[washingtonismoney]

Watching the Ducks play the 59ers was reassuring in some ways. The 59ers kept it close for a while, but it wasn't as if they played out of their minds. Particularly comforting was the Bare QB, who was inaccurate, unpoised and generally answered questions in my mind as to why Zach Maynard has been starting all these years. (Maynard is inaccurate, unpoised but mobile.) And the 59er OL -- which as I'm sure we remember, is pretty mediocre -- was just destroying the Oregon DL. I can't recall many bigger line mismatches, in all seriousness. Oregon's going to be healthier, it's just a question of how much. (I also don't expect Shaw to descend into madness, as T.edford did. Teddy somehow decided, while still close in the third quarter, to start throwing the ball around as if he had Aaron Rodgers back there. Badddd idea. Oregon's best asset is its ability to induce insanity in opponents, and T.edford was just another victim.)

To conclude the optimistic part: I do think it's weird that we've heard these strategic leaks about various Oregon offensive players playing on defense. I think I said before it's a headfake. What's weird about it is: a) Oregon hasn't really headfaked in previous matchups and b) for obvious reasons, I don't really see why they need to headfake now. They're the better team -- when running on optimum, they're the best team of the Kelly era; we've never hit optimum so far this season (and I doubt we'd compare to 2010 even when doing so.)

Here's what I expect: Kelly going all Airraid on us, marching down the field with surgeon-style 6/7 yard passes. That's the secret to what Arizona and (to a lesser degree) Wazzu did to us. And Mariota's very capable of that (and also is a much more dangerous threat than Jeff Tuel on the run if he breaks contain.)

Ducks 37 Stanford 20.

[washingtonismoney]

Watching the Ducks play the 59ers was reassuring in some ways. The 59ers kept it close for a while, but it wasn't as if they played out of their minds. Particularly comforting was the Bare QB, who was inaccurate, unpoised and generally answered questions in my mind as to why Zach Maynard has been starting all these years. (Maynard is inaccurate, unpoised but mobile.) And the 59er OL -- which as I'm sure we remember, is pretty mediocre -- was just destroying the Oregon DL. I can't recall many bigger line mismatches, in all seriousness. Oregon's going to be healthier, it's just a question of how much. (I also don't expect Shaw to descend into madness, as T.edford did. Teddy somehow decided, while still close in the third quarter, to start throwing the ball around as if he had Aaron Rodgers back there. Badddd idea. Oregon's best asset is its ability to induce insanity in opponents, and T.edford was just another victim.)

To conclude the optimistic part: I do think it's weird that we've heard these strategic leaks about various Oregon offensive players playing on defense. I think I said before it's a headfake. What's weird about it is: a) Oregon hasn't really headfaked in previous matchups and b) for obvious reasons, I don't really see why they need to headfake now. They're the better team -- when running on optimum, they're the best team of the Kelly era; we've never hit optimum so far this season (and I doubt we'd compare to 2010 even when doing so.)

Here's what I expect: Kelly going all Airraid on us, marching down the field with surgeon-style 6/7 yard passes. That's the secret to what Arizona and (to a lesser degree) Wazzu did to us. And Mariota's very capable of that (and also is a much more dangerous threat than Jeff Tuel on the run if he breaks contain.)

Ducks 37 Stanford 20.