I've been following this closely from up here in Eugene. Lots of duck coverage in the local paper, and I don't get nearly as much info on Stanford, for obvious reasons. I root for both because I have degrees from both, but I live in Eugene, and the ducks have a chance at national championship this year, so ...
I second the general comments about duck weaknesses, including a brand new offensive line, and so many good players gone. But I'm guessing Oregon by two or three touchdowns.
Tyler Shough at quarterback looked good last year when he replaced Herbert and ran the second team. He's been in the program for at least three years, so he knows the offense. And he's 6'5" and mobile. But he's obviously a question. The local media has taken Shough for granted, and has written very little of Brown.
I expect the ducks' game plan will be to look as much like Alabama as Cristobal and his new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead can manage. They'll want to establish the run first. Although the O-line is all new, they've got some strong new bodies, and Cristobal played o-line so that's a team strength. Expect to see a lot of CJ Verdell. Shough has a better set of receivers than Herbert did last year, but still, he's a new starter. Johnson had a lot of catches last year, and tight ends look good.
Joe Moorhead, the new offensive coordinator, doesn't have instant star power, and his track record doesn't seem that great; but Cristobal is a big fan, so we'll see. I really like Cristobal for what he stands for, but his sense of offense is a lot of power runs. He can be boring, and he can not give up on the run for too long. He doesn't have a history of great in-game adjustments. They would have had a chance at national championship last year if they could have won the second half against Arizona State. They didn't.
On defense, the linebacker crew has some experience and two very strong true freshmen, including Noah Sewell, (younger brother of Penei Sewell), who was generally rated as the best or one of the best in the nation among linebacker recruits. The secondary lost two really good players to the draft, but Lenoir changed his mind and will be strong at one of the corners. There too, the ducks have some very strong recruits.
Cristobal is an excellent recruiter. He's brought in top 10 recruits two of the last three years, and has consistently the best recruiting score in the Pac 12. That will help with a lot of talented new faces.
(11-04-2020, 12:18 PM)pcgoode Wrote: (11-03-2020, 11:01 AM)Papa John Wrote: Important info, winflop. I would also note that my weather app has Eugene winds out of the WSW at 6 mph during the day and out of the W at 4 mph at night. So pretty calm winds. Perhaps the former football players on this board could comment on which affects play more: rain showers/wet conditions or wind? I would think wind since Autzen stadium--according to Google maps--is oriented almost due east-west, so teams would alternate playing with and then against the wind.
Wind is a much bigger factor than rain.
I've lived in Eugene for 28 years. Game is likely to have off-and-on light rain, but not much wind. We're at the south end of the Willamette Valley where rain is commonplace from October through June, and wind happens, much strong winds are unusual. Local weather looks like a gray day with a 50% chance of rain. And our rain, this time of year, is likely to be off and on, not steady.
