On our first play of the game last week, Bo Nix “threw” an “interception.” And then just a few plays later our pass rush forced Cal to throw it right back to Steve Stephens.
The weird, rainy (yet still low-key entertaining) beginning to the game didn’t look wonderful on TV, but luckily nobody on the Playoff Committee has the Pac-12 Network.
However, they do watch highlight reels, and the eventual 63-19 final score still ended up having plenty of flash to share around.
It’s was the perfect storm.
We won a blowout that looked good for our Eye Test™, but we still made plenty of mistakes that Dan can yell about during preparation for this week.
In my last post, I said that my arbitrary target for penalties for the month of November was a total of twenty.
Well, we drew nine flags alone in the Cal game, so we aren’t doing so hot in that department by my made up measure, and now the only way we can get back on track this week would be to have exactly one penalty tomorrow.
We’ll see about that.
Bo had five total touchdowns in the first half alone and he had me googling “Oregon single-game TD record” at halftime once I finally grabbed some of that precious Autzen 5G service.*
*The record is seven by 2013 Marcus Mariota vs. Colorado, by the way.
We didn’t rush for our usual monster yardage, but with a 46-36 pass play-run play split, it felt like Will Stein came into the game with a commitment to really give our passing attack a chance to pick Cal apart through the air.
And the brother-to-brother connection between Bo and Tez Johnson had a coming out party (after a bumpy start), but Tyson Alger from The I-5 Corridor summed it up best on Twitter:
To put a cap on the Cal game, I do have a bone to pick with the Autzen Jumbotron.
When announcing the “play of the game,” the video board team made a mistake and showed some touchdown throw between Bo & Tez.
The actual play of the game occurred on a third quarter Ross James monster punt that flew 64 yards and bounced out of bounds at Cal’s three-yard line.
I don’t know if I can remember a better Oregon punt ever.
Not even Josh Syrie—MVP of our 2007 16-0 loss at UCLA—ever flipped the field like that.
I expect a full retraction from the Jumbotron staff tomorrow. Do the right thing.
And now on to the Trojan War.
The Ducks have beaten USC the last two times they’ve faced off (most recently in the 2020 Mickey Mouse Pac-12 Title Game), but the Troy Boys haven’t come into Autzen since 2015.
That kind of gap is insane to me.
When the two biggest brands in your conference have played just four times in the last eight years, you can’t be shocked when the whole thing collapses.
But this game has been circled on the schedule by everyone for quite some time—especially by ticket re-sellers.
And I hope those scalpers sold early—or I hope you all bought your tickets this week—because USC’s hyped season has taken a three-loss downturn where $220 tickets have plummeted down to $60ish.
Lincoln’s Loggers had everyone thinking they were a national title contender, but then they got smashed by Notre Dame, lost yet again to Utah, and just lost a shootout to Washington.
In the words of the great LA Times columnist, Bill Plaschke, USC has been “flunking” their Heisman-winning QB Caleb Williams with weird play-calling and an absolute failure of a defense.
Speaking of their defense—ranked 120th in the nation, which places them squarely between Vanderbilt and Stanford—they unfortunately fired Alex Grinch this week.
Personally, I was looking for them to #ExtendGrinch, but you can’t always get what you want.
I’m going to miss Grinch, and not simply because he ran such a bad college football defense, but mostly because whenever Plaschke would write about him he would strategically refer to him as, “Lincoln Riley’s buddy,” and never as, “USC’s defensive coordinator.”
If you think pettiness only exists down here in the blogging division, you’re not reading enough of the Big League stuff. They do it best up there.
USC ultimately fired Grinch because 1) they gave up 49 points to Cal two weeks ago, and 2) they allowed air-raid Washington to RUSH for 316 yards including 256 and 4 TDs from Dillon Johnson alone.
Alex Grinch—and USC’s undisciplined tackling—made Johnson look like Kenjon Barner, and somebody has to be fired for that.
Lincoln Riley decided it had to be his buddy.
But just think about it, if even Washington can run all over USC, can you imagine what Bucky, Jordan, and our offensive line could do to these guys?
I’ll temper my expectations with the knowledge that Oregon is an incredibly balanced offensive team.
Lanning & Stein won’t decide to sell out on the run to the tune of 500+ yards (even though that would be a really funny thing to do).
And hey, Stein may even elect to pass the ball more than he runs, seeing as how Bo just threw for 386 and he has Troy & Tez running rampant down the field).
Bucky missed practice on Tuesday, per the 247Sports/Autzen Audibles guys, but he was back again on Wednesday, also per them.
It’s likely a nothingburger—just like the moment we all thought Dorlus might be hurt—but as we keep creeping through November you have to watch every little “banged up” player very carefully.
The last time Oregon played Caleb Williams, he was wearing an Oklahoma uniform, and that 2021 defense had a very hard time slowing him down at all.
He’s really good at football, and he will have success tomorrow, it’s just a matter of making sure he has less success than us (which I think will happen) and as an added bonus, it would be nice to make sure he has less success against Oregon than he had against Washington (which I think will also happen).
In the spirit of USC’s final visit to Eugene in the Pac-era, my points prediction is a nostalgic one:
Oregon 47, USC 20.
Maybe that doesn’t hit the over everyone is hoping for, and maybe that doesn’t reflect the 50 or 60 points some media folks think we will put up, but I still think USC is a Good™ team that could absolutely threaten to steal one away from us if we aren’t careful, focused, and firing on all cylinders.
I guess we’ll know by midnight tomorrow if I’m right or not.
Go Ducks.
"but luckily nobody on the Playoff Committee has the Pac-12 Network." Thank goodness!