Is it time to panic? Not quite yet, but we'll know in a week

And I think we will, big and then we’re back to even. We can still win 9 or 10 games this year with this team even without Mr. Puncher.

What exactly are they saying?

The one drive you did, you scored. I’ll have a better idea once I see all of our new parts in action on tomorrow, but I think the loss of Ward is big. I do like you defense though> They saved the situation from being a whole lot worse (of course, so did three awful field goal attempts). I think if our offense comes out tomorrow and actually moves with regularity, even against Toledo, it will be a huge confidence boost going into next week. I am also interested in seeing how well our defense looks against an experienced offense. We’re supposed to be vastly improved against the run, but time will tell. I wouldn’t exactly notch Purdue as an easy win yet.

Moseley has a post about our new-found lack of RB depth

Why didn’t Alston make the trip> everyone is keeping quiet on the situation. is he in the dog house?

The good:
-Punter, also long snapper was good though velocity seemed a little slow…but considering they were true frosh, Michael Clay and Jackson Rice both did a tremendous job.
-Oregon’s defensive line. They looked a little slow and timid in pursuit at times, I think because they were over-cautious in their concern of the screen or holding contain because of trick plays, but I thought overall the play of the defensive line was pretty solid. They held up well, stood their ground, and made a ton of tackles.

The bad:
-Masoli’s reads, almost always he threw to his very first read, which 9/10 was Maehl.
-Masoli’s reads on the read option, almost every single one of his reads on the play was wrong.
-Play call deciding to run laterally 3-yards deep in the endzone. Nothing upsets me more in football than pitch plays/running wide on short yardage, or when backed into your own endzone. Want to see me get furious, call a pitch play on 4th and inches, even if the team converts it I still go ballistic.
-TJ Ward getting hurt. No word yet on the extent of the injury, but for the first half he looked like the only Duck player that really gave an effort out there.
-Offensive line play across the board, but in particular the left side of the line with Weems and York were completely outmatched all game. When Thran couldn’t go, that left side collapsed on just about every play.

The Ugly:
-Well…where to start.

It seems like his injury has been lost in the crossfire…

Last night was an unmitigated disaster. However, there are only three problems that will lead to that disaster becoming the story of the rest of the season:

1. The offensive line. We heard all week about how BSU’s D-line was depleted. And they STILL dominated the line of scrimmage. I’m not sure this one can be fixed.

2. Running backs – LMJ is promising, but after that things look pretty mediocre. I’m not sure this one can be fixed either. We just have to hope for the best

3. Coaching – If Kelly has lost the team, the season’s over. The Ducks will win a few on sheer talent alone, but a team that’s not committed to its coach is a death knell. I don’t know if Kelly has lost the team or if that’s just media rumbling, but he certainly needs to have a better game plan for Purdue.

All the other stuff (Masoli struggling, LB’s struggling, play calling) I think will work itself out. It’s those three things that may sink the team, and there’s not much that can be done about any of them except maybe number 3.

What a crappy way to start the season.

Our offense has our QB looking like Mickey Mouse conducting Fantasia, throwing crazy stuff out there in a way that no one can predict or stop.

When its at its worst, we suck….

And no, I don’t think it’s time to Panic.

Don’t get me wrong. That game was atrocious on the national stage, but it’s not sufficient reason for everyone to lose their shit.

We as fans cheered the promotion of Chip when Mike moved up. It meant continuity and not a full overhaul of everything. We as fans have touted our OOC scheduling all offseason. We were proud to cheer a team willing to play anyone, anywhere. That after one game those are being questioned is indicative as how we tend to react as sports fans. All to often we are too high after the wins and too high after the lows.

I would not expect the players or coaches to throw in the towel after one game, and that’s why I don’t think the fans should be looking for the panic button either. Chip Kelly has had things blow up in his face before. In 2006 he didn’t have an answer when Dixon went down. But by the Sun Bowl he had adapted his game plan to play into Roeper’s strengths. Then when Roeper went down last year, the team transitioned through it’s quarterback situation. He had learned how to adapt.

The offence will once again find its rhythm. It seemed to on our scoring drive last night. I just hope next week it is earlier on in the game. And watching the defense last night I believe they played very well given the amount of time they were on the field. I’d like to see them stop a few more third and longs but it will come.

There will be growing pains. There are six new starters on either side of ball and a new coaching regime. And while that doesn’t excuse last night’s embarassment, I believe it means the ducks can only get better as a team.

I’ll still be in my green and yellow next Saturday, and I know I’ll see alot more when I roll into Eugene in three weeks.

I don’t know about you guys but I seriously found myself hoping to see Darron Thomas after that last three and out in the 3rd.

Obviously Nate Costa would be the realistic stand in I know and there are a myriad of consequences that causes from a coaching standpoint but I still hoped. I mean it can’t be a coincidence that they scored 19 on us last night when that’s how many points the kid posted on them last year.

I think he was the focus of their defense which threw our offense off. Almost every time Masoli or James would run it the play would be decent. It seemed they focused on Blount and would react to the play after, at times it seemed they didn’t even care about Masoli, just Blount. We failed to capitalize on this with miss direction and decoy plays enough to get our offense rolling. We played right into their hands.
Also I feel we went back to not using one of our best assests, Ed Dickson. Early last season we barely used him like last night. He should be a strong focal point in our offense I feel.

But I really like Peterson’s hat.

Are we a spread option team? I thought we were, but with the playcalling last night, there was no spread and there was no option. There was absolutely no effort early to establish the run. And the few plays I saw that were spread option weren’t really option (see: safety). The whole point of our offense (at least last year) was to break the defense down at the line of scrimmage by taking advantage of them biting on the option part. But last night, the playcalling turned Masoli into a pocket passer, which he definitely isn’t. I don’t blame him as much as others are. Yes, he made some terrible decisions and rushed a lot of throws, but a lot of that was due to playcalling.

If the offense doesn’t turn around whatever the hell happened last night, every team we play for the rest of the year will stack the box and dare us to throw. And we won’t be able to.

There is definite reason to never schedule one again, Arizona 2007, now BSU 2009,
I hate these Thursday night games!!! Still, that is no excuse to lose we will rebound back and win eight or nine! Go Ducks

I know our D was in one word. Great! but Oregon was SO sure about Masoli and his offence, but damn. I was hoping for more at least from the offences.

I will be honest, a bit drunk at that point in the game so I should not be coaching, CWI? But I would have been really happy with a FG at that point. We would have been down 8 and then who knows. Maybe Kelly has little faith in Flint, I guess i understand that. I just was not a fan of that decision.

I wish I could tell you the Oregon Ducks fought the good fight that night.
I wish I could tell you that.
But College Football is no Fairy Tale World…