I had some thoughts about the game Saturday.
Gridiron Insights
Speaking of Taggart’s ‘next game’ as Oregon head coach, it might have stood out in Monday’s twenty-two minute press conference that Taggart said he would not watch much film on Nebraska-Oregon circa 2016.
While it might be alarming to hear a coach ‘admit’ he is not looking at film of his upcoming opponent that could be relevant; there is more to that than meets the eye. What Nebraska was a year ago will be completely different than what they are today.
Following the 2016 season, Mike Riley parted ways with his long time friend and defensive coordinator Mark Banker. The Nebraska defense had not really risen to the level needed to become a Big Ten title contender. The Cornhuskers brought in Bob Diaco.
It would be easy to dismiss him after an 11-26 stint as the head coach of the Connecticut Huskies – but that would be a mistake. Diaco is also a former Notre Dame defensive coordinator; think the 2012 Notre Dame team, not the 2016 version. He will bring a 3-4 defense that is intent on mimicking the successes he had at Notre Dame. Will he be successful? Maybe; but he is completely changing the 4-3 defense Riley has been running under Banker and the first opponent is hardly a good example of whether he will be successful.
Arkansas State is a pass-first spread and needed 68 attempts to gain their 415 yards through the air. Most of their passes are quick hitters which then rely on a second receiver blocking. The Cornhuskers had some success at limiting the running plays by Arkansas State and limited explosion plays by the offense.
Offensively, Nebraska will bring a very talented running back into Autzen. They were balanced (225 rushing, 238 passing) and have some good skill players on the edges who can make plays in the open field.
Am I giving Nebraska too much credit? Maybe. They did struggle to put away a Sun Belt conference team, so that could be an indication of a team that is not yet on the level of fear. With their personnel last year, on the road, Oregon should have won. Tanner Lee has a ton of talent and potential, but has never really put it together on this level; nor in the kind of hostile environment he is sure to face Saturday.
So, yes, this really could be a case where the now 14 point spread is accurate. But I still have tremendous respect for Diaco and will not simply consider any Power 5 team a 'gimme' just because they struggled a week earlier. We have done that before (Cal 2010) and it feels really foolish to make that mistake.
Never Satisfied?
One thing I said in the article for DSA today was that 'you are only as good as your next game.' This was not a 'throw away' line. Someone else pointed out that you are only as good as your last practice. This is a familiar refrain from many coaches, but it had a haunting irony to me.
I actually thought about that - but then I remembered a certain former coach saying that they had won 997 out of 1000 competitions; but unfortunately the three losses were in games (or something like that).
I think we are never as good as our best, never as bad as our worst moment and that we can always be hoping to be better. In my former life as a power lifter, when I would have a good workout, I was never completely satisfied with the workout because the workout was not the goal; the competition was the goal; the workout was merely a step along the path. I would look to what the planned workout was and whether I met the plan; if I did not, then I had things to work on; if the plan was too easy to meet, and I did not exceed the plan, then I had not worked hard enough. At competition, if I hit my goal, then I I would enjoy the moment; before beginning my next workout cycle.
The very first time I hit 400 on the bench, my (then) wife asked if I was going to stop working out so much, and I id 'No, now I have a new goal; 500." that became 600 and that became 710. Never quite got to the 710 (got 680). In retrospect, I look back and find satisfaction because I gave everything I had to be the best I could be; but in the moments, there is no time for retrospect and satisfaction; only the next. Next practice. Next game. When that ends, it starts all over again.
Officially unofficial
I don't want to get too deep into premium content, but the Ducks will not have many official visitors over the first part of the season. That does not mean that there won't be any; but the staff really wants to focus on game prep, so will be having some unofficial visitors preferring to save their official visits for later.
There will be some big time visitors, though, even if they are unofficial visits. the most important this weekend will be the top player in the state of Oregon. Talanoa Hufanga is scheduled to attend and he will have the attention of some current commits; Braden Lenxy, MJ Cunningham and Teagan Quitoriano (and potentially others) putting their time in with the talented athlete.
One thing of which you can be sure - this group of Duck commits are going to work hard to get the best-of-the-best to join them.
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