The Steve Greatwood Unretirement Tour
Because Tom Brady made it look so easy.
We all know about Bo and Bucky and Troy Franklin. And this fantastic o-line. And Kenny Dillingham’s incredible playcalling instincts. We cover that stuff weekly here.
But I want to take this week to shine a light on a group that I think deserves a lot more recognition—right up there with all the excitement around ballsy onside kicks and #BoHeisman hype.
I’m a sunshine-pumper, we know this, but the one unit I’ve been specifically hard on has been our secondary.
A few weeks ago, I called out Trikweze Bridges by name as a weakness on this defense, but after what I saw against UCLA, it’s time to admit that they’ve answered a lot* of my questions.
*Not all, but a lot!
The first big thing I noticed was just how much Bryan Addison’s return changed the dynamic of the back half of Oregon’s defense.
Addison is a veteran who has scraped and clawed his way to where he is now. It’s clear that his leadership and football IQ immediately changed the attitude of our embattled secondary.
Not only did he set the tone early with solid tackling and reliable play out in the open field—a trend that every other corner and safety also kept up throughout the day—but his one pass breakup and savvy endzone interception of DTR were both huge in keeping the top on the defense and not allowing a great QB to burn you big.
Bridges, Steve Stephens, and Bennett Williams clearly all fed off Addison’s energy, and the whole group found themselves making up for a lot of the shortcomings that our inside linebackers faced on Saturday.
Stephens lead the team with seven tackles; Trikweze had five total himself which included a tackle for loss; and Christian Gonzalez was once again the standout performer with five solo tackles on the day—one being a three yard tackle for loss—as well as two big pass breakups.
Gonzo continues to make a great case as a first round dude, but we’re damn glad he’s here to help us for as long as he can.
Dontae Manning got in on the action, too, with a stellar open field tackle of his own. There was a time where a lot of us feared deeply about him and Bridges out in space, but I can say that I have way more belief in those two than I had just a month ago.
Now, DTR still threw for over 262 yards and Zach Charbonnet gashed us for 152 on the ground, BUT yards aren’t points, and this secondary really toughened up in the redzone, and their discipline directly led to UCLA settling for field goals over and over.
Traditionally, we call that bend-but-don’t-break.
Until Sewell and Flowe—and to a lesser extent Bassa, who is our own personal Blitz Boy—start to play closer and closer to their potential, I’m thankful that I can trust the backside of our defense and their ability to replicate a similar performance to the one we just saw in Autzen.
And Gonzo & Co. will immediately face another challenge in hotshot Cal freshman RB, Jadyn Ott, who can break open big runs left and right (if his o-line ever managed to make a gap for him).
But Ott is pretty much the lone bright spot on a wildly inconsistent Golden Bear offense.
He ran for a whopping 274 yards and 3 scores against Arizona earlier in the year, which means he will surely find himself at the second level against us at some point, and we’ll need our quick corners to keep tackling well out in space to make sure he doesn’t go too crazy.
Ott is basically a shoe-in for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year at this point, and usually a weapon like that would make a team more of a threat, but California has been killed big time by their lackluster play along the offensive line.
G-Bears quarterback, Jack Plummer, has faced nationally-renowned levels of pressure. Cal ranks 117th in the country haven given up 23 sacks for -173 yards—about 3.3 sacks per game.
Plummer is no slouch, but he’s been running for his life, and all of those hits will add up later in life, possibly giving him a slouch after all.
Things have gotten so bad up front in Berkeley that Justin Wilcox called up Steve Greatwood and pulled him out of retirement to see if he could figure out what the hell was wrong.
And in the immediate game after Greatwood’s return, the Bears gave up five sacks and nine TFLs against the Huskies.
Much like Tom Brady, Steve Greatwood is quickly learning that unretirement is TOUGH.
This Oregon pass rush has not gotten to the quarterback much this year, but all signs point to this matchup being the kind of game that helps remind DJ and Dorlus just how fun it is to be in the backfield.
“Oh shit, I forgot what it’s like back here. We should do this every game!”
Look for more superb play from the secondary, and even if Ott finds his way around us a few times, that Cal offensive front is hunting for some records for Bad Play™ this year, and Oregon is more than happy to help them get there.
55-21, Bay Area Ducks.
Go Ducks.
Nice write-up, I got my prediction at 56-13 as I think they settle for some FGs.