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3 Keys to the Holiday Bowl

What a great way to end the season. Mike Bellotti secures another 10-win season, his 4th. Oregon has another 300 yard day, and the much maligned defense made the plays that it needed to, keeping Oregon in the game during a sloppy first half.

But there were a few things with this game that brought out a victory.

1) Oregon was the far more physical team in the game, and Oklahoma State was toast by the 4th quarter.

Mike Gundy admitted after the game, "They were just more physical.”

Dez Bryant was shaken up multiple times, and was a non-factor in the 4th quarter. Zac Robinson could not throw an accurate pass by the end of the game, having taken an enormous hit by TJ Ward at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, and multiple tough shots throughout. This clearly affected him late in the game.

On top of this, Oregon controlled the lines of scrimmage. OSU could not run the ball nearly as effectively as they had the entire season. Hunter got on 37 yards on 13 carries, when he had been the leading rusher in the Big 12 before this game.

As much as the spread has gotten away from smash mouth football, a spread team can get out there and punch the other team out. Oregon came out and did that, and the physical play took away what OSU tried to do.

2) Jeremiah Masoli can run the spread option as well as just about any QB I've seen.

He made on mistake on the game, the 4th and goal that was stuffed, but other than that, he was pretty darn great. It should be said again, this play really does make our offense. It spreads the defense more than any other play that we run. And this play was not run effectively to any degree until the UCLA game.

When run effectively, this opens up everything Oregon wants to do. They can run, they can pass, and it's almost impossible to stop. Masoli continued to run it very skilfully, setting up the offensive output in the second half.

3) Chip Kelly decided to run the ball in the 2nd half.

In the first half, Jeremiah Johnson touched the ball 5 times. Jamere Holland ran the ball once, and Blount did not touch the ball. This was out of 33 plays. This was totally unacceptable. But Kelly pulled it together in the 2nd half, the running game was emphasiszed, and 35 points were put on the board.

This is no coincidence. The OSU defense was worn down and pushed around in the second half. There was never any inkling that OSU would be able to stop the Oregon rushing game. They frequently had no clue where the ball was, and could not handle the physicality of the Oregon line, Masoli, or Blount.

It took a half to get there, but Oregon asserted it's strengths when it mattered most.

Overall, it was a sloppy, yet exciting game. Oregon dominated the second half due to physicality and making the right adjustments, and it's a perfect cap to what turned out to be a great season.

If you have any specific observations or keys to the game, leave em in the comments.

GO DUCKS!

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My Holiday Bowl "Preview"

Dec 2008 by jtlight - 26 comments

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4

Our special teams did really well. The return to start the 2nd quarter jump started the second half

by bradLL99 on Jan 1, 2009 1:35 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Yes they did...

no punt return yards for OSU, and only 107 kick return yards. That was a huge key for the battle for field position.

--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog

by jtlight on Jan 1, 2009 1:41 PM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

QB Hits

I rewatched the game and noted the hits to OSU QB Robinson and the ones Masoli delivered.

Robinson was hit hard by the Oregon defense 7 times:

1st 6:19 by #49 Reed
2nd 10:03 by #91 Harris
3rd 13:06 by #49 Reed
3rd 8:56 by #2 Ward
4th 14:28 by #6 Thurmond III
4th 9:28 by #39 Tukuafu
4th 4:41 by #13 Boyd

The hit by Reed in the 3rd that everyone was complaining about was only ever replayed in the tight camera shot. Go back and look at the play at 13:06 from the long shot. Reed goes around the outside and as the QB throws the ball, Reed starts to check up. But the offensive tackle is still still pushing him. That’s why there is no flag.

Then there is the thwacking by Ward, and the subsequent grousing about helmet to helmet contact. Robinson led with his head. His protections against helmet to helmet contact go away in those circumstances and he won’t get the call. Watch that play at speed. At what point in the half second before the hit is Ward supposed to recognize that the QB is ducking his head, then decide to hit him upright?

Then when you look at the hits by Masoli, they all have helmet to helmet contact. No call there either. Does Robinson need the penalty called because he’s fragile? And Masoli doesn’t need a penalty called because he’s geezer?

I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how good Masoli is at not putting himself in a position to take a hard hit (unless, of course, he’s delivering it). Robinson wasn’t able to do that.

Hits by Masoli:

2nd 1:50 to #6
3rd 8:02 to #26
4th 10:56 to #26

by encephalopath on Jan 1, 2009 5:29 PM PST reply reply actions actions   1 recs

“I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how good Masoli is at not putting himself in a position to take a hard hit (unless, of course, he’s delivering it). Robinson wasn’t able to do that.”

But but but… I was told that the quarterback gets hit way more in spread! That’s why we have so many QB injuries!

It's spelled ""S-H-U-Y-O-U-V-E-D-O-N-E-S-O-M-E-N-I-C-E-T-H-I-N-G-S-W-I-T-H-T-H-E-P-L-A-C-E"

by JShufelt on Jan 2, 2009 9:14 AM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Man the issue about the hits on their WR and QB

Their QB was running down the sideline when he got thwacked. Why didn’t he step out of bounds like a normal QB would? We ran in to the exact same problem with Dixon, you need to get out unless you are built like Masoli.

Their QB kept stringing Bryant along. I mean you cannot throw the ball to a guy 13 times in the first half and expect him to finish the game, that was cruel. And twice he had to go up for the ball right across the middle of the field, that’s basically telling him, either catch the ball and go out of the game, or knock that one down and keep playing, because there is no way you can expect a WR to survive that.

Jaws were hitting the floor as Greg repeatedly attempted to tear the rim off the backboard...

by TheOdenator on Jan 2, 2009 3:15 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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