Agree. Urban Meyer is a great coach but Ohio St. hasnt played an offense with the FAST PACE of Oregon. Tough to simulate in practice and I think it will wear down the Ohio St. D in the second half. But as always, turnovers will determine the game and Oregon's ball-hawking D and inexperience of Ohio St. QB can't be overlooked.
The intangibles of Mariota in making a play on third down (especially with his legs) will make the difference as the Ducks win by double digits!!! Good luck to all!!
No way....Plenty of action on the Ducks...I say more
People always look at Oregon from one angle, their speed is going to kill'em. But they always neglect the other team's offense. OSU was the better running team from the better run defense conference. So their numbers were actually more impressive than Oregon's. Just not as flashy. The public is always attracted to the shiny things and neglect the lunch pale teams..In this case the running dogs Ohio State.
Valid points GoSooners. Up to this point however, Oregon's defense had played relatively well despite giving up over 500 yards to Fla. St. the week before. Oregon's defense was a bit undersized and was exposed by the brute force of the Ohio St. Run game. What was most amazing about this game was Oregon won the turnover battle 4-0 and still lost by 2+ scores. The answer lies in not how bad Oregon was but how GOOD Ohio St. was. To do what they did with a third string Q-back is unprecedented. Congrats to the Buckeyes, they were the best team without question!!!
For me it's always scary betting against a team with a Heisman QB and a +20 turnover margin. But the problem with the Ducks defense is they played in a "pass first" conference this year, and really didn't face many power running teams. Stanford usually is, but they had to replace their OL this season and their rushing numbers were way down from previous years. Peobably the best power run team that Oregon faced was Michigan State. And that was a tight game going into the 4th quarter. Plus the 6.1 yards per play that FSU gained on Oregon also brought up some red flags with me. Especially with OSU having a much more balanced offense than the Seminoles. Man, I learn new things every year when it comes to these bowls. But one thing we know for sure is the great running teams can dictate the tempo of a game. And OSU definitely did that. Oregon only had the ball for a total of 22 minutes last night. And Mariotta can't beat you when he's standing on the sidelines. Some things never change. Running dogs are always going to be a decent betting proposition. They were this year for sure. They were 13-2 ATS in these bowls..
