Slingin' Quack

Sean and Rusty are back after a long layoff with a whole bunch of quack.  The two talk about the basketball team and the amazing success it has had quietly, the Ducks at the combine, and what the Titans should do with their NFL Draft pick.

This last week in Oregon sports had zero chill.  Oregon dropped the biggest lead in the history of college football bowl games.  Also, Oregon basketball lost the PAC-12 opener to Oregon State.  

Sean and I spend a lot of time looking at the positives coming up.  We looked at the roster in terms of who was coming back, projecting some lineups, and Dakota Prukop getting into Oregon without the national media wondering if he can pass a test.

We also talk about Pellum moving back to the linebacker coach role, the departure of another linebacker coach, and who we would like to see as the new defensive coordinator.  (Hint: Tako hates him)

Lastly, we talk about Oregon basketball.  Sean posed a question about a year ago on a LOST pod about Dana Altman.  Sean, David Piper, and I all came to the conclusion that Dana Altman has surpassed all expectations every year as the head coach at Oregon.  So Sean and I are feeling pretty good about this season, especially with Bill Walton making the best calls of all time.

We're back!  Took a couple weeks off because of the holidays and we figured not that many people would listen, nor did our schedules line up.  But!  Comin' to you live from Hamsterdam we've got a lot of quack.

First, we talk about the Oregon football game against the TCU Horned Frogs.  There's the obvious conversation about Trevone Boykin, whom I wrote an article about earlier this week.  Boykin is terrifying and is the player that we all thought Bralon Addison could be in a perfect world where he easily slid into the quarterback position when Vernon Adams went down and he received the golden arm of Johnny Unitas from the god Xerxes.

The QB edge goes to TCU but if not for a Vernon Adams injury at the beginning of the year we are looking at a one loss Oregon squad (most likely).  TCU was ravaged by injuries on defense leading to a few very misleading scores and Trevone Boykin was absent a couple close wins.  

The Alamo Bowl and Texas have a thing for tragic heroes.  People that could have accomplished greatness if not for a few things outside of their control.  Oregon does it too.  For years we were talking about who would be the next Dennis Dixon.  Both of these teams are tragically heroic teams.  If not for injuries both of these teams would (most likely) be in the playoffs.  This is one of the top five bowl games, and that's including the playoffs.

Oregon beat Oregon State in the 119th Civil War game.  The first half saw Oregon's defense absolutely control the Oregon State offense, outside of the first drive.  The second half saw the Oregon defense completely check out of the game mentally and give up an embarrassing amount of success to the Beavers.

Scott Frost has left his role as offensive coordinator to take over the head coaching role at the University of Central Florida (UCF), that went nearly unbeaten with Blake Bortles and dropped to a winless record this past season.  I think this is a great opportunity for him to succeed.  I've heard that UCF's fan base is willing to start spending more money on the football program.  He's killed it at Oregon the last few years, leading the #2 offense in the country, and if not for maybe bad play calls in the teens he would be viewed in a much more positive light.

The basketball team is still undefeated heading into a game at UNLV.  It's technically a neutral site game, but it is at the MGM Grand, which is in Vegas.  But then again, I'm not sure UNLV really has a home court.  After the game against UNLV the Ducks play Navy at Pearl Harbor.

Both Oregon football and Oregon basketball had big wins this last week.

Basketball beat Valparaiso, a tournament team last year, 73-67 at Matthew Knight Arena.  Shortly after beating Baylor, the Ducks have a couple of the best wins in the country thus far this season.  It is really exciting to have a team that is so clearly excelling this early and has a lot of promise.  Sean and I talk about the evolution of the offense, how overall impressive this team has been, and what to expect.

Oregon football made USC look bad.  Adams torched the USC defense worse than they ever have in the history of the school and Adams tied the single-game record for touchdown passes.  I have never seen a player more open than When Baylis caught a pass on a vertical route up the left hash.  The Oregon defense is really playing well and their game against USC is a real testament to that.  Sean and I talk about why our perspective on this season has been a little tainted and what this team provides that none in recent history have.

Lastly, Sean and I talk about possible bowl games.  The Rose Bowl is dependent on Stanford beating Notre Dame and squeezing into the playoffs.  Could Oregon still make a New Years' Six?  Also, I go on a huge rant about the college football rankings that the committee released.  

Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.

We got almost too much quack this week so we tried our best to make sure we got everything in on a shortened timeline.

The first thing Sean and I talk about is the performance of the Oregon basketball defense.  The offense really struggled at times but the defense forced 18 turnovers and got 28 points off of them.  Five players had over 10 points.  Boucher had 15, Cook had 15, Brooks had 10, Dorsey had 12, Benjamin had 13, and even Benson had 9.  While I hope we have one guy who can stand out and score in the clutch we have to be optimistic with the number of people who are scoring.

Oregon football had the biggest win of the year when they beat Stanford.  Stanford has been eliminated from the playoff hunt.  Oregon's defense played opportunistic defense and overall extremely well given the strengths and weaknesses of each side.  The running game was astounding and Vernon Adams only had to throw 12 times.  Sean and I talk more in depth about the game and the positives and negatives.  We talk about this biggest moments of the game and what it's like to watch a game on the farm.

The last ten minutes are about USC.  Kessler has been playing well but USC lost two of their starting linebackers.  Smitch-Schuster is terrifying on the outside at receiver and Jackson could slow down Carrington.  Carrington somehow gets open all the time but Jackson might be the one to wrap him up.

Sean and I go into a lot of details about the win over Baylor, the win over Stanford, and the upcoming game against USC.  Thanks to everyone who listens and tweets at us.

After last weeks difficulties we are back!  Sean and I spend a lot of time going over the win against Arizona State and Cal.  Both games showed signs of improvement for their own reasons.  This team is clearly getting better as the season goes on and I think they'll be able to finish strong.  

Looking at the team we saw against Eastern Washington, Georgia State, Colorado, Utah, and Washington State, this team seems light years ahead.  The offense is totally revamped with the addition of Vernon Adams and Darren Carrington.

The defense is starting to make plays.  Sacks and interceptions are happening (THEY'RE HAPPENING!) but the lone weakness of the defense thus far has been consistently getting off the field after third downs.  Against Cal everything came together.  At this point, what can we say about whether the defense will get better and what the lasting impression is of the unit?  We're at week 11 so they have a clear identity.

At the end of the pod we talk about the most recent playoff rankings and how much of a joke they are, the game against Stanford, and the basketball season that kicks off tomorrow night.

-Keep in mind due to our schedules we end up doing this extremely late at night and sometimes into the next day.-

With Halloween this weekend and the Ducks' playing on a Thursday night (allowing me to not have to schedule my day around the game) the festivities will be in full force.  Might be a three-day weekend for a lot of us because it's not like people will be able to function after a Duck game anyways.

Oregon has Vernon Adams back along with Darren Carrington.  The offense looked like a totally different unit with both of the top playmakers back.  Sean and I were very critical of Vernon Adams after his performance against Utah, broken finger or not, so we make a solid effort to praise all the things Vernon Adams did well against Washington.  Is Darren Carrington what the offense was missing to bring it to the next level?

The episode starts off with a thorough look at the Oklahoma-Oregon onside kick because often before we even record we go on crazy tangents that lead us all over the college football landscape.

Oregon needs to win two of it's last five and the only winnable game seems to be against Oregon State with ASU, Cal, Stanford, and USC to go.  Basically, the game Thursday is a must-win for bowl hopes.  But even then Oregon can petition.  But how likely is all of this?

Oregon and Washington squared off in Seattle this past weekend and Oregon came away with a big win.  It looked like the streak might come to an end during an off year but the return of Darren Carrington, Vernon Adams, and the front seven actually living up to their expectations.

There are big positives and negatives to take away from the game.  How much of an improvement did Vernon Adams actually bring?  How much more of an impact can Darren Carrington have?  Does this mean a new Oregon squad the rest of the season?

Sean and I go through a very early preview of the basketball season.  Even though Altman has had extended success as head coach of the basketball team there still isn't huge attendance numbers.  I don't believe that it's because of the transfer students or anything like that.  Do this for instance:

I also want you guys to go through your own exercise that I posed to Sean near the end of the pod.

Name three words you would use to describe the Oregon football team:

1.

2.

3.

Name three words you would use to describe the Oregon basketball team:

Normally I try to come up with funny titles but this was just too wild to not make it as the headline.  You'll have to listen through to find it though.  CLICKBAIT FTW.  

Sean and I talk about the Colorado game and what the stats say.  Obviously, we talk about the defense and how it has gotten worse over the last couple years.  But is the secondary really to blame?  Is there another position that is not meeting expectations?  One unit is severely disappointing this season.  

There were a couple noticeable moves in the Colorado game.  We talk about the re-appearance of Oregon's power running attack and how Taj Griffin fits into the offense.  

Taylor Alie and Jeff Lockie are now sharing time at quarterback.  Is Alie that good? What do we make of a two-quarterback system?  Is Vernon Adams going to be back soon and is he actually that much better than the other QBs?