Hey Bison fans
I can tell you that a lot of folks out here are looking forward to this one. And if they say otherwise, they're ignorant.
I'm still upset about Wash-Griz in 2003.
I grew up in MT, but attended UO (Bellotti years) and now live in Portland.
NDSU then Ohio State the next week .... the f*ck were we thinking?
Anyway, one interesting little nugget is that we will be rolling out a brand new OC for this game in Joe Moorhead.
We'll see how the QB competition this spring shapes up, but for now, Shough is our guy.
The commentary so far around Moorhead is that he's an all-star hire in terms of who's available now. Had great success at Penn State, so-so at Miss State but recruited well and landed them in bowl games.
And I believe Cristobal is pretty set on the pistol, so we should see the same looks, but word is that Moorhead will want to run the QB much more.
Fans out here gave our previous OC, Marcus Arroyo a rash of sh!t but I believe Cristobal has a hand in most of the playcalling. The staff kept Herbert pretty contained in the pocket until the final two games against Utah and Wisconsin, and that threat won those games for us - particularly against Wisconsin where he had 3 rushing TDs. Herbert wasn't perfect but he was our hometown dude that stuck it out through 3 HCs in 4 years as a starter. We'll miss you Herbie.
I myself find the pistol frustrating. It relies so much on schematic perfection and we used some really odd wrinkles in moments where we had a clear physical advantage on the line. That said, Cristobal will knock and knock and knock and knock almost stubbornly so until CJ Verdell or Travis Dye finally bust one. Habibi-Likio is our Bison-like hardnosed third, short yardage back. Hope to see much more from him this year, as he had some big moments in key games in an otherwise quiet 2019.
It will be a whole new O-line as many of you know. Aside from Penei Sewell who has a solid legacy brewing in Eugene.
Defense, on the other hand, could be viewed in 2020 as our best ever. We know they'll have their hands full with Trey Lance. I would not be surprised if he has his way with us in the first half until Avalos can make adjustments.
Rising young star for the Ducks, imo, is Mykael Wright who will start at CB this year. He is a special teams home run threat that the Ducks had missed these last couple years.
Congrats on your natty, look forward to several months of back and forth with you. Come out to the game, you won't regret it.
My biggest hope is UO matches NDSU's executional discipline and we make it to week 2 with a solid W and a healthy roster against the next juggernaut - from Columbus. I am gonna do a lot of stress boozing on Saturdays come September.
Go Ducks
(and Go Griz
)
thx for letting me rant