3 days until Oregon-LSU. Who else is going a bit stir-crazy? Here's some quack to calm the nerves, or maybe cause a little panic, depending on what suits you.
- Chip Kelly released the depth chart for the LSU game yesterday, and nine Ducks will be making their first collegiate start. Kelly made clear that who played the first play wouldn't be a big deal, and the Ducks will rotate extensively much like they did last season. While the defense in particular will be breaking in a number of starters, almost all have played extensively. The only exception is Terrance Mitchell, who will be playing in his first game after redshirting last year.
- Ken Goe's piece today is on Oregon's offensive line, and how they face a big challenge against LSU after getting beat pretty good in the BCS Championship Game. While the Ducks were beat against Auburn, they also beat themselves. With 2 1/2 new starters, they can't afford to make the same mistakes. Luckily for the Ducks, LSU is breaking in a lot of new talent in their defensive front 7. Good thing, because, in my opinion, this matchup will determine the game.
- A great way to kill some time today? Check out a couple podcasts. The Solid Verbal dedicated an entire show to the Oregon-LSU matchup, and Dan and Ty were joined by Rob Moseley and Carter Bryant from KLSU (Baton Rouge). The guys over at And The Valley Shook had Dave on their podcast last night.
- Darron Thomas isn't the only Duck player with ties to LSU. KVAL has a piece on Darrion Weems, who grew up in New Orleans, before moving west after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
- Did you really think we could talk about the Lyles Bowl without actually talking about Willie Lyles? Apparently he met with the NCAA yesterday. He also predicted that Oregon would win by 10 points. Schroeder's column today is on the Lyles sideshow. While at some point this Lyles mess may become important, Schroeder is obviously trying to make this more important than it is to almost all fans. Off the field crap happens, and teams must deal with it, and move on. When the games are played, none of that matters.
- One bad columnist leads to another. Canzano has a piece today on LeGarrette Blount and how he's grown over the past two years. Specifically, about how fatherhood has changed him.
- Cal Golden Blogs had us predict how we thought the Pac-12 season would go, and the results can be found here. No real surprises, Pac-12 fans picked Oregon to beat Stanford by a 57-43 margin.
- Lastly, a bit of basketball news. Oregon defeated Cimerbio Varese, 75-67. Jabari Brown once again led Duck scorers, as he had 15.
After the jump, video of Chip Kelly's first press conference of the season, as well as a video preview of the offensive line.