First things first: I don't think I was as soggy at the end of the 2001 Civil War as I was at the end of this game; my Timberland boots didn't offer nearly enough protection as I thought they might, and my socks were a sodden mess by the end of the day. By the time the third quarter rolled around, I might as well have been wearing shorts instead of pants for the amount of moisture that article of clothing had absorbed by then. By the end of the game, I certainly felt as if I had taken a three hour shower in my clothes, I could not wait to get to get to my car and change my clothes.
At any rate, it was , umm, an interesting game to say the least in terms of sloppy play and turnovers, with Oregon doing providing most of those with more continuing adventures of playing football in a driving rainstorm, the lessons from last week in Berkeley not completely learned it seems.
The final score might show that it seemed like the Ducks tallied five touchdowns and Stanford scored four, with all extra points made, but the Ducks actually got four, two from LaGarrete Blount, including the game winner with six seconds left, while Stanford made three. Field goals, missed two point conversions and a safety where the ball was hiked out of the back of the endzone were the reasons for the score ending as it did.
Oregon lost the ball on fumbles four times, the reason that Stanford had possession of the ball for nearly 40 minutes. The Duck defense did a pretty good job in limiting the amount of damage in such short field situations (special teams did them no favors in that regard either a couple of times).
The Ducks ran the ball very, very well (307 yards total) and quarterback Jeremiah Masoli did better in the passing game than in his last couple of games(not good enough for a vocal minority though, more on that later) to complement that aspect enough to keep Stanford off-balance. Oregon also had Morgan Flint take over the field goal and extra point duties from Matt Evenson, and Flint did well, though his two attempts, both successful, were from 37 and 26 yards. We'll see later if he is able to take on the 50+ yard attempts that Evenson had a good percentage making. Evenson did play as the kicker on kickoffs, and had a so-so day, having one kick go out of bound and short kicking another to the ten yard line. That kick led to a return to midfield and set up the first Stanford touchdown.
Jeremiah Johnson had another great day running the ball, and the second Duck touchdown came via a spectacular 41-yard run late in the first quarter where he refused to hit the ground after being corralled by a couple of Stanford tacklers. He finished the game with 135 yards on 15 carries (Blount had 90 yards on 10 carries for the game).
Masoli did a better job in not being so 'run-happy' in the pocket and looking for receivers quicker; unfortunately for him, on a few wide open attempts, he threw the ball a few yards into the ground in front of the receiver, earning a chorus of disgruntlement from the aformentioned vocal minority. (In my section, 13, none of the people around me were booing, they were just a bit exasperated by the growing process going on in front of our eyes; we certainly don't forget that with the running part of his game, Masoli has done a lot to make his case for playing time. Also, where in the world would Oregon be if Masoli hadn't wanted to come play at Oregon? The kid is playing his heart out there and to boo him for a bad play is not something I'd ever do; I'm know damn well he feels bad for his erratic play at times).
I thought the defense did a good job on getting pressure on the Stanford quarterbacks, but gave up too many third and long situations that helped the Cardinal get back in the game after trailing 17-3 (the Duck fumbles after that helped keep the Cardinal in it). The worst aspect of the defense was letting Anthony Kimble get a ton of yards up the middle, but for the most part the defense did not let the big play beat them. It did, however, get suckered badly on a fake field goal early on in the second half, when holder Bo McNally took the snap and ran uncontested eight yards up the middle to tie the score at 17.
It had briefly crossed my mind in the first quarter to watch part of the second half from the Moshofsky center ( I wasn't feeling particularly well to begin the day with at any rate), but I found myself rooted to my seat watching the ebb and flow of the dynamics of the game grab hold of my senses and keep me nailed there, the end result being the wet mess I ended up in (I'm no worse for the wear and tear, thankfully, I'd kicked myself today had I left). Arizona is up next Saturday in the last home game of the year, there's nothing I'd like better than to give one of the Stoops brothers something to cry about. Let's go Ducks!!!!
REGISTER-GUARD , ESPN
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