Another Wager?!?!?

Considering the results of the last bet Addicted to Quack made with another blog, my feelings about this new bet are a little skewed. Then again, even though Addicted to Quack lost the last bet, the results were still very entertaining. Looking forward to an Oregon win so Duck fans can reap the benefits.

Leave Nothing

A few weeks ago I read a blog regarding the LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu Nike "Fate" Leave Nothing commercial. The writer mentioned that at 33 second mark the film makers must have subliminally inserted an Oregon promotion. It is highly unlikely the filming of the commercial was not at Autzen Stadium, but probably somewhere in LA. See for yourself below...

Bear With Me... Predictions & Misc. Links

This weeks predictions from around the web...

• Moseley believes this will be another close match between the two teams and will be dependent on Cal's linebackers (strength) and offensive line (weakness). Rob believes Cal will win it by 3.
• Tristan at Bleacher Report believes his knowledge and faith in his team will lead the Ducks to victory, but it won't be easy.
• Miller knows the Ducks can win on the road and knows that Masoli can beat Cal with his arm, not his legs.
• Vondersmith at the Portland Tribune believe the game could go either way but Ducks will pull out the win.
• The Sports Network believes to go with Cal as they have the home field advantage and the better defense.
  

My predictions:

• Riley will be pressured. We will see mistakes and at least 1 interception.
• Longshore will play part of the game.
• Cal will have more yards throwing than running.
  
• Oregon's offense will have over 400 all purpose yards but will fail to gain over 500.
  
• Masoli will pass for over 200 yards.
• Blount will have a 100+ rushing day.
• Chung will have another sack.
• Chung will get his first interception of the season (I will keep writing this until it happens).
  
• Oregon will have 4 or more sacks.
• Harper will have at least 3 receptions for 50+ yards.
• For the first time since his switch to WR, Harper won't be the Ducks leading receiver against Cal.
  
• Cal will score a touchdown after an Oregon turnover.
• So will Oregon (off a Cal turnover).
  
• The game to be within 7 points.
• More points will go to Oregon.
  

In other news...

• The Ducks will be wearing the white lids on Saturday.
• Oregon is preparing for the wet weather this Saturday by a method they've never had use before.
• Centers will play a huge role in this weekend's game.
• The quarterbacks of Cal and Oregon have many similarities and will take center stage on Saturday.
• Team players of the week from the ASU game.
  
• Masoli will face a hometown crowd at Cal this weekend.
  
• Oregon's offensive line has been instrumental to the Duck's success.
• Jeffrey Maehl was selected as Athlete of the Week by the Daily Emerald.
• Interested in knowing which state will get the Oregon / Cal broadcast?
• A little info regarding the Bears from a Cal blog.
  

Diante Jackson

Here's an interesting article on Diante Jackson, Oregon's recent 4 star wide receiver recruit.

JJ Re-injures Shoulder?

According to Moseley, Jeremiah Johnson may have aggravated his shoulder injury yesterday in practice. Regardless I still think JJ will play this weekend considering he didn't miss a game last time because of the injury. It's not like we've really seen the stiff arm much (if ever) since.

Oden's "Midfoot Sprain"

Blazer's edge posted a very thorough blog post on the midfoot sprain. 95.5 "the fan" said they will announce more information about Oden's injury and his MRI results as soon as it's available.

Bellotti's Press Conference

Moseley thoroughly reprised Bellotti's press conference today that discusses the offensive lines of Oregon & Cal, Centers of Oregon & Cal, Cal's 3-4 defense, practices, Casey Matthews, recruiting, Ducks tight ends, injuries & most importantly Masoli & more Masoli...

Bowl Predictions

Looks like people are liking the Ducks a little more this week... Most are saying a likely Holiday Bowl matchup between Texas Tech or Oklahoma State.

Though it's apparent that Bruce Feldman doesn't believe the hype and has Oregon playing Utah the Las Vegas Bowl.

Can someone please tell me why Utah and BYU (both from Mormon filled Utah) always end up in the Las Vegas Bowl? Just doesn't seem fair. Isn't that like sending BYU/Utah to play Florida State in the "Honesty and Integrity Bowl", BYU/Utah to play Penn State in the "Abiding Citizen Bowl" or BYU/Utah to play Notre Dame in the "Polygamy Bowl?"

Willingham to Resign

Washington's Tyrone Willingham announced that he will be resigning at the end of the season. The Huskies are 0-7 for only the second time in history. I guess it was only a matter of time...

Pac-10 Players of the Week

Jeremiah Masoli and Matt Evensen were named Offensive and Special Teams (respectively) Pac-10 players of the week. It was Evensen's second of the season and the Ducks first Offensive Player of the Week Award since last season.

• 9/13 - Matt Evensen - Special Teams Pac-10 Player of the Week vs. Purdue
• 10/11- Jairus Byrd - Defensive Pac-10 Player of the Week vs. UCLA
• 10/25 - Jeremiah Masoli - Offensive Pac-10 Player of the Week vs. Arizona State
• 10/25 - Matt Evensen - Special Teams Pac-10 Player of the Week vs. Arizona State

For Those Who Missed the Game

Does this bring up memories of Maurice Morris in the Fiesta Bowl?

Here are some other highlights...

How'd I Do?

• We will see 2 quarterbacks play and Darron Thomas won't see action. - Loss. 0-1. If it wasn't for such a blowout I probably would have got this one but Thomas saw action in the last 50 something seconds
• Masoli will get the majority of the snaps. - Win. 1-1. Masoli played until the 4th quarter and basically solidified himself as the starter.
• JJ will have a 100 plus yards rushing. - Loss. 1-2. Even though the Ducks had over 300 yards rushing, not one player had over 100 yards. Masoli had the rushing high with 85.
• Blount will score his 11th touchdown of the season. Win. 2-2. Actually Blount scored number 11 and 12. I don't think anyone could have predicted that Mo Morris run for a touchdown.
• Chung will get his first interception of the year. Loss. 2-3. Nope, the other 2 D-Boyz each had one though. One of Chung's hits did make Carpenter's nose bleed though.
• Carpenter won't make it past halftime. Loss. 2-4. Somehow he played almost the whole game. I did love the "Rudy, Rudy, Rudy" chants from the Oregon section.
• Carpenter will get sacked at least 4 times (even if he doesn't stay in the game past halftime). Loss. 2-5. Oregon only recorded 2 sacks on the game (at least according to cfstats). I remembered 3 before half but apparently I was wrong.
• Reed will account for at least 2.5 sacks. Loss. 2-6. Reed did not record a sack vs. Arizona State even though Carpenter was constantly pressured.
• Ducks will win the turnover battle. Loss. 2-7. This was tied at 3-3.
• Jaison Williams will have over 70 yards receiving. Loss. 2-8. Only 1 reception for 12 yards.
• Ducks will throw for over 200 yards. Win. 3-8. Masoli completed 17 of 26 for 147 and Roper completed 4 of 4 for 86. Total of 233.
• Ducks won't hold ASU to under 100 yards rushing. Win. 4-8. ASU had 107 yards on the ground.
• ASU won't pickup more than 350 total yards. Win. 5-8. Whew... ASU got close but came up short at 333.
• Both teams will score double digits. Win. 6-8. Final score 54-20.
• Ducks win by double digits. Win. 7-8. Make that 34 points.

Quick Predictions

Thought I would throw up a few quick predictions before I took off for Phoenix.

• We will see 2 quarterbacks play and Darron Thomas won't see action.
• Masoli will get the majority of the snaps.
  
• JJ will have a 100 plus yards rushing.
• Blount will score his 11th touchdown of the season.
• Chung will get his first interception of the year.
• Carpenter won't make it past halftime.
• Carpenter will get sacked at least 4 times (even if he doesn't stay in the game past halftime).
• Reed will account for at least 2.5 sacks.
• Ducks will win the turnover battle.
• Jaison Williams will have over 70 yards receiving.
  
• Ducks will throw for over 200 yards.
• Ducks won't hold ASU to under 100 yards rushing.
• ASU won't pickup more than 350 total yards.
  
• Both teams will score double digits.
• Ducks win by double digits.

GO DUCKS!

Misc. Links

Here are a few links in relation to this weekends game at ASU:

• A hobbled Carpenter is likely to be running for his life on Saturday.
• Offensive balance? Give Bellotti a break... and more OSU Rose Bowl comments... Ugh...
• Some new wrinkles, injury status, Blount's scoring and the uniforms get some more props.
• The Ducks running game will give them the advantage against the Sun Devils.
• Pritchett will miss the ASU game due to a suspension for breaking team rules.

ASU TV Situation

For those not actually going to the game, here is the TV situation for Saturday's game against ASU. There are usually a few bars around the Portland area that are able to tap into the satellite feed. Call ahead of time and be sure to talk to someone who knows if they have satellites. Many bartenders will think they can get the game because the bar has a sports package. The bar actually needs to have someone that knows how to snag that feed. It's not just some special channel.

Alston is Out

According to Moseley, Remene Alston broke his foot in practice yesterday and will miss the remainder of the season.

2 Headed Monster?

According to Moseley's summary of Bellotti's Pac-10 teleconference, Oregon will likely be using more than one quarterback for the game vs. Arizona State. Bellotti said they would 'like to have one' but that Roper and Masoli's different skill sets could lead to both of them seeing playing time. Here we go again...

Darius Miles Dismissed

Darius Miles was dismissed from the Celtics yesterday. Good thing for the Blazers... If Miles had played 10 games this season for another team, the Blazers would be required to pay his $9 million dollar a year salary (with 2 years remaining). If he doesn't play 10 games, the Blazers get to keep that $9 million for Portland's 2009-2010 salary cap. It probably didn't help Miles' case when he failed a drug test in late September, stating he wasn't sure how he failed. Many people still believe that a team may pick up Miles and play him 10 games just to keep the Blazers away from that cap money.

BCS & Predictions

The first BCS poll came out yesterday and they obviously think very highly of the Pac-10 (or shall I say Pac-1). USC came in at #5 with not another Pac-10 team in sight. If you want to see some interesting rankings, take a look at collegefootballnews.com's 1 to 119. The most interesting rankings were Washington State at 105 (somehow above 14 other teams) and Washington hasn't won a game but is 82nd (before a 6-2 Western Michigan team). The Pac-10 looks like this:

5. USC
34. Arizona
35. California
38. Oregon
40. Oregon State
52. Arizona State
68. UCLA
69. Stanford
82. Washington
105. Washington State

Moseley posted some bowl predictions. Holiday, Sun and Las Vegas... As a Duck fan, where would you want to go most? Of course Beaver's are still talking roses (and, of course, some trash). Hey Beavers, you are still only 4-3.

WTF?

So isn't it usually the ref that gets knocked down? And I thought Pac-10 Refs were bad.

Time for Some Warm Weather

The weather is looking warm in Arizona this weekend (highs of 90 and lows of 60). Should be perfect weather to watch a football game.

GoDucks.com posted week nine's football release for Oregon @ Arizona State.

Here are some interesting tidbits from the release if you don't plan on reading the whole thing...

• The Ducks had 12 consecutive wins after a bye week before dropping last years game at Arizona (when Dixon went down). Bellotti is 12-2.


• Nick Reed was named midseason All-America Team by CBSSports.com and was the ONLY Pac-10 player to make the list. He is also 5 tackles-for-a-loss from Devan Long's school record of 48 and 4.5 sacks behind leader Ernest Jones' record of 29. 5 of those TFLs and 3.5 sacks are against ASU.


• Patrick Chung has 27 tackles over 3 games against ASU... 9 tackles a game! Chung is 7th in Oregon's career list for tackles with 338.


• Jaison Williams has 15 catches for 243 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Sun Devils. His next catch will be to tie for Oregon's 3rd place career reception list with Demetrius Williams and Cristin McLemore. He needs 16 more receptions and 369 yards to beat both reception and career yard records.

Also, Oregon's game vs. Cal on November 1st will be broadcast at 12:30pm on ABC.

Remember the Duck's last visit to Sun Devil Stadium (48-13)?

Worried About Chip Kelly Leaving?

Many of you knew Kelly signed a 4 year contract in January that will keep him at Oregon through the 2011 season. But that didn't seem to make people believe that wouldn't keep him rushing off at the first sight of something even remotely better. However, according to Bellamy's article today, Kelly's does not only include his base salary and guaranteed supplemental package but additional incentive bonuses, product endorsements and retention bonus. Kelly could earn over $550,000 this year if he played all his cards right (not including his 100,000 signing bonus in January).

Unfortunately for many, Aliotti has some of these same incentives and is also on a 4 year contract.


Side Note: I love how Kelly and Aliotti each have $2000 riding on the civil war!

Surprise Surprise

Adam "Pacman" Jones received a 4 game suspension from league for his drunken fight with his bodyguard last week. Take a look at the sidebar on the right side of that article. Kind of makes you wonder where he would be if he realized that strip clubs, night clubs and hotels weren't the best atmosphere for him. Sure, I believe in giving a guy another chance... maybe even a 3rd chance... But the fact he has been involved in 12 off field incidents since the time he was drafted in 2005 is just a TAD over the top.

Sure, Jerry Jones, owner of "America's Team" (the Dallas Coyboys) is a gambler. You don't make billions without taking risks. However, as a risk taker, there are always the times when you need to cut your losses. Regardless of contract term, Pacman Jones wasn't a wise investment.

"Make it Rain"

That's a No Go

All appeals were denied. Those who were planning on staying home to watch the Oregon/ASU game are out of luck. Usually Cheerful Sports Page or Kingston Bar and Grill (Among other "true" sports bars) are able to get satellite feeds but there is no guarantee and you usually need to show up nice and early.

Duck & Devil Problems

After reading Bob Clark's breakdown of Arizona State's problems you have to feel pretty good about Oregon's chances next weekend. While Duck fans and critics alike believe that Oregon has some major issues to resolve, it can't be as bad as ASUs problems... Only 3 trips to the red zone with nothing to show from it, a player restrained after going after an assistant coach and Carpenter with a broken bone in his lower leg (just to name a few)... yikes.

And even while there is another quarterback competition during the bye week, I have to admit that I was happy to see that Bellotti actually stick with Masoli for the whole game against UCLA. The qb swapping in the past has seemed to create nothing but inconsistency. Pick a guy and stick with him (at least for that game). When Clemens went down in 2005 it just seemed like every time one of the qbs was gaining some swagger they were pulled for the other.

Regardless of Masoli's passing stats from the UCLA game (5-19), I was fairly impressed with the way he played. Keep in mind that "the gameplan" was to run the quarterback. Sure, Kelly didn't want Masoli to run it THAT much but UCLA kept daring him to (Probably so the Weasel could hurt another quarterback this season). At least 5 of those passes were perfectly placed and dropped by a wide receiver or tight end and another handful were thrown out of bounds because Masoli didn't have anyone to throw to.

I like Roper's accuracy but I believe that the dual threat of Masoli gives the Ducks the better chance to win. Especially if the Duck receivers can actually catch the balls when they are thrown their way.

Ahh... College football at it's best... There is no way anyone could have predicted that in game 7 our leading rusher would be Jeremiah Masoli and our leading receiver would be Chris Harper. Cheer up Duck fans, Oregon still pulled out the "W" and they'll have their leading receiver back for ASU.

ASU Kickoff Time

Looks like the Ducks will be playing under the lights for the 3rd time this season (USC's 5pm game had a few hours of light) as they are schedule to kick off at 7pm. However, the game will not be broadcast on television, so lights out (yes, lame pun intended).

Oregon has appealed Arizona State to see if they game could be played earlier to accommodate a possible OSN broadcast and appealed to the Pac-10 for a waiver to produce a telecast in conflict with FSN if the time isn't changed. According to Moseley, a time change is unlikely so cross your fingers and hope that FSN allows the Pac-10 to grant the waiver (for those not attending the game).

Byrd - Pac10 Defensive Player of the Week

Jairus Byrd was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against UCLA this weekend. Byrd had nine tackles (six solo), 1 intercepted pass (not including the one that was taken away from the questionable pass interference call) and three pass breakups. Byrd was the second Duck to come away with a Pac-10 Player of the Week award after Matt Evensen for his performance vs. Purdue.

What? No Preferential Treatment?

In random news of the day... China's table tennis silver medalist Wang Hao (Please tell me this pronounced wang ho?) must have counseling for a fight with a security guard attempting to stop Wang from urinating outside a karaoke bar.

I find some irony in the fact that someone named Wang was caught publicly urinating. To top it off, he beats the individual who attempted to stop him and yells 'I am the famous Wang Hao! I am the world champion! Does it matter if I beat you?'

Sounds like he learned his lesson though... 'It taught me that I have to be very careful about anything I say or do.'

Nawwwwww... Really?!?

Black Helmet Rumors

There were rumors floating around even before Phil Knight recently mentioned a uniform change in the near future and if you want to believe a reliable source on chatforquacks, the black helmets are no longer just a rumor, he's seen them.

As we've heard (but not confirmed) for a few weeks, black was apparently the color of choice for this weekend's homecoming matchup with UCLA. Though, I never found one legitimate source that said they had seen the team practicing with them recently. Moseley even just confirmed that the Ducks will be wearing the normal green helmets tomorrow but didn't elaborate (update: he has a little).

It seems like things have been pretty quiet this week so I'm not sure what to think. I'd like to believe the rumor and all the smoke & mirrors (ie. keeping the media at bay) but I just don't think the Ducks will don new helmets without practicing in them first and someone leaking that information.

Kent Gets Another Chance

Jordan Kent picked up spot on the Seahawks roster in Seattle after Courtney Taylor struggled.

Hitler a Duck Fan?!?

Bet you didn't know that Hitler was a Duck fan too? Very funny but please someone post a video response to this...

UCLA Predictions

So I guess I was the only one who predicted wrong last week. Who would have guessed?!? Exactly why I don't bet on teams that I care about.

• John Hunt hasn't missed one yet and predicts an Oregon win.
• Sports Network has a more elaborated rundown of the game and believes that the Ducks "simply have too much firepower for UCLA."
• Scout.com (collegefootballnews.com) also believes the Ducks will bounce back.
• Miller put the Ducks on an upset alert but believes that Ducks will listen to that alert.
• Moseley predicts a Duck win also.

My prediction (if you care)... Oregon 37 - UCLA 16. I'm guessing I can't beat the 38 point difference from my USC prediction.

Recruitment News for Homecoming

Ducks have a good amount of recruits who will be visiting for Homecoming this weekend and may even have some unofficial visitors. I doubt Tate Forcier will be visiting since he's already committed to Michigan... However, it wouldn't surpise me if he was on the sidelines. Also, if you hadn't heard last weekend, the Ducks picked up Diante Jackson, their first wide receiver of the 2009 class.

Defensive Changes

After Oregon's humbling 44-10 loss at the Colosseum, Moseley asked Bellotti some questions regarding the state of Oregon's defense. Oregon's D was supposed to rank among the nations best this year, especially the secondary. On Saturday the Ducks defense allowed a huge 598 yards and 443 of that was passing. Ugh...

Hope the Ducks can figure out their defensive problems or it's going to be a long remainder of the season.

Interesting Links

Here are some interesting links of the day...

A USC blog has a poll on Oregon's uniforms and whether they are the best or the worst in college football. At the time I took this poll a whopping 506 people thought Oregon's uniforms were "the best" while only 27 people had voted them "the worst" (and 26 said they didn't care as long as USC beat them). These numbers intrigued me. After contantly hearing from other schools about how Oregon's uniforms were hideous we seeing something different in these numbers.

According to the football rumor mill the Washington Huskies may be pursuing Pat Hill for his services. Not sure what I think about see Pat Hill in the Pac-10.

A Little Fuel for the Fire

Tale of Two Faces

What Sanchez reaction will we see after Saturday's game???

More Maualuga Info

Ted Miller discusses why Maualuga's absence for USC game vs. the Ducks may be good or bad.

USC Predictions

Here are a few predictions regarding this weekends Oregon game vs. the USC Trojans:

Looks like John Hunt has been fairly accurate (5-0) in the first five games and picks (not surprisingly) a USC win on Saturday. If he continues at the pace of his first 5 picks the Ducks would wind up at 9-3... Not bad.

Scout.com (Collegefootballnews.com) also believes the Trojans will win with double digits. Though they believe the game will be toe-to-toe until the 4th when the skill at quarterback will ring true.

Moseley also piped in with his predictions for the game. He also picks a USC win.

Surprise, mother f@#$ing surprise... Ted Miller picked USC to win too.

Geez, even at Off the Pond, Nick's PreNicktion is for the Ducks to lose on Saturday. Come on Nick, I've always thought of you as more of a homer than that.

While I have to admit it is extremely hard believing that the Ducks can pull of a win, in the Colosseum and after their only loss of the season. Let's look how the Trojans have responded to loosing in the past.

• Unfortunately you can't really look back as far as 2004 (Not 1 loss) and to 2005 (only loss came to Texas in the NC)
  
• In 2006, when USC lost to OSU, the Trojans squashed Stanford 42-0. They also lost to UCLA in the last game of the season and came out to beat, then No. 8 Michigan by a score of 32-18.
  
• Last year after loosing to Stanford at home, the Trojans came out and beat Arizona by 7 (at home 20-13). After loosing to Oregon, the Trojans stomped on OSU by a score of 24-3.

So what's this tell us?!? Probably nothing. Probably that I just wasted my time looking that stuff up... Or probably that the Trojans don't seem to have a problem bouncing back from a loss (like the Ducks have in the past).

Then again, wasn't everyone saying that Michigan was going to annihilate Oregon last year after their season opening loss to Appalachian State? Lets look how that ended.

So, while a USC win is probably the likely outcome in Saturday's matchup... Every once and a while a streak needs to be broken.

Sure, call me a homer... This is exactly why I (typically) don't bet on Duck games... But hey, someone has to do it!

Ducks 28 - USC 24

Time to pull out your bag of tricks Chip.

Trojan Breakdown

Here are few links from the last few days regarding the Oregon/USC game this weekend:

If Saturday's game wasn't already a big deal every player, two players on each sideline will be playing for some brotherly pride.

According to Moseley, Rey Maualuga will not play this Saturday for the USC/Oregon game. He also posted some comments from Bellotti's Tuesday night press conference.

JTLight, at Addicted to Quack, believes that for Oregon to win, the Ducks must force the game into the hands of Mark Sanchez.

Nick, at Off the Pond, has reconsidered his original claim that Darron Thomas should be number 1 QB and now believes that Masoli will give the Ducks the best chance to win. He also had some good points to why this game against the Trojans is no different today than it was before OSU beat them in Corvallis.

Can Ducks do it again? I still believe it.