he played 119 plays; 40 on offense and 79 on defense. He was not a factor in the outcome, although you had to admire his toughness, athleticism and conditioning in playing that much. On an Oregon touchdown in the third quarter, he missed a tackle square on with LaMichael James and you could see that fatigue was a factor in his effort.

In the early second half, it became apparent that as long as the Ducks could get Stanford’s defense on the field, they would win, because the pace of the game was working against the Cardinal and their depth up front. I would rank the Cardinal offensive line higher than Oregon’s, but the Ducks’ first and second string on both offense and defense were obviously better than Stanford’s.

Nick Aliotti, defensive coordinator, had to experience the widest range of emotions possible during this game. Stanford looked unstoppable in the first half, and the Ducks looked hapless. Although they tackled and pursued well, the Cardinal just blocked the feathers off the Ducks. In the second half, Aliotti got Oregon to defend tenaciously on first down which forced Stanford into long yardage situations.

I was surprised that Harbaugh wrote his own offense off in second-and-eight situations, because it seemed that he forgot the advantage his team had with his offensive line against Oregon’s front as witnessed in the first half of the game. In the end, that lack of follow up, or belief, worked to the disadvantage of his quarterback, who is truly one of the best in the land. Luck took more and more punishment as the game wore on. The other element that came into the equation was that leaning on the passing game ended up giving Oregon more time on the clock to play offense against his withering defense.

Stanford vs. Oregon

MY THOUGHTS ON THE STANFORD/OREGON GAME

The game last year was not necessarily a "shootout" as many experts in the media have termed it.
The Cardinal lined up, with six or seven men on the line, and really just ran over the Ducks. They pounded and pounded until the Ducks D gave in. And guess what? Eventually they did just that. Toby Gerhart amassed 223 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns. Stanford had the ball for 38 minutes as opposed to Oregon's 22 minutes. Andrew Luck completed 12 passes over the course of the game, two of which went for touchdowns.

I strongly believe this year's game will be very different. I say that because of Oregon's depth of talent on the defensive side of the ball. In my opinion, the Ducks have more second-string players that could very well start on other quality Pac-10 squads. This tells me a lot. I have always been a big believer in this "measurement" of a team's makeup. The Trojans dominated for nearly a decade because they had great players nearly three-deep at so many key positions.

The Duck's D rotates seven or eight defensive linemen and six or seven linebackers. This accumulation of talent for Oregon is the direct result of a string of very strong classes packed with playmakers on D.
Last season, Oregon did not have this incredible depth of talent. And it showed.

This season will be different.

Ducks 42 The Cardinal 24

Very Cool Interview Segment on SI.com with Oregon's Head Coach

Chip All Access

SI.com has created a very cool new video segment in its college football page. They call it " Just Askin' ". It allows readers to submit questions to upcoming interview subjects within college football. Of course, the editors are going to pick the best of the lot but nevertheless, the format allows for some very welcomed variation from the usual coming from media members.

Here is the video segment with Oregon Ducks Head Coach Chip Kelly.

The best question, in my opinion, was the last one. Christopher Crane asked. "How do you keep your life grounded, going from coaching Central High in Manchester, N.H. to now head coach at Oregon and you are legitimate (national) title contender?"

Some of Coach Kelly's response: "It's just a job. I don't think of my job ay different than what my brothers do for their job or what you do for your job or what he does for his job . . . I take my job very seriously but I don't take myself very seriously . . . what I do is no more important than what a teacher, or a policeman or a doctor does."