Morning Quack Fix: 3.9.09

by jtlight on Mar 9, 2009 8:48 AM PDT in Morning Quack Fix

It was an eventful weekend in the land of Quack.

The Oregon men got swept over Thursday and Saturday, but it wasn't the soul sucking defeat we saw earlier in the season, and there will definitely be some good things to building on going into next season. To finish the season, Oregon held their annual team dinner, and gave out team awards. Tajuan Porter was the team MVP, and Matthew Humphrey was most improved. Somehow Joevan Catron got both the rebounding award and most inspirational. When your leading rebounder gets 6.8 rebounds per game, that's not a good sign.
In more basketball news, Oregon got a verbal from SF Jamil Wilson, who chose the Ducks over Michigan State and Texas. Wilson is a small forward who says he loves Grant Hill's game. He'll help improve the offense immediately, and will help increase expectations on next season.
Oregon baseball pulled off 3 unorthordox victories this weekend, winning 3/4 in a series with Santa Clara. The second game of the Saturday doubleheader was suspended after the 8th due to darkness, which would go to 13 innings on Sunday. The normally scheduled Sunday game was then cut short after 6 innings, so that the Santa Clara team could get home. But I'll take 3 wins any time.
With spring football starting, the Register Guard has spring capsules, with what to watch for around the conference.
Lastly, Mike Bellotti will make his decision "probably" within two weeks on whether or not he comes back to coach next season. Personally, I hope he sticks around for one more year. The coaching dynamic is great right now, I feel that the "uncertainty" isn't a big deal within the program, and who knows how Chip'll react to being head coach. Let's give Mike one last run.

GO DUCKS!

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On Bellotti's decision...

While I’m eager to see how the Chip Kelly era goes, I would be shocked if coach Bellotti decides to step away this season. Here’s why:

He has stated repeatedly, he wants to bring a national championship to Oregon. We can all agree that is an enormous long-shot this coming year, like it is every year, unless you’re USC, Ohio State, Florida, LSU or Oklahoma. For the following reasons, however, I think the long-shot might be a little shorter in 2009:

Jeremiah Masoli’s grasp and execution of the spread offense late in the 2008 season – leading the Ducks to an average of 43 points per over the last six games. If Bellotti has faith that new personnel is ready to emerge – and why wouldn’t he given years of continued success – he likely is expecting at least that level of offensive output in 2009. And that kind of scoring offense can put you in the running for conference and NCAA titles.

Oregon’s schedule is set up perfectly for a title run. Boise State, Purdue and Utah are good to great non-conference competition. Two of those three come to Eugene. The teams most likely to win a Pac-10 championship – USC, Cal and Oregon State – all come to Eugene. Yes, all three have proven that Autzen isn’t an impossible place win at over the past few years, but if you’re going to make a run, you’d prefer to have these games at home. If – and let’s be serious, that “if” is the size of the sun – Oregon goes 12-0 against that schedule, it’s unlikely the Ducks would get screwed out of the BCS championship game even if there are other undefeated major conference teams.

The Ducks recruited heavily for instant impact on defense. That to me is an indication that the coaching staff believes the iron is hot – now is the time to strike. Several JC transfers will have an opportunity to start within Oregon’s interior defense. Clearly the intent is to be immediately better on defense than the squad was in 2008. If Oregon can combine even modestly better defense with a full year of Chip Kelly’s offense running at full throttle, then yes, a championship run isn’t out of the question.

If you’re Mike Bellotti, and your primary goal as a coach is to win a title, I just don’t think you walk away in 2009.

You cannot hide from our weapons of Masoli destruction.

by JConant on Mar 9, 2009 11:01 AM PDT reply actions

run to the pac-10 title?

I admire how you guys do well, despite not getting top-ranked recruiting classes year in and year out. I can only imagine what OSU do if we had the offense like the Ducks (like actually beating SEC teams and USC), and not be so damn conservative. Let’s hope both our teams can beat SC at home this year.

A Ducks vs. Bucks Rose Bowl game would also be very interesting…

by Buckeye11021 on Mar 9, 2009 3:12 PM PDT reply actions

true that would be an interesting matchup. I think ESPN and such would love the whole Pryor vs. Oregon storyline.

I can only imagine what OSU do if we had the offense like the Ducks (like actually beating SEC teams and USC), and not be so damn conservative.

Here’s a scenario. What if Bellotti ended up taking the Ohio State job when it came up back when Tressel was hired? I wonder if Bellotti would have gone in the same direction with the spread

--Dominic

Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die." - J. Brady McCullough, The Michigan Daily.

by dvieira on Mar 9, 2009 3:16 PM PDT up reply actions

I have to think he would have gone that direction. As I understand it, not all of his assistants were thrilled about going to the spread. I suspect that change was mostly Mike B’s baby all along. He may even have tried to adopt it more quickly at OSU given the nature of Big 10 play.

You cannot hide from our weapons of Masoli destruction.

by JConant on Mar 9, 2009 4:25 PM PDT up reply actions

I actually think he may not have.

I think the transition to the spread, which happened in 2005, was in response to USC’s stockpiling of talent. In the Big 10, moreover tOSU, I think that he may have had the talent to stick with the pro-style. Not sure though, it’s hard to tell if Coach B wanted the style of play all along, or if he felt like he needed some creative edge over the power that was becoming SC.

Addicted To Quack [dot] com; "In other news, Ropert was mauled by a velociraptor yesterday and sustained a life-threatening ACL injury and a pulled hamstring."

by qrsouther on Mar 9, 2009 4:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Your guess is as good as mine. I was under the impression – but with zero inside info to back it up – that Bellotti was also reacting to a growing number of former coordinators becoming head coaches in the Pac-10 (Tedford and Ludwig, specifically).

Becoming predictable is the kiss of death, I don’t care what conference you play in. And in last couple of years in the pro-style offense you, me and probably half the guys and gals on this blog could predict Oregon’s next offensive play with probably 60% accuracy.

Again, I’m guessing at why UO made the switch to the spread, and at any moment Sean Connery may walk in and tell me my conclusions were all wrong.

You cannot hide from our weapons of Masoli destruction.

by JConant on Mar 9, 2009 7:46 PM PDT up reply actions

Chip Kelly vs the Big 10

I can only imagine what he could do week in and week out. Well can it be that much better? Maybe not.

Ducks Go!
yep, lots and lots of blow.
We should change the name of the blog to addictedtoblow.com

by trumpetduck on Mar 9, 2009 5:52 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks for dropping in.

Addicted To Quack [dot] com; "In other news, Ropert was mauled by a velociraptor yesterday and sustained a life-threatening ACL injury and a pulled hamstring."

by qrsouther on Mar 9, 2009 3:45 PM PDT up reply actions

Great story

Im sure many of you Bedgers have heard of Nathan Vredevelt, the 16 year old boy that was seperated from his family and hit crossing I-5 after a blazer game. Ted Miller leads us to a new part of the story. Dennis Dixon is a better person than spread QB.

Ducks Go!
yep, lots and lots of blow.
We should change the name of the blog to addictedtoblow.com

by trumpetduck on Mar 9, 2009 7:40 PM PDT reply actions