What We Learned: Oregon at California
Monday, October 27, 2014
Photo Credit: Monica's Dad via Compfight cc (image cropped)
Yes, that’s the name of the game - recording more points than the opposition. But that’s futile against UO. If the approach to defense is essentially buying time until your offense takes the field again, understand that while rudimentary, that’s essentially how Oregon is mauling teams right now - and NO ONE is as efficient.
The Ducks have the feel of a team that was already dismissed from national title chatter - prematurely, obviously - and is playing loose and free, having fun. Basically, UO being UO.
It’s hard to imagine Oregon getting blanked, or even stymied again to the degree Arizona confounded the Ducks. To borrow a phrase, offense wins the day in Eugene, and there’s a reason the routs have been more routine and resounding in recent weeks.
The reason?
Royce Freeman is a bad man.
It’s not hype, either.
The freshman running back was talked about breathlessly during fall camp, and really, nothing he did during the first month dampened that enthusiasm. But then he ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns in a victory over UCLA, the first of his three consecutive games of more than 100 yards.
At 6-1 and 230 pounds, he’s a punishing back with the requisite Oregon home-run speed, a rare, almost unfair combination in this offense. He brutalized California linebacker Jake Kearney,not the first Pac-12 foe he has trucked - nor will he be the last.
When those SEC supporters question what the Ducks might do against the defenses in the best conference in the country potentially in the College Football Playoff, Freeman is an emphatic counterpoint to any argument. He’d be physical against anyone, and he’s one of two main reasons...
The Ducks are in position to remove that looming monkey from their backs.
The other, of course, is the fact that Marcus Mariota is healthy.
It’s Stanford week, and it’s going to be testy around here. The Cardinal just dismantled Oregon State, apparently getting back to basics offensively in the process, and are now setting its sights on the Ducks, whom the Cardinal has defeated the last two seasons and also dismissed UO from the national championship discussion.
Mark Helfrich scoffed during the preseason at the notion his program had a “Stanford problem.” Mariota wasn’t right last year, struggling with a knee issue. But the Cardinal didn’t care, controlling both sides of the line of scrimmage and being more physical.
Michigan State thought it possessed the same blueprint earlier this season, and the Ducks took care of the Spartans. But the Big Ten favorites were just a facsimile - Stanford is the genuine article, the omnipresent and sizable speed bump for the blur offense.
And it’s at Autzen. It’s time, right?
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