Oregon Ducks seem poised and ready for another run at the BCS Championship Game

by Z&M77 on Apr 26, 2011 12:50 PM PDT

With spring football practice officially starting for the Oregon Ducks and the annual spring game right around the corner, we can't help but start talking about the upcoming season. I don't know about you, but September 3rd @ Cowboy stadium in Dallas can't come soon enough. After the Ducks disappointing showing in the BCS Champioship Game against Auburn in January, I couldn't help but get excited for what was coming in 2011. This team seems determined to make it back to the title game for a second year in a row, but this time they want to win.

The toughest part for the Ducks this season is going to be replacing star line backer Casey Matthews and fierce pass rusher Kenny Rowe on the defensive side of the ball. This may seem like a tall task considering that they were the heart and soul of this defense last year, but this team still has playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. The captain of this defense this year looks to be the returning 2010 All-American junior cornerback Cliff Harris. He is already on three defensive player watch lists for the upcoming season and he is definitely worth the hype.

Harris should be one of the top five corners in the country by season's end (though he may already be there). Also, we already know how dangerous he is with returning the ball ( once he is in the open field he's gone). When you combine him in the secondary, along with ball-hawking free safety John Boyett and the hard- hitting Eddie Pleasant, the Ducks secondary is definitely their strongest area on defense. I expect Micheal Clay to step in and play a key role at the linebacker position this season. Don't be suprised if he has a great year.

As we take a look at the Duck's offense, we see a lot of the same faces on an offense that average almost 50 points a game last year. The big losses on the offensive side of the ball were minimal. We lost some depth at the reciever spot when Meahl graduated, but in theory, we gained a lot more with the return of Lavasier Tuinei and multi-tool, speedster Josh Huff. Assuming Huff is healthy this year and David Paulson continues rising at the tight end position this recieving core should be productive and efficient.

As you know, in the Ducks spread offense the wide receivers are extremely valuable in the run-game blocking up field and holding off defenders so our backs can get to the edge. Tuinei finished last year on a tear and got alot of receptions late in the year, expect him to be the Jeff Meahl of 2011.

The recievers are good but everywhere else on the field is exceptional, the Ducks will pose the best backfield in the country and most certainly the best in the PAC-12. When you look at their backfield on paper, it's scary. The one word that describes them is speed, plain and simple. Barner, James and Seastrunk will wow you every time they touch the ball. Expect James to be sent back to New York by the end of the season for the second year in a row, this year though he has a very legitimate shot at winning the Heisman.

Last year, James missed the first game of the season due to suspension and still had an amazing year (21 rushing tds and 1,840 yds on the ground). Imagine if James played against New Mexico? He would have had a better year but he didn't and still managed to have those great numbers.

One Heisman contender helps an offense, but two can make it legendary. That is what the Oregon Ducks have going into 2011. Not only do they have James, but they have returning team leader and field general Darron Thomas. Scary huh? Thomas had an excellent first year taking over for the dismissed Masoli during last offseason. 30 tds to 9 picks is extremely efficent and the 61% completion percentage is definitely impressive. By the sounds of those numbers he sounds like a senior or junior, but that was only his sophomore year. Going into his junior year, expect him to be more developed and bigger physically. He should have a huge year for this team now that he has a year under his belt and some people feel he'll have a better knowledge of the spread offense and I expect him to tuck the ball and run a little more than he did last year.

With players like James and Thomas who are very quick, the Ducks added even more speed with the additions of freshmen Taico Sumler and DeAnthony Thomas in their 2011 recruiting class. The speed that the Ducks posses is deadly and should provide for another great offense in 2011 as for the defense we don't know what to expect, but I expect they will be solid once again. As for the team I think they will win the PAC 12 and play in the BCS title game once again in 2011.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or the Addicted To Quack Moderators. FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable Oregon fans.

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Losses.

I think you greatly underestimate the loss of Maehl and Davis. Tuinei isn’t the reliable receiver and route-runner that Maehl was and isn’t the blocker that Davis was. Huff showed an ability to hit the big play at times, but it is as yet unknown how he will do as a regular/starter. Remember that he only started playing starter snaps after LT went down last year.

The losses at LB are kind of a washout. What we’re going to miss most of all is leadership and guile. OTOH the returning LB corps is chock full of young athletes, many of whom contributed quite a bit to the teams success last year.

The issues and losses on the offensive line can’t be overstated. Every snap is a shotgun, every play relies on timing and a clean “mesh,” and this offense is predicated on the run. See Boise State 2009 if you want to revisit what happens when you put an inexperienced, rebuilt offensive line up against a good defense to open a season.

Fuck you, Juju. We'll do it ourselves.

by BigGreenWreckingMachine on Apr 26, 2011 3:16 PM PDT reply actions

See Boise State 2009 if you want to revisit what happens when you put an inexperienced, rebuilt offensive line up against a good defense to open a season.

There were so many reasons the Oregon offense faltered in that game, the offensive line was simply part of that. They were very inconsistent, and had negative plays to be sure, but they also had plenty of times where they gave the rest of the offense a chance to make plays.

Masoli had terrible decision making in that game, and the play calling was very poor. Let’s not forget this was the first game that Chip Kelly was calling plays on the sideline. I think it took a while for him and Helfrich to develop their play-calling relationship, and it suffered greatly in that game.

Against LSU, I think we can expect a similar performance. LSU is gonna make plays, but I don’t think the line will get utterly dominated, but they’ll likely be inconsistent throughout the game. Not a typical recipe for success, but not the disaster some people assume.

--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog

by jtlight on Apr 27, 2011 8:28 AM PDT up reply actions

Well im not saying LT is better route runner but I know one thing he is a bigger body and has some good hands, also I know the o line is inexperienced but from what i’ve listened to they have been playing really well so far in the spring and besides Kelly always finds a way to get the most out of his line. Last year was a great example some people thought we had a weak line and look what happened.

by Z&M77 on Apr 28, 2011 12:07 PM PDT reply actions