Saturday Pac 12 Primer: 10/7/17
- By Scott Reed
- First Duck Club
- 0 Replies
This week all Pac-12 games are on Saturday. A blessing and a curse. As a blessing, I did not have to write this before Friday night which gave me some much needed flexibility. Plenty going on in my personal life which kept me ultra busy Thursday night and Friday night. So here we go with the weekend in Pac 12 football
Oregon State @ USC
USC was somehwat exposed a week ago by Washington State. I say somewhat because many of their problems were related to injuries along the starting offensive line. Those issues will not get better this week - except that USC plays perhaps the worst team in the league with Oregon State. This opponent should provide some salve to the festering wounds along the offensive line.
Sam Darnold may not be a Heisman front runner anymore; but he is still one of the best QB's in the conference and nation while Oregon State is just a mess.
USC 48 - Oregon State 14
Arizona @ Colorado
The Buffaloes were the confference darling a season ago, but they have lost some of their edge thanks in large part to the departure of Jim Leavitt and Charles Clark to Oregon. Stephen Montez has been sold and the receiving corps is one of the best units in the nation. Meanwhle, Arizona has looked somewhat better than a season ago.
Brandon Dawkins is hte kind of QB Rich Rodriguez had in West Virginia and the defense has really looked at the very least, capable this season. I still like Colorado at home this game, though.
Colorado 31 - Arizona 27
Stanford @ Utah
Kyle Whittingham is one of the most under rated coaches in the country. I think he does a tremendous job of having his teams ready to play. They are always physical and well disciplined. Stanford has been a bit less stout defensively than in years past and the luster has started to fade some on the Stanford defense.
But the Cardinal have the most electric running back in the nation with Bryce Love averaging 10.3 yards per carry on 98 attempts.He brings that gaudy average to Salt Lake City to face the best rushing defense in the conference. I like the move to KJ Costello at QB and give Stanford the edge.
Stanford 24 - Utah 20
California @ Washington
The Golden Bears built an early season reputation with some solid performances; or at least what looked like solid performances. But the victories over North Carolina and Mississippi quickly became less enthralling when those teams were exposed as vastly over-rated.
They looked good in a 'close' loss to USC - another team which might have been rated higher than deserved. Their loss to Oregon, a game in which they were soundly beaten in all phases, showed the team still has a long ways to go under new head coach Justin Wilcox.
Washington, on the other hand, is still the best team in the league as of now. They have a tedency to start slow and then turn it on over the course of the game which will probably keep this game closer than expected early. Nonetheless, I expect a solid win by the Huskies.
Washington 45- Washington 17
Washington State @ Oregon
What was already a difficult challenge with undefeated Washington State (5-0) coming to town became more so with the injury to Justin Herbert. The Ducks, who have been very balanced on offense, will need their backup QB, either Taylor Alie or Braxton Burmeister, to step into the void and display a calmness beyond their experience to pull the upset.
WSU is a pass happy offense; that plays into the Ducks defensive hands who have exceptional depth at defensive back. The Cougars have given up a lot of sacks with little help from the ground game, but Jamal Morrow is still dangerous. The Cougar defense is talented and very athletic, but also a bit undersized.
Oregon should be able to find some success in the power run game. Will it be enough to offset the loss of Herbert? I see a lower scoring game than expected.
WSU 28 - Oregon 24
Replacing Herbert: A look back at the Ducks QBs at recruits as well as some "What ifs"
- By RivalsWoody
- The Casanova Center
- 3 Replies
Oregon has quickly turned things around under first-year head coach Willie Taggart, but the Ducks got some bad news this week when they learned starting quarterback Justin Herbert will be out for an extended period of time with a broken collarbone. Thanks to attrition on the roster over the past few years, the Ducks only have a few options to fill Herbert’s shoes heading into the toughest part of their 2017 schedule.
So who are the candidates to do that and how were they ranked as recruits? We take a look back at the Ducks' options and also revisit some “What If?” scenarios about former Ducks who are now elsewhere.
Taylor Alie
AP Images
A local prospect from Eugene’s Sheldon High School, Alie walked on with the Ducks in 2013 and wasn’t ranked by Rivals.com as a prospect. By his redshirt freshman season, he worked his way onto the field as a holder and in 2015 he saw time when starter Vernon Adams went down with an injury, helping the Ducks to a road victory at Colorado. In 2016, Alie kept his job as a holder but didn’t see any time at quarterback and also spent time practicing as a wide receiver. When Taggart and company came to town, Alie was given the opportunity to compete for the backup job to Herbert and won the job during fall camp, seeing mop up duty before coming in for an injured Herbert in Saturday’s victory over Cal before leaving the game with an injury of his own. Alie is healthy and practicing this week, but Taggart has stopped short of naming him the starter for this weekend’s game against Washington State.
You can read the complete article here.
So who are the candidates to do that and how were they ranked as recruits? We take a look back at the Ducks' options and also revisit some “What If?” scenarios about former Ducks who are now elsewhere.
Taylor Alie
AP Images
A local prospect from Eugene’s Sheldon High School, Alie walked on with the Ducks in 2013 and wasn’t ranked by Rivals.com as a prospect. By his redshirt freshman season, he worked his way onto the field as a holder and in 2015 he saw time when starter Vernon Adams went down with an injury, helping the Ducks to a road victory at Colorado. In 2016, Alie kept his job as a holder but didn’t see any time at quarterback and also spent time practicing as a wide receiver. When Taggart and company came to town, Alie was given the opportunity to compete for the backup job to Herbert and won the job during fall camp, seeing mop up duty before coming in for an injured Herbert in Saturday’s victory over Cal before leaving the game with an injury of his own. Alie is healthy and practicing this week, but Taggart has stopped short of naming him the starter for this weekend’s game against Washington State.
You can read the complete article here.
