Oregon Road

The other day when I was traveling out of town for my job, I passed the tiny town of Elk, WA, and saw a road sign about a mile north of the single intersection of town that read, "Oregon Rd.". Of course, in my mindset, I immediately began thinking of college football and the Oregon Ducks and their "road" to get some respect and success in their 2009 season. How exciting it was for me to see QB Jeremiah Masoli and center Jordan Holmes on the front cover of Sports Illustrated! Then I thought again. "Oh no! Oregon on the front cover of SI!?" You guessed it, the SI curse. The last time the Ducks were beheld on the cover of SI was probably after they had beaten the #4 Michigan squad a few years back. Then, after beating the #4 team in the nation, they go and lose, what, the next four games in a row. The curse is horrible! I wanted to write this much earlier in the year, so, obviously, it's after week 1 of college football play and we already know what happened to the Ducks. I give props to Boise State for being effective most of the game offensively for being able to move the ball. Kellen Moore is a definite talent and is very accurate. The running combination of Jeremy Avery and D.J. Harper made me forget about Ian Johnson - especially in the 2nd half of the game. Before I continue, I just have to mention how impressed I am with the Oregon defense! Returning only 5 starters from last season; losing Patrick Chung, Nick Reed, and Jairus Byrd; and being on the field nearly the entire game, the defense gave up only 19 points when it could have easily been 40-50 some points. The Oregon offense did not help the defense by not getting a single first down the whole first half, and one series, it was only one play from their 5-yard line that resulted in a safety. So, huge props go out to the Oregon defense who, in my opinion, played better than the Boise defense.

I am hearing it in my head now, "You just said that Boise didn't allow a first down in the whole first half, allowing only 14 yards of offense," yadda, yadda, yadda. I know what I said and saw. I'm not belittling the Boise defense and what they accomplished (besides the ignorance of DE, Mr. Byron Hout, who should know better than to touch (let alone smack someone's shoulder pads) an opponent after a very emotional game). I'm just stating, based on offensive production and the results, thereof. The Broncos were affective offensively with some really good play calling and execution; however, they still only managed 17 points (the other 2 belong to the defense). Boise should have scored in the 40's, at least. It could have been really ugly for the Oregon faithful, but the defense stepped up when it was necessary. They were dog tired and must have substituted some stellar players to give the starters a breather occasionally. That's a good sign for depth. The Boise defense never had a chance to get tired - they were always fresh. I can't completely give credit to the Bronco defense for staying off the field all day, I have to give most of the credit to offensive coordinator and first year head coach Chip Kelly. I felt that the play calling was absurd! I felt like Coach Kelly was trying too hard to keep the Boise defense guessing, that he forgot to actually use plays that worked that helped them gain those 484.9 yards per game a season ago. What was he thinking? Besides one series in the 2nd half, Jeremiah Masoli was ineffective. His passes were way off, his runs were choppy and sporatic, and a few times he appeared robotic (I described it to my friends like I was the one actually controling Masoli with my Xbox 360 controller that I don't have - I suck it up by hiking the ball for a pass and stop paying attention to my QB because I'm waiting for a WR to get open and then throw, but I forgot about the defense coming at me and it's too late - interception). Why wasn't Darron Thomas put into the game again? He rallied against Boise last year with 3 fourth quarter touchdowns and barely lost. This time, they didn't need 3 touchdowns due to the defense playing like they were inspired by the angelic-looking wings on their shoulder pads. Oregon needed someone to manage the ball, offensively. Thomas would have brought that, as he proved so last year.

Okay, I have to talk about this, I can't hold back any more. I felt frustration before the end of the first half for LeGarrette Blount. Here you have a 1,000 yard rusher as a back up in 2008, and the nation, including myself, was wondering how many yards he would be capable of as the premier back. Well, with 8 total carries in the game, I felt like that punch should have landed on Chip Kelly's jaw. What's the deal? You have a bruising beast of a back that drags defenders as he gains a couple extra yards and you don't exploit that? The call: oooh, the call, that call that makes me cringe every time I see the "low"lights - when Boise State punter pinned Oregon down on their own 5 yard line, and Coach Kelly wants to use his big back to... smash mouth right into... uh... to the... sideline? What? What kind of call is that? Of course they expect Blount to run it up the gut. The 230 pounder is suppose to do that! Sure, he's fast, but to race along the endzone toward the sideline is asking for a safety. Was Coach Kelly setting Blount up for failure? As Napleon Dynamite would say, "I was T.O.'d." I became numb by the waning minutes of the 2nd quarter. I think Darron Thomas would have given the Ducks the spark they so badly needed. The robotic QB needed to sit on the bench and let his batteries recharge so the offense could be used effectively like Oregon fans are used to. As we see it now, Oregon will lose to Purdue who showed that they have an offense in the first week; and another loss to Utah, who always gives Pac-10 teams fits. Starting 0-3 before conference games will not bode well on the first year coach. Mike Belotti knew before halftime that Oregon needed to run the ball more and should keep a close eye on the coach. Coach Kelly had better realize his mistakes and fix things in a real hurry, which may be a little more difficult losing his most experienced back that was about to put up about 1,600 yards this season! This "road" that Oregon has traveled on so far is not quite the direction the nation anticipated it would go - I want Sports Illustrated to leave Oregon alone in the future.