I'm a pac 12 guy and I'll give this thread as unbiased of a point as I can.
utah has one of the most underrated defenses in the country primarily because it's Utah and most of the country doesn't know they exist nor are many of their games televised during prime time hours. They shut down running games like nobody's business and flat out get after the QB. Their head coach is outstanding by the way but here are their weaknesses. First off their QB play is up in the air. Travis Wilson is a capable athlete and passer but they dude is FRAGILE. Almost every game he plays he seems to be getting helped off the field or worse. His shoulder injury is probably more significant than most people are being led to believe. He came down hard on the play, and as I was watching the game he took himself out the next play on a non contact headfirst dive at the line of scrimmage. I'm no doctor or trainer but I'm familiar with shoulder injuries and I would assume he jacked up the AC joint or possibly even tore something like a labrum or rotator cuff. Their backup QB is a great athlete and much more capable in my opinion. He compliments the offense well with his running capabilities but they don't have much on the WR department. Unfortunately for them the ducks who used to have great secondaries for the last few years are now awful in the secondary and pretty stout in the front seven.
Utah will ill inevetably try to run the ball and use the read option against Oregon's front seven, but if the ducks get any pressure whatsoever or win the line of scrimmage battle Utah is screwed because they won't have the ability to move the ball any way other than thru the air. Willingham is much more content to run the football rather than throw it but if he's smart, they will attack the ducks secondary with play action passes early and often.
oregon on the other hand will start Adams I'm sure who gives them their best chance to score. I could go on and on as to why the ducks will win but I think it boils down to the s t that the ducks have a plethora of skill players and a bevy of WRs. It's just to much for Utah to handle and if Scott frost ever pulls his head out of his ass and let's Va throw the football more and spreads the field out like they used too Oregon will likely blow Utah out because they just can't keep up offensively. Utah will have to play clock management aka keep away from Oregon. They have a kicker and punter with big legs but the elevation won't be a factor in Eugene. I think Oregon wins this game pretty handedly as long as they don't turn the ball over to much. Spread t out, let Va scan the whole field and give rolls Royce easy runs off tackle. That should be the recipe.
biggest thing to remember here is the game being In Eugene at autzen, prime time under the lights....... It's going to be deafening and crazy.... First big conference game of the year the students always come out lively. Should be awesome:
oregon 41-23
utah has one of the most underrated defenses in the country primarily because it's Utah and most of the country doesn't know they exist nor are many of their games televised during prime time hours. They shut down running games like nobody's business and flat out get after the QB. Their head coach is outstanding by the way but here are their weaknesses. First off their QB play is up in the air. Travis Wilson is a capable athlete and passer but they dude is FRAGILE. Almost every game he plays he seems to be getting helped off the field or worse. His shoulder injury is probably more significant than most people are being led to believe. He came down hard on the play, and as I was watching the game he took himself out the next play on a non contact headfirst dive at the line of scrimmage. I'm no doctor or trainer but I'm familiar with shoulder injuries and I would assume he jacked up the AC joint or possibly even tore something like a labrum or rotator cuff. Their backup QB is a great athlete and much more capable in my opinion. He compliments the offense well with his running capabilities but they don't have much on the WR department. Unfortunately for them the ducks who used to have great secondaries for the last few years are now awful in the secondary and pretty stout in the front seven.
Utah will ill inevetably try to run the ball and use the read option against Oregon's front seven, but if the ducks get any pressure whatsoever or win the line of scrimmage battle Utah is screwed because they won't have the ability to move the ball any way other than thru the air. Willingham is much more content to run the football rather than throw it but if he's smart, they will attack the ducks secondary with play action passes early and often.
oregon on the other hand will start Adams I'm sure who gives them their best chance to score. I could go on and on as to why the ducks will win but I think it boils down to the s t that the ducks have a plethora of skill players and a bevy of WRs. It's just to much for Utah to handle and if Scott frost ever pulls his head out of his ass and let's Va throw the football more and spreads the field out like they used too Oregon will likely blow Utah out because they just can't keep up offensively. Utah will have to play clock management aka keep away from Oregon. They have a kicker and punter with big legs but the elevation won't be a factor in Eugene. I think Oregon wins this game pretty handedly as long as they don't turn the ball over to much. Spread t out, let Va scan the whole field and give rolls Royce easy runs off tackle. That should be the recipe.
biggest thing to remember here is the game being In Eugene at autzen, prime time under the lights....... It's going to be deafening and crazy.... First big conference game of the year the students always come out lively. Should be awesome:
oregon 41-23
I will take Utah +12
Not A Play For Me...But I Like OREGON 44-23!
And, Come' On' Man'.....THE DUCKS WILL SCORE WAY OVER 30 In EUGENE!
---ShotDoc---
And, Come' On' Man'.....THE DUCKS WILL SCORE WAY OVER 30 In EUGENE!
---ShotDoc---
A lot of people will be riding Utah this Saturday. I always wish people the best of luck but I think they are in for a rude awakening. I think Utah will put up a hell of a fight, but ultimately I feel like Oregon will run away with this game at home. Taking Utah on their home field at +10-13 would be a a no doubter, but on the road in a hostile place is a lot to ask for a team struggling to score offensively. You're basically asking the defense to hold Oregon to 28 or less, and Oregon has only been held under 30 points 9 or 10 times since 2008..... That's basically saying out of roughly 85 games over those 7 seasons they scored 30+ 75 times.... I'll take my chances with the quackers scoring 30+ and holding the Utes. Regardless I wish everyone the best on all their action however they choose to wager
Dude!! Really. Did you forget that MMariotta played there last year with the same cast.
How about QB DThomas with Josh Huff, Jeff Maehl, LMJames, Kenjon Barner, forgot the TE but he's in the pro's now.
What about Joey Harrington, with Onterrio Smith and that stable of RB's they had. Since the Rich Brooks era, they've always had weapons on offense.
People talk about the Oregon defense, when they played Mich St, they held them to 192 yd passing and 197 rushing. What's interesting about the rushing number, they did it on 37 rushing attempts. Going inside that rushing number, they gave up a 62yd run and a 38 yrd run. So 2 runs of 100 yds. Take that away, and they gave up 92yd on 35 rushing attempts. That's fairly impressive on the road. I use that game because it's a game they probably cared about as a staff as I doubt EWU and GaSt garnered much attention. I think Kendall Thompson is a more dynamic runner that Travis Wilson and that should open up DeVonte Booker to gets some space on the ground. If they can control the clock, they can keep this close. I see that it's at Ducks -12, I can see the Utes keeping it close. Maybe a little back door action. If Lockie starts at QB, Im on UTAH all the way.
