I've been watching some of the Ducks games from this season over the last few weeks. Here are some of my obersvations.
1. The Ducks defense isn't very good. From what I saw in the games, they have problems with open field tackling, their db's aren't great (even Ekpre-Olomu is inconsisent), and their lb's aren't nearly what they were a few years ago with Kiko Alonso, Dion Jordan and Micheal Clay. At times their dline hasn't been very impressive either, and I understand that it is also having some health issues. Their starting NT Alex Baducci may not play against us and this marks the first week that Arik Armstead is back after an ankle injury. My eye test observations are backed up by the stats - they rank 11th in the conference to date (http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/905/...01.html). If Hogan and the Oline have good games (they don't need to be perfect, and Arizona certainly was not when they beat them this year in Eugene), then I can see us scoring 30 plus points on these guys.
2. If the Ducks can get their run game working, look out - they will score a lot of points. That being said, they haven't had much success against us for a couple of years now. The wildcard to me is whether Parry is back - if he plays and plays close to his normal effective game, I think we can slow them down sufficinetly. If not, I'd be very concerned.
3. The Ducks passing game is good, but they are by no means perfect. Mariotta is clearly a first rate passer, but I don't think his receivers are as good as they have been in previous years. The receivers aren't always running the routes that Mariotta ends up throwing to.
4. I'm not sure the Ducks Oline will be ready for our front seven. Their guards don't seem to me to be that effective in either pass protection or run blocking, so I can see us exploiting that. Kalambayi may have a field day with some delayed blitzes up the middle.Â
Assuming that either Parry plays effectively or Phillips steps up and fills in well, and that Hogan and the Oline plays well (but not perfectly), then I think we win comfortably. If either of those assumptions don't hold, then I think we lose. I am going to be optimistic on the basis that we have played well against the Ducks for the last couple of years, so I say we win 32 to 20.
Update: Drukarev tweeting that Shaw said Parry is "on the better side of questionable", and that he looked good moving w/out pads [yesterday].
1. The Ducks defense isn't very good. From what I saw in the games, they have problems with open field tackling, their db's aren't great (even Ekpre-Olomu is inconsisent), and their lb's aren't nearly what they were a few years ago with Kiko Alonso, Dion Jordan and Micheal Clay. At times their dline hasn't been very impressive either, and I understand that it is also having some health issues. Their starting NT Alex Baducci may not play against us and this marks the first week that Arik Armstead is back after an ankle injury. My eye test observations are backed up by the stats - they rank 11th in the conference to date (http://www.cfbstats.com/2014/leader/905/...01.html). If Hogan and the Oline have good games (they don't need to be perfect, and Arizona certainly was not when they beat them this year in Eugene), then I can see us scoring 30 plus points on these guys.
2. If the Ducks can get their run game working, look out - they will score a lot of points. That being said, they haven't had much success against us for a couple of years now. The wildcard to me is whether Parry is back - if he plays and plays close to his normal effective game, I think we can slow them down sufficinetly. If not, I'd be very concerned.
3. The Ducks passing game is good, but they are by no means perfect. Mariotta is clearly a first rate passer, but I don't think his receivers are as good as they have been in previous years. The receivers aren't always running the routes that Mariotta ends up throwing to.
4. I'm not sure the Ducks Oline will be ready for our front seven. Their guards don't seem to me to be that effective in either pass protection or run blocking, so I can see us exploiting that. Kalambayi may have a field day with some delayed blitzes up the middle.Â
Assuming that either Parry plays effectively or Phillips steps up and fills in well, and that Hogan and the Oline plays well (but not perfectly), then I think we win comfortably. If either of those assumptions don't hold, then I think we lose. I am going to be optimistic on the basis that we have played well against the Ducks for the last couple of years, so I say we win 32 to 20.
Update: Drukarev tweeting that Shaw said Parry is "on the better side of questionable", and that he looked good moving w/out pads [yesterday].