Not On McCloud Nine: Arizona Game Review

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Cast your vote in this week’s Ditch Rich Pac-12 Poll here, and check out the power rankings later this week in Pac-12 Check.

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I’m won’t lie, that was a weird Duck game.

The Stony Brook game was weird, too, but steady enough in the second half to where you really had no reason to be pressed. The Oregon defense held strong throughout; the offense made their typical plays, and their typical mistakes; and you watched the Ducks beat a lesser opponent by 41 points.

But this Arizona game? It was the first time this year—at least for a moment—where I didn’t recognize this Ducks team.

Not that I thought they would lose, but that I didn’t recognize the physical, disciplined, and prepared program that Mario Cristobal had started to deliver on a constant basis.

I’ll start with the physicality because most of my preview for this game was supremely focused on the run game.

All relevant signs and stats coming into the game pointed to Oregon likely outrushing Arizona by a hefty number. But there’s a reason why they play the game on the field and not on paper.

Oregon just could not take control of the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball for much of the game.

The middle of the defensive front was gashed repeatedly by Arizona’s rushing attack, and that position group finally started to show just how beaten up they are from the first quarter of the year.

There wasn’t much in terms of a significant pass rush from Oregon either, and KT was put on load management, so we didn’t even get to walk away from his return with a true feeling of: “Oh, he’s back.”

There were a few big run plays from Oregon’s offense, but the consistency was far from what we have come to expect. But I don’t think the offensive line was really to blame for those struggles.

AB made some bad reads in the RPO—particularly in that new speed option that Moorhead clearly wanted to debut this week—and CJ’s optimal number of carries seems to be closer to 20 if he’s going to have a good day, but he got just 11.

Oregon’s run game hinges on sequences of plays, one after another, as we test for weak spots, and build up to the home run. It’s really hard to put together a rhythm like that when you aren’t on offense—like at all.

To Arizona’s credit, they possessed the hell out of the ball—nearly doubling Oregon in that category. The ‘Cats had 233 passing, 202 rushing (the most we’ve allowed this year), and 31 first downs. Put all that together, and you officially have the best game that the Wildcats have played all season—and they still lost by 22.

But we’d seen that same “hold-the-ball” approach to beating the Ducks from Iowa State in the Fiesta Bowl, and it once again proved to be a huge challenge for Oregon to find a team-wide groove without having the ball in their hands.

I’m not going to call this a Blueprint Game where now the whole country knows how to beat the Ducks, but if Oregon is going to go down on The Farm next week and beat David Shaw—a notable “hold-the-ball” guy in his own right—then they’ll have to be able to play flawless football every time they have a chance to.

And it was the lack of sharpness and execution that really made this game so much harder than it had to be.

Whether they were deserved or not—some were, most weren’t—the penalties were absolute killers for Oregon. The Ducks had nine penalties for a total of 95 yards, and two or three of those came on what were effectively third down stops.

It was a terribly sloppy game—especially in the third quarter—but thanks to five interceptions (one of the things I was right about in my preview) the Ducks were able to 1) gain the best turnover margin in the nation with plus-12, and 2) win by three scores.

Moving forward, is Oregon going to continue to turn the ball over at such a high rate that will keep them in any and every football game?

Honestly yeah it’s feeling like they are.

But could you turn three score games into six score games against lesser competition by actually being sharp, present, composed, and just plain dialed in for four whole quarters?

You bet your ass.

Tyson Alger @tysonalger

That’s about as angry as you’ll see Cristobal.

Saturday was not a full game of Mario football—as evidenced by coach’s displeasure with Kris Hutson at the end of the first half. Oregon once again played down to their competition and made the Autzen faithful sweat a little.

We saw the Ducks start the game really hot, and then they intermittently coasted/surged/“taunted” their way into just a five point lead heading into the fourth quarter in a game that shouldn’t have ever been a game.

And then they ended up turning in a score that is just fine with the rest of the country. Because that’s what great teams do.

It needs to be cleaned up, absolutely. But we know what they look like when they have their shit together. That’s what makes it so hard to watch them when they don’t.

But the Ducks were 1-0 once again this week. Now we’re on to Stanford.

Oh, and also, Camden “The Hero” Lewis hit a 43-yarder like a pro. BELIEVE.

Go Ducks.

P.S. - My Cousin Andy’s Buddy Jordan was pretty damn close with his final score prediction of 45-14, so please go down in the comments and give Jordan his proper praise.