I've put up with too much of this crap for far too long. 

We've had good defenses in '00, '01, '05, and '07.  However, '02, '03, '04, and '06 were atrocious.  '08 is quickly joining the ranks of the latter four seasons.  Aliotti's scheme puts his secondary in a position to fail, and only with amazing talent has our defense been any good.  And this year we have the talent, so what's the excuse.

Aliotti has a 50% success rate in creating a good defense in this tenure with the Ducks.  50% is an F.  It doesn't cut the mustard.

I tired of watching the defense flail around against play action like they've never seen it before.  I have too many bad memories of 3rd and long being a guaranteed first down.

We cannot get where we want to be as a program with the current defensive scheme.  Aliotti has shown a fundamental unwillingness to change the scheme to make it work for the personnel.

If you're not working to solve the problem, then you ARE the problem.

In sports as in politics, its time for a change.

--Dave

5:00 PT, ABC

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Is SC ready for some Blount Force Trauma?  Chat it up about the game here.

Hey, I'm nowhere near the cellar right now.  Better start rectifying that.  On a quick note, Nick couldn't compete with Jared and I, so he fled to a bunker in Japan this week.  Time constraints demand that he only offer picks, no rationale.

Kentucky at Alabama

Dave:  Kentucky

I know I'm going way against the mold here, and am likely to pay for it dearly.  But Alabama is a super young team--just the kind of team that will blow a game when they start to buy into their hype.  Plus, I just can't pick Nick Saban twice in a row.

Jared:  Alabama

We know very little about Kentucky, while Alabama has been the most impressive (and surprising) team in the nation. Alabama shouhld win this one fairly easily, dominating the trenches in a rout.

Nick:  Alabama

Arizona State at California

Dave:  Cal

Most people are having pleasant thoughts while lying on their backs.  Rudy Carpenter thinks "Dear God, I've just been sacked again.  Arizona State's lack of an offensive line will hurt them big.

Jared:  Cal

I have zero faith in the lines of ASU. I think Cal can dominate both lines, and thus, the game. If ASU can't establish a run, and there is little reason to think they will, they will have problems all game long.

Nick:  Arizona State

Florida State at Miami

Dave:  Flordia State

Now, that's what I'm talking about! You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked! You don't come into the OB playing that stuff  Oh, wait, the Canes don't play in the OB anymore?  Yeah, they aren't any good anymore, either.

Jared:  After a tough loss to Wake, Florida State played a good game against an above average Colorado team. Miami has not been too inspiring, and their home field advantage is kind of a joke.

Nick:  Miami

Auburn at Vanderbilt

Dave:  Auburn

Dammit, its still Vanderbilt.  And, until I have reason to believe otherwise.....

Jared:  Auburn

Vandy has been outgained in 3 of it's games (including against Rice), but have gotten very fortunate. While's Auburn's offense is fairly atrocious, they should shut down Vandy pretty well, enough to pull out a victory.

Nick:  Auburn

Ohio State at Wisconsin

Dave:  Wisconsin

It is unfathomable to me how the Badgers lost to a putrid Michigan team last week.  But Ohio State not a great team this year.  I think Wisconsin can control the game on the ground and not give OSU's mediocre offense enough chances.  Badgers take this one.

Jared:  Ohio State

Beanie Wells and Terelle Pryor make for a lethal running combination, and play to the strengths of the offensive line. While the Ohio State defense hasn't been all that impressive, they should be able to contain Wisconsin enough to come out with the victory.

Nick:  Wisconsin

There you have it.  Let's see what happens.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave (addictedtoquack@gmail.com)

Conquest Chronicles hosted the roundtable this week.  I'm tardy, as usual, getting my reply up, but here it goes:

1.  Let's start off with a conference wide question. With USC's loss to Oregon St. on Thursday, is the myth (which I never believed) of USC and the 9 Dwarves finally shattered? Does this game help give the Pac-10 more credibility nationally? If not, why are those anti-Pac-10 bigots wrong?

I think that the story has been "USC has fallen" instead of "The Pac-10 is better than we thought it was."    We all know that USC isn't the same as SC teams of old.  Many of their games have been competitive.  They've lost to Stanford at home.  They've lost their last three trips to the state of Oregon, twice to the Beavers and once to the Ducks.  But, here's the thing:  they still win the conference in the end.  That is really what's driving the national perception here.

The fact of the matter is that not since the 2002 season has someone besides USC been a BCS participant from the Pac-10.  From 1996-2002, we had every Pac-10 school except Cal and Arizona in a BCS Bowl.  From 2003 on, its been only USC.  And, regardless of the results of a few individual games, until that changes, it'll still be seen as just SC and everybody else.

2.  Now that we are 5 weeks into the season, everyone should have a pretty good feel of how their team is performing. Tell us one or two things (good or bad, on offense or defense) that you're seeing that has surprised you about the performance of your team.

I don't think any of the positives have been surprising.  We knew that the run game and the play on both lines would be very, very good.  The only real positive surprise to me has been the play of Terrance Scott.

But there have been two surprises that have been very, very bad.  One is the play of the secondary.  An awful lot of receivers have been open and we lost the BSU game in large part due to their inability to adjust to the play action pass.  For a unit that we were touting as maybe the best in the country, they really need to step up and show us more.

Also, the QB situation.  Who would've though that we'd be decimated by injuries, playing a fifth string quarterback for the second year in a row.  We'll never be anything more than mediocre without consistency from the quarterback position.

2a.  More important, how much more of a snapshot do you need to really see where your team is headed this season?

I think I answered that here.

3.  As evidence of Thursday night's big Oregon St. win, it's pretty clear that the Beavers have USC's number up in Corvallis. Who's got your team's number in the conference, and why?

Arizona has inexplicably beaten us twice in a row.  However, unlike Cal and Oregon State, who've done the same, Arizona has no talent, which makes it much more improbable and infuriating.  Plus, they've knocked out our stud starting QB two of the last three seasons (Clemens and Dixon).  If I saw Mike Stoops drowning in a river, I'd toss him an anvil.

4.  Everyone has a bad loss so far this year, even if it's just one. What did that one loss expose about your team, and how has your team bounced back?

It wasn't so much that the team we lost to was bad, as much as our play was putrid.  Some of that we couldn't help.  Masoli getting knocked out early left us with a fourth string situational QB and a fifth string redshirt freshman.  Our offense predictably struggled.  However, the secondary getting roasted and toasted by play action struck fear in us because that was supposed to be the strength of the team.  Our team bounced back by pounding WSU, which tells us absolutely nothing.  This weekend against SC will be a much better assessment of where we stand.

5.  5. To me, play-calling from play to play is over emphasized, when adjustments over the course of the game are key. How are your coaches doing throughout the course of games? Are they doing an adequate job of making the necessary adjustments, or do you feel they are hampering the players in their efforts?

That's hard for me to answer, because I think its somewhat of a mixed bag.  Offensively, I feel like we usually make good adjustments.  For all the crap MB and CK took over the BSU game, that situation was hardly their fault.  Ditto the Arizona game last year.  I think that the second half adjustments have been very good under Kelly, one only need to look to Crowton's second year, or any year under Ludwig, to see how bad they once were.  The SC game in '05 is the quintessential example.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave (addictedtoquack@gmail.com)

Registration ends soon in most states, Oct. 14 in Oregon (click here to check registration deadlines for your state).  If you're unsure whether you are registered, or if your information is up to date, the Obama website can tell you (and I'd bet the McCain one could tell you as well).

Do your civic duty.

another week, another pickem

Arizona State at California

Florida State at Miami(FL)

Auburn at Vanderbilt

Ohio State at Wisconsin

Kentucky at Alabama

What to say?  We did what we were supposed to against WSU.  That is truly one of the worst BCS schools I have seen in quite some time, and we ran over them at will.  Dominated them on both lines and let JJ and Blount do the damage.  Its another one of those games where there’s not much to analyze because of the talent discrepancy between the teams.

I will say that the performance of Jeremiah Masoli is encouraging, and shows that we likely would have been more competitive in the Boise State game had it not been for his injury.  I like his mobility and decision making, and he showed off his strong arm, even if he didn’t connect on any of those home run balls.  It was his most extensive action, and I liked what I saw.  We’ll see how he does against USC, but a good game there could convince me that he should remain the starter even when Roper regains his health.  The deep ball and elusiveness are tools that Roper doesn’t have.  And, while with the running game we only need the QB to manage the game well most of the time, there will be a game this year where the ground game has trouble.  Could very well be this week.  So those tools could come in very handy.

I’ve gotten a couple of emails along the lines of “where’s the analysis this year, Dave?”  I wish I could answer that myself, but the truth is that I don’t feel as if I have a really good feel for this team yet.  I know it sounds funny to say that almost halfway through the season, but think about the facts.  UW and WSU were total shit, and we pounded them accordingly.  I couldn’t see the Utah State or Boise State games because of the Comcast debacle.  Which basically leaves the Purdue game for any truly thought provoking thoughts.

Here’s what I think I know about this team:

We’re very good on both lines.  Our defensive line has been dominant.  I heard Bellotti say today that we’ve only given up 100 yards a game and 2.7 ypc.  Those are great numbers.  The Ducks have played a lot of bad teams, but they haven’t given those bad teams a lot of chances because they have made it very difficult on opposing QBs by shutting down the run game early.

Our offensive line has also been dominant, at least most of the time.  The one time we saw them struggle was the Purdue game, and that game ended up being more difficult than it should have been.  But the rest of the games, they have been very good, which makes the job easy for the two best running backs in the conference (hands down, at this point).

But if these are the sure things, there certainly are questions.

The secondary has been a huge disappointment.  While the WSU game was a total ass-kicking, I wonder how Brandon Gibson was just wide open on so many plays.  Why did they look so bad on play action against Boise?  Where are the turnovers that we saw lst year.  These guys are very talented, and I don’t buy that Matthew Harper, as good as he was somehow the glue that held everything together.  What’s going to happen against SC and Cal?  I want to believe that the Boise game was an anomaly with WT3 out and that, once tested again, we will see what we saw last year.  But can I be sure about that?

What about the receivers.  Jaison Williams still has the dropsies (though he gets an unjustified amount of shit for it).  Ed Dickson has disappeared at times.  Who steps up when the running game struggles and we need plays from the receivers.  Is it J-Will?  Dickson?  Terrance Scott (whose been a huge surprise)?  Maehl?  And what about Pflugrad, Davis, and Holland?  They’ve been complete non-factors.

Finally, there’s also the quarterback issue.  And I’m just not sure how good we can be until we can keep a quarterback healthy.  We’ve got so many guys rotating in and out of there, and a lot of them with different skill sets (Thomas and Masoli are most similar, Harper and Roper bring completely different things).  That Bellotti and Kelly keep it together so well with the musical chairs going on at this position is amazing, but it takes its toll.  Can we keep this up?  And can we get enough at this position to go out and win games against good teams consistently?

I think we’re a good team.  But I don’t know that for sure.  Fact is, we’ve beaten an average Purdue team, lost to a good but not great BSU team, and destroyed three pieces of dung.  But here’s where it gets interesting.  There are no more teams on the schedule that are near guaranteed wins.  Its just a lot of meat, week after week.  SC, UCLA, ASU, Cal, Stanford, Arizona, and OSU.  All the toughies on the road.  5-2 would be very successful.  6-1 has us playing for roses.  4-3 is disappointing with the talent on this team.  But with all the question marks, I honestly don’t know which of those to expect.

We’ll know a lot more this time next week, but the ante has just been up.  For all intents and purposes, the season starts now.  Now we’ll see what the 2008 Ducks are really made of.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave (addictedtoquack@gmail.com)

yadda, yadda, yadda

Illinois at Penn State

Dave: Penn State

I'm just not impressed with Illinois.  They lost their best player from last year, and struggled to beat Louisiana-Lafayette.  They'll head to a hostile Penn State environment, and I'm not convinced that they can go in a win a game there. 

Jared:  Penn State

Illinois put up a lot of points against a suspect Missouri defense, which is the only reason they are getting any respect. They almost lost to UL-Lafayette at home. And I still don't trust Juice Williams. Penn State hasn't really been tested yet, but are much more talented, and should win easily.

Nick:  Penn State

Penn State has rolled through their first four games with their "smallest" margin of victory coming against OSU.  Illinois is coming off of close victory two weeks ago against Louisiana-Lafayette in which it took a late FG at home to seal the victory.  As much as I like Illinois, Penn State will overwhelm them at home

Alabama at Georgia

Dave:  Alabama

Georgia has all the advantages here.  They have more talent, the game is in Athens, they're more tested.  Plus, I hate Nick Saban with a passion.  But I've just got this feeling in my gut that the Crimson Tide are going to surprise us.

Jared:  Georgia

This one should be an SEC classic. While neither offense is poor, both defenses are excellent. However, Georgia's offense will be able to move the ball more consistently throughout the game.

Nick:  Georgia

UGA  looked impressive last week against ASU.  I think Alabama will be a much stiffer test, but with the game at Georgia, I have to go with Stafford and the Bulldogs.

Stanford at Washington

Dave:  Stanford

How much you want to bet that Ty Willingham would love to swap jobs with Jim Harbaugh. How sad is it that such a move would be a step down--for Harbaugh.  Oh yeah, UW still has no talent.  Stanford.  Big.

Jared:  Stanford

I don't like Stanford's offense at all, but Washington can't defend, and Stanford doesn't have a bad defense. The Willingham farewell tour continues.

Nick:  Washington

If this game were in Palo Alto, I might be tempted to go with Stanford.  However, with the game in Seattle I see UW finally breaking through and getting their first victory.  After a brutal first three games in which UW matched up against top 25 teams, they finally reach a more manageable portion of their schedule.

Purdue at Notre Dame

Dave:  Purdue

How the hell did Charle Weis get a ten year contract? Purdue is halfway decent, which means ND will fold like Chuck's knee.  Ty is the story this year.  But next year, Charlie won't be able to schedule enough service academies to save his job.

Jared:  Purdue

Has Notre Dame had a good game yet? They got dominated by MSU, barely beat SDSU, and were given a game by Michigan thanks to a bajillion fumbles. I'm not convinced on Purdue either way, but they came back last week and seem to have a running game now.

Nick:  Purdue

Notre Dame is not good.  They got a fortunate turnover in their game against SDSU that allowed them eke out a victory. Their other victory came at the expense of a Michigan team that is worse shape than they are.  As of this writing, the Irish are 3.5 point favorites -- I really like Purdue to cover the spread in this one.

Bowling Green at Wyoming

Dave:  Bowling Green

Wyoming is 2-2, which doesn't look bad.  Until you realize they needed a late field goal to beat 1-AA North Dakota State, beat Ohio at home by one, and got blown out by Air Force and BYU.  I don't know what to make of BGSU, except they played better defense against Boise State than we did.  I'll go with the Falcons, in spite of the fact that Wyoming is one of the coolest states in the country.

Jared:  Bowling Green

I don't know anything about these teams. I'm picking Bowling Green because Sagarin has them higher.

Nick:  Bowling Green

Wyoming resume thus far is not very impressive, as their two victories consist of wins against North Dakota State and Ohio by a combined margine of four points and blowout losses to BYU and Air Force.  While Bowling Green's success has been limited to an overrated Pittsburgh team on the road, they have at least shown the ability to go on the road and win.  Look for them to pick up road win #2.

By now, you've heard of the street racing incident involving Eddie Pleasant, Darron Thomas, and Jamere Holland, in which a car driven by Pleasant.  The car struck a minivan carrying an infant, who fortunately wasn't hurt, though the mother had to have stitches.  No serious injuries on the Duck side, though Pleasant had 75 stitches, and Holland suffered a consussion.  Due to their injuries, Pleasant and Holland won't be going to WSU this weekend, though Thomas escaped unharmed.

Lets get this out of the way:  Eddie Pleasant is an idiot.  He deserves a multiple game suspension for putting his, his teammates, and the lives of the people in that minivan in danger.  The question I have is to what extent are Thomas and Holland culpable.  Because if Thomas and Holland didn't step up to try to dissuade Pleasant from racing, they deserve punishment as well.

Bellotti seems fairly convinced that this was Pleasant acting on his own.  If this means that Holland and Thomas warned him and he still did it, then punishment should be twice as severe.  But if Thomas and Holland turned a blind eye, they are not the innocent bystanders that Bellotti claims them to be.

Obviously, MB knows more about this then I do, and I trust his judgment, and that he will do the right thing.  But punishment for the guilty should be quick and severe.  These kind of things cannot be tolerated.