It’s Going to be a Roughie Today

We’ll keep this short and sweet. I think we’re all feeling the same thing about today, and even though it won’t be on TV, in the end that might be a good thing. I think I am encouraged by our defense last week, as I watched some of it again last night. Andy Mattingly was a monster, he really was, and that wasn’t just a “stats” game. Even when he didn’t get to Carpenter, he was knocking him on his ass. If you can, watch the first play of the game where Rudy throws a deep ball in a post-corner route that was dropped by the WR out of bounds. From the first play of that game, Mattingly blitzed the middle with little hesitation and just drilled Rudy. That set the done for the defense, and we really haven’t seen a player like this since Derting.

Wanna get crazy? How about this comparison – BRIAN URLACKER. Seriously. Remember Urlacker in college? He was like some kind of tall, hybrid linebacker-safety that made plays all over the field, before settling in as an all-pro MLB in the NFL. I saw Mattingly last week and I see the same kind of player, I really do. I can’t tell you how excited I am to watch this kid play. We might finally have that gamebreaker we’ve been dying for all along, that defensive player that the opposing QB has to point out every single play. I can’t wait to see him star…….what? What was that you say?? Bill Doba is removing him from the lineup??? Well, he must be hurt or something, right??? Oh……it’s because Dunn is back healthy this week that Doba isn’t starting Mattingly?? The same Mattingly who had the 17 tackles, four sacks, and five TFL’s, a school record???? And it’s not because of injury???……………………..Oh.

As much as I want to be excited about an upset bid today, we’re going to get steamrolled. I love what we did vs. ASU last week, but the offense dictated that approach. ASU runs the same offense we’ve been running since 1987, so we knew what to expect. I look at today’s game and I think about the Arizona game, where we’re going to play almost in prevent-mode all afternoon and they will still run wild on us. Stewart is going to have a gigantic game, and we’ll get our usual 21 points, but that’s it. What the heck, let’s go 47-26, Oregon.

Other quick hits:

ASU 30, UW 20 – UW has slowly morphed into the worst offensive team in the conference. Locker has absolutely no help and he can’t do everything.

CAL 38, OSU 23 – Canfield plays giveaway and you can’t do that against the #2 team in the nation on the road.

USC 27, Arizona 20 – New starter at QB, team still in a daze after the Stanford game, spread offense with Tuitama might make this one interesting.

TCU 35, Stanford 13 – THUD!