Two weeks away, the Nits have a bye to help work out any issues ahead of the whiteout. The Ducks take on Oregon St. (they stink) and then will have to make the trek to State College the following weekend. I'm not saying CJF HAS TO win this game, but he HAS TO win this game. Lose here and OSU almost becomes a make it/miss it playoff situation in November - and, not to mention, the narrative around losing big games probably becomes less narrative and more EVIDENCE.
Some things I've noted while watching Oregon:
Knowles went 1-1 vs Oregon last year - they got the best of his defense in October but he took it to them in the CFP. I think one of the biggest storylines going into the game is what will Knowles have in store for Dante Moore in the whiteout, and how does Oregon handle the noise + complex scheme Knowles will bring. I'd imagine Oregon is going to hope their run game travels and give Moore easy throws to the outside + establish the WR screen game. Last year they also found success in the middle of the field between our LBs and safeties. Defensively, they have to be looking at the tape from last year, we gashed them with outside zone all game. The Ducks defense - the tape is out there, we all know this, they're going to try and stop the run and force Allar to beat them. Oregon travels across the country (the difficulties of State College are well documented) and will have to play in the most difficult environment in college football.
Does Allar bring it? He's struggled so far against inferior opponents this season - down the field passing, footwork, and emotions are his weaknesses. Have we been hiding our true identity through 3 weeks? Will the offensive line put it together? Namely getting the next level to allow Singleton/Allen to break off some bigger gains. Do we trust our new WRs? They're going to need to stretch the field vertically if they want to make any room in the box for the run game.
Does BIG GAME JAMES finally break through? Everything lines up for him in this one - veteran roster, whiteout at home, opponent traveling from the West Coast - I can only imagine the pressure he's feeling heading into this game.
Some things I've noted while watching Oregon:
- they run the ball first and foremost. They'll use 3 different RBs - Limar, Hill Jr., and Whittingham - and average 250 yards/game and 7 yards/carry
- Dante Moore has been impressive with a 80% completion rate - they still have a ton of speed on the outside and they get a ton of burn with YAC. He doesn't hold it long at all, the OC looks like he wants to make it easy on him. He's not a runner, but seems mobile enough. He had some points of frustration against Northwestern but was still efficient.
- Passing game: the ball seems to get spread amongst 5-6ish guys the most. Benson, Moore (True Frosh), Sadiq (TE) seem like the names to know.
- Offense - they're still fast, establish the run, get the ball out fast in the passing game.
- Defensively, they lost a lot from last year including DT Harmon. But they still have LB Boettcher & Tuioti and picked up S transfer Dillon Thieneman.
Knowles went 1-1 vs Oregon last year - they got the best of his defense in October but he took it to them in the CFP. I think one of the biggest storylines going into the game is what will Knowles have in store for Dante Moore in the whiteout, and how does Oregon handle the noise + complex scheme Knowles will bring. I'd imagine Oregon is going to hope their run game travels and give Moore easy throws to the outside + establish the WR screen game. Last year they also found success in the middle of the field between our LBs and safeties. Defensively, they have to be looking at the tape from last year, we gashed them with outside zone all game. The Ducks defense - the tape is out there, we all know this, they're going to try and stop the run and force Allar to beat them. Oregon travels across the country (the difficulties of State College are well documented) and will have to play in the most difficult environment in college football.
Does Allar bring it? He's struggled so far against inferior opponents this season - down the field passing, footwork, and emotions are his weaknesses. Have we been hiding our true identity through 3 weeks? Will the offensive line put it together? Namely getting the next level to allow Singleton/Allen to break off some bigger gains. Do we trust our new WRs? They're going to need to stretch the field vertically if they want to make any room in the box for the run game.
Does BIG GAME JAMES finally break through? Everything lines up for him in this one - veteran roster, whiteout at home, opponent traveling from the West Coast - I can only imagine the pressure he's feeling heading into this game.
