In a game between two ruined teams in a ruined season, winning will come down to which team can summon optimism and competitive pride.
This week Oregon State head coach Mike Riley told the media, “The team that handles wherever they are right now the best has the best chance to look good and play well,” Riley said. “Now these guys are really good, so we’re going to have to be so drastically different than we were last Saturday night. Can we do that is our issue?”
Making his mark: Chip Kelly is 3000 miles away fighting for an NFL playoff spot. Mark Helfrich has to find the right buttons and levers in the penultimate game of his first year as head coach, because 11-2 is way better than 8-4.
Growing up listening to their heroes talk on Sports Center and drilled by coaches and media departments, even 20-year-old athletes have become very skilled at sounding prepared and aware of the opponent.
The Ducks are better than most at this. Except for a couple of notable slip-ups into candor by Josh Huff and De’Anthony Thomas, players stick pretty close to the mantras and cliches of the program. “This is a faceless opponent.” “We’re just focused on doing what we can do to get better.”
Except, for the last three weeks, they’ve haven’t been focused at all. The Oregon football got the rude awakening the Visigoths provided Rome as Stanford and Arizona knocked down the gates of their football dynasty. They looked flat, undisciplined and unprepared, barely raising a sword, scoring only three times in eight trips to the end zone, deplorably inefficient.
Scott Frost has to find better options for Marcus Mariota than a fade to a 5-10 receiver. Mariota, hopefully, is closer to full mobility: if he can’t take off the brace perhaps the coaching staff can take off the strait jacket: Oregon’s offense went into a catatonic state right after Mariota stopped running.
The Oregon defense has to get some pressure on Sean Mannion. He’s a dramatically different quarterback when he has time to throw and let routes develop. He’ll pass Oregon silly if he’s comfortable. While the Beavers don’t have much of a running game, they use screens, draws and fly sweeps to supplement it, and the Ducks have to shake off the tryptophan haze in time to recognize and react. For years one criticism has been that Nick Aliotti’s defensive scheme is too complicated, but this evening it has to be simple: find the ball and smash ’em.
Statistically, Brandin Cooks is the most dangerous weapon on the field, for either team. If the Ducks cornerback tandem of Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and Terrance Mitchell are indeed NFL talented, this would be the week to show it. Cooks has burned opponents for 110 catches, 1,560 yards and 15 tds, all approaching PAC-12 records. He’s more dangerous catching the football than Tyler Gaffney and Ka’Deem carrying are running it. The Ducks have had six days to figure out how to keep him from taking the game over.
Offensively, Oregon has to get a running game from De’Anthony Thomas, Mariota, and freshman Thomas Tyner. The Beavers rank 85th in the country in rushing defense, 117th in red zone defense.
If the Ducks rally themselves and the coaches have come up with a sound plan, they have way more talent and athletic ability that OSU. This game will be the surest indication yet what Oregon has in Mark Helfrich as a new coach.
Oregon 38, Oregon State 27.
A pre-game inspirational video from Oregon Duck Soup:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=czvPnePpDGo
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