It’s been a season of highs and lows. Hunting and hunted. And the sun always shines on TV. But will the Ducks? Ah, hah. That’s the question.
If you’ve read most of the predictions posted on DuckSportsNews.com over the last couple of days, you probably have the impression that the experts believe that the sun set on the Ducks’ ship a long time ago.
DSN is not in the business of predicting winners, predicting scores, laying points, or handicapping. But we’re contrarians. We’re going to go all-George on this one, and do the exact opposite. So, here’s our prediction (we’ll reveal our methodology later):
DuckSportsNews.com’s Prediction (JJ): USF 19, Oregon 24
To review, this is a quick rundown of some of those other, less optimistic predictions:
Register-Guard’s Rob Moseley: USF 26, Oregon 20
Portland Tribune’s Jason Vondersmith: USF 31, Oregon 24
Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel: USF 31, Oregon 28
Tampa Tribune: USF 27, Oregon 14
Rivals.com’s Steve Megargee’s pick: USF 20, Oregon 10
Rivals.com’s Olin Buchanan, national college football writer: USF 20, Oregon 10
Rivals.com’s Mike Huguenin, college sports editor: USF 20, Oregon 14
Rivals.com’s Bill King, Rivals Radio host: USF 28, Oregon 13
USFBullsEYE.com: USF 24, Oregon 10
Duck Sports Authority: USF 31, Oregon 34
OregonLive.com’s Bob Rickert: USF 24, Oregon 27
Fox Sports’ & College Football News’ Rich Cirminiello: USF 30, Oregon 17
Addicted To Quack: Oregon (if they win the turnover battle)
Jimmy Boyd’s Locksmith Sports: USF 29, Oregon 23
- Jay Jones
Tags: Football, oregon, south florida, Sun Bowl
Duckdude Says:
December 31st, 2007 at 8:26 am
From what I have seen so far, it just doesn’t look promising for the Duck offense. USF knows that UO has a green QB, and a “no-hands” primary receiver, and a dinged up all-star running back. No surprise: UO is going to try to ride Jonathan Stewart. USF will key on Stewart. i.e. they’ll try to make Roper throw the ball. To whom? The most dependable thing about JWill is that he’s good for 3-4 drops a game. Dickson has been doing a JWill imitation lately. Is Derrick Jones even playing? The Ducks just don’t seem to have the passing offense to take USF’s focus off the Duck running game. And….that, coupled with the experienced QB for USF, seems to be where the decisive factor for this game seem to lie. So, as much as I’d like to: it’s hard to see the Ducks coming out on top of this one. But, if the “D” can come up with two scores for the Ducks, …..maybe it could happen! Either way, this Duck offense is not the one that earned this Bowl game, and……it’s a shame that we can’t show America what we really can do. But…”that’s the way the ball bounces”. Go Ducks!
admin Says:
December 31st, 2007 at 8:54 am
Duckdude -
You make some great points. And you’re thinking is very reasoned and logical (and better than mine).
However, nothing about the Ducks has been reasonable or logical since the Arizona game. I’m not trying to pull a Neuheisel (”the smartest guy in the room” routine), but the story arc for each game has gone in the exact opposite direction of good sense and reason.
Arizona -
Good sense: Dixon doesn’t play. Leaf and the team are mentally prepared for life after Dixon.
Reality: The team isn’t told about Dixon. Arizona plays their best game of the year.
UCLA:
Good sense: After some preparation, the Ducks offense responds, and Leaf manages the Ducks to a win against an inconsistent and fading UCLA team.
Reality: On offense, the Ducks look like they’ve never played football before.
OSU:
Good sense: OSU’s great defense will completely shutdown a inept Oregon offense and their offense will pass the ball all over the place on the Oregon defense. Even Oregon fans don’t give the Ducks much of a chance.
Reality: Oregon puts up 31 and OSU runs the ball more than effectively with a backup running back and James “The Fly Sweep” Rodgers. If it weren’t for a coaching mistake, Oregon wins.
Could it be a trend? Probably so. If I were a betting man, would I bet on the Ducks? Probably not. But I’m not. And this is a blog. So, I’m going with the Ducks because predicting a win here given the circumstances and history is simply not reasonable.
Then again, what’s been reasonable about this entire season?
- JJ