Good Coug Hunting
No goodbye, no see ya later, just Fireball.
So, uh, Oregon is a pretty good football team, huh?
The wounds of Atlanta healed just a little bit more last Saturday after that 41-20 housing of the #12 BYU Cougars—and it felt like the margin was even bigger than that, but Dan got a teensy bit greedy halfway through the third there when he decided it was Ty Time.
But he gets a pass on that, seeing as it was the biggest win of his career.
Plus, we all witnessed Lanning’s superb ability to manage the clock at the end of a half, and then on top of that, he DIDN’T burn a timeout to save us from some boneheaded organizational mistake at the beginning of the third quarter.
I thought college football made it mandatory to take a timeout with 13:28 left in the third quarter?
You’re telling me they didn’t?
Well, I don’t think that news made its way to Miami because they took one of those just last week.
But yeah, the Ducks smashed a very strong football team in front of a national TV audience on FOX and the general consensus around the country seems to be that Georgia really just is that good, and that the now 15th-ranked Ducks are far from dead.
But now they head to Pullman, where Duck teams go to die (except those team death numbers are inflated because Big Cougar has an agenda of their own, and you gotta do your own research because that final score in 2018 was rigged from the start, and quite frankly we did win that game).
Our fearless leader, Bo Nix had another five touchdown game against BYU. Three on the ground, two through the air, and obviously everyone in town was extra thankful to see him make that play. You know the one I’m talking about.
I was ecstatic to see that on multiple occasions when we needed a yard or less, we lined up under center, brought in three tight ends plus an extra lineman at times—mostly The Never-Husky Josh Conerly Jr.—and we just pushed our way to the promised land.
Oh, and Bo appeased a stadium full of Debby Downfields with that highlight reel bomb to Troy Franklin. It was a great pass, and an even better catch, and it happens to be the icing on the cake of another stellar performance by Franklin, who has quickly earning the title of WR1.
Dillingham’s offense is officially Exciting™, and it’s abundantly clear that Bo Nix is the engine that makes it go.
When Bo came back into the game—right after that “smooth snap” bailout we got, and just before we all started having TCU flashbacks—he scrambled on 3rd & 13. He ran right up to the line to gain and took a big shot from a BYU player. He sat right up and motioned* for a first down. The crowd went wild, his team went wild, and that was the moment that Bo made it abundantly clear: He is the guy.
*Notably, Bo was about a foot short, but we went for it on 4th (this time in BYU territory, but we’ll do it from anywhere) and Noah Whittington picked up the first.
Even without Byron Cardwell, we ran the ball for 212 yards and 4.8 per carry.
Notably, Bucky Irving flirted with a hundred yard game, but settled for 97 and a long of 36. Bucky was bouncing off would-be tacklers like he was Toby Gerhart or something, and even when Byron comes back healthy I think we are going to continue to see more and more of Bucky in a role that closely resembles RB1.
Noah Whittington had 66 yards himself, and Jordan James proved to be a bruiser in short yardage situations, averaging 5.5 per carry.
It’s clear that our O-line can get a push, and they have been run and pass blocking at an insane clip so far this year. Even including the UGA game, the Ducks still haven’t given up a sack so far this year (knock on wood).
And they’re going to have to keep that up because Wazzu has already notched 14 sacks, 4 picks, and recovered 3 fumbles so far. It’s safe to say they play themselves some defense.
The undefeated Cougs even marched into Madison and knocked off a physical Wisconsin team in what was probably the third-most impressive Pac-12 non-conference victory so far this season—the first, being ours, naturally, and the second being the Huskies, who I am officially already kind of sweating, but we’ll worry about that later).
If the Ducks continue to block this well, then I think Bo will keep making great Bo plays, and our stable of backs will rack up another 200+ game. Our offense is in good hands, in Dilly we trust, etc.
Our defense, however, might still be a proving ground for Dan Lanning’s true coaching ability. Particularly in the secondary. And particularly on a specific side of the secondary, because Christian Gonzalez is clearly a savage.
I’m not sure if Trikweze Bridges needs to shift towards the safety position, or if him and Dontae Manning should start splitting time at the corner position more evenly, but it is increasingly becoming clear that our vulnerability is that in-flux cornerback matchup, and a talented QB like WSU’s Cam Ward (or especially somebody with Big Penix Energy) is going to look to exploit that, just as BYU managed to a few times.
But Dan is a defensive coach, so I’ll give him every opportunity to coach up the defense and develop players. I’m not interested in writing anyone off, especially not at this point in the year.
So, our dreams and spirits are alive once again thanks to a couple dudes named Bo, Bucky, and Gonzo. That didn’t take long.
I hope to watch the Ducks continue to settle behind their O-line, run the ball some more, and take some more big shots in between. And defensively, our young corners aren’t going to get a break, so I hope to see a marked improvement every single week out of them.
Look, I’m as scared of The Palouse as the next fella, but I don’t think I’m that scared this year.
35-24.
Go Ducks.
BPE... Well done as usual...
As usual another fun and informative article. Thanks Ritch