Danny and Dusty
A deeper dive into the Civil War
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It's a September game for Oregon and Oregon State, uncharted territory for the Civil War. Usually, in November, we're usually used to it being cold and dreary. It's going to be sunny and 72, but there's a lot more that is different in that stake in this game because you look at the way that Oregon State has operated over the first two weeks of the season. They have been running the damn ball on repeat in a spin cycle. They are currently fourth in college football in attempts per game at 54 and 1/2. They rank fifth in yards per game in all of college football at 299 yards per game. It is feasting at the line of scrimmage and running the football. And this is kind of, I think, for Oregon State fans, exactly what you wanted to see in the first two weeks of the season being 2 and 0, going on the road, winning at San Diego State in the fashion that you did. It wasn't just the fact that you shut out an opponent, but you got to stop on a goal line. You created a turnover on the goal line and just kind of suffocated San Diego State, which they've got their issues there on. But you had a running back that went off for the week before for 223 yards against Texas A&M Commerce. But went off for 223, made a statement. Marquez Cooper said, you know, I'm trying to show people I'm the best running back in the Mountain West Conference. Ashton Gente had something to say about that in two straight weeks. Not sure anybody's really going to believe that one moving forward, but you bottled him up and he is a track record and he's been a really productive back. I mean, Cooper came into that game as the active leading rusher in the FPS career-wise. Like he gets yard, Sean Lewis loved to feed him at Kent State. He went to Ball State last year, had a productive season. Now he's at San Diego State. He's a really fine running back in a team that prides itself on the rushing attack. And Oregon State has been doing a phenomenal job through the first two weeks playing very disciplined football. And when you are as dominant as you have been at the line of scrimmage on defense and on offense, even against Idaho State in San Diego State, they are playing with incredible discipline up front. Offensively, I think it's even more staggering with all of the changes that we've talked about. You know, Josh Gray stays, and that was a huge, huge, huge hold for Oregon State to have him not leave the portal, not go to greener pastures. You get the two transfers from Colorado. You have Grant Stark back. The Thurston product who stays in anchors the other side of the offensive line. This team and what Kyle Devan has been able to do up front is the offensive line coach. What Ryan Gunderson, their offensive coordinator, has done from play calling standpoint, knowing the limitations, and kind of working in so many new pieces on the outside. The weapons that Jonathan Smith had brought in, deuces, see you later. It's a completely different receiving core. Giovanni McCoy has not looked incredibly efficient or like a guy who's comfortable in the offense yet throwing the football, but they haven't needed to because the run game has been so, I mean, when you're averaging over five yards of carry. It's not too shabby. It's pretty good. Yeah. Okay. They have done on the offensive line through their first two weeks against Idaho State and San Diego State, which, I mean, if we're being quite honest, they are the lesser versions of the two teams that Oregon played in Idaho and Boise State. Mm-hmm. But the talent gap was greater between Oregon and Boise State than the talent gap between Idaho State and San Diego State. Mm-hmm. And Oregon State has won the line of scrimmage in both of those games. And there is plenty of reason for Oregon State fans to be optimistic about not just keeping this game close, but watching the way that Oregon has escaped their first two weeks of the season that, hey, this ain't going to be just some pushover like everybody thought it was going to be, you know, last summer where you have Oregon national title contender, this juggernaut rolling in the offensive line issues that have plagued Oregon through the first two weeks of the season. You know, if there's no guarantee that's going to be cleaned up. Right. Even if Matthew Bedford does come back, I think the O line rotation does get better and is deeper and is bolstered, especially the interior offensive line rotation looks a heck of a lot better. But there's no guarantee with the guy who's never played in the system and never played alongside the guys that they are going to just be, ah, Bedford gets back. It's fixed. Dave Ioli gets back. Boom. They're fixed. No. There's going to be a lot that needs to play out. I thought, and again, I talked about this yesterday with Oregon's offensive line. They did find a more fluid rotation, a more effective group when they went, Connolly at left tackle. Neshod Struther at left guard who didn't play in week one. Uh, Pancho at center. Marcus Harper jumping from left guard to right guard alongside Ajani Cornelius. You look at the pressures that were allowed far less and infrequent than in the first game and in that first half against Boise State. You ran the ball for 93 yards in the second half against Boise State. Only 16 yards when that group didn't play together in the first half. You're starting to find that, you know, in landing, talked about this, you know, with that, that offensive line group in his, his, uh, his presser. We'll watch the film and see, right? Uh, again, I always talk about if you're good enough. You're old enough ever since I've been here. We've rotated, um, on the offensive line. We had players that were able to do that. You know, JPJ was rotating early on, you know, his first year, last year, we had, uh, you know, Pancho rotating. And so that's not uncommon for us to get, you know, the best guys in the lineup and keep guys fresh. So we'll watch the film, evaluate it and figure out, you know, who are best five or six or seven, whoever that might be that can play winning football for us. Yesterday in landing's, uh, press availability on Monday night, said he does. There was a line of, Hey, we're going to play who's good enough to play like in kind of saying right there. Yeah. If you're good enough, you're young enough, right? That it doesn't matter if they're freshmen or, you know, a six year red shirt senior, but he's, he also mentioned last night that if those guys were doing that, if the young guys were doing the things that they need to do in practice to, to get in that, to that rotation, we would play them and we will play them. But it's just not there right now, right? Right. And I think if Bedford does come back this week, that gets your, your, your depth gets a little bit more clear. Mm hmm. And if I really comes back relatively soon, I think then you're feeling a heck of a lot better about your depth and your rotation up front. First two weeks, they haven't had it. And that doesn't excuse though the fact that, you know, they, this Oregon program has prided itself on depth and depth up front. What Oregon State has done is they get pillaged in the portal when Jonathan Smith leaves. They backfilled their roster with two guys from Colorado that Dion just kicked to the curb and unceremoniously threw under the bus several times last some last year. And they're playing really well right now. He's better over here. AT&T customers switching to T-Mobile has never been easier. We'll pay off your existing phone and give you a new one free, all on America's largest 5G network. Visit T-Mobile.com/carrierfreedom to switch today. Pay off up to $650 via virtual prepaid mastercard in 15 days, free phone up to $830 via 24 monthly bill credits plus tax, qualifying port and trade and service on Go 5G next to credit required. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits to credit stop and balance and required finance agreements do. This group is playing really well up front for Oregon State. The biggest test that they will have to date is going to come on Saturday. But you can't take that film off and you can't take the production that they've had away. Yeah. Well, it wasn't too long ago that the beavers just, you know, ran the ball basically. Was it every play of the second half or every play of it won? Yeah, I think all but two in that second half. Yeah. You should come back and win that Civil War. And so with the way that they're running the ball and with the frequency, they're running the ball, is that a product of the faith they have in the quarterback play? I think it might be the, it might be just making sure he is comfortable there and you knowing that you're going to have some growing pains, but it's not. And this is always the thing that we always react over week one, whether it's the NFL or college. And we don't want to allow for that room for growth. And I think that coaches coach to a growth curve in a lot of programs that are not your Georgia's Ohio State and Texas, right? Or to be quite honest, where we thought Oregon was going to be at the beginning of the season, right? And you have that growth curve that you're teaching to and coaching to in this progression over the course of the season of all right, we start here and we build our offense up and we break our tendencies as the season goes on and grows by adding wrinkles to what we do. And we expand that playbook a little bit more. I think that may be where Oregon State is right now. And also don't mess with the results that are positive too. Yeah. You know, you have this growth curve that you're coaching on, but you also don't want to do something for the sake of doing it. If you're being productive running the ball and you're doing it at a ridiculously high clip, yeah, you keep doing that. Run the ball. That is where I think we may see a change in the offense. This year is as you get into game week three of the regular season, you do start expanding that playbook a little bit more. And you are going to have to ask guys to do a little bit more as, you know, some guys get nicked up as competition gets better. You are going to have to expand that playbook out. The reality of it is that I know that, you know, Oregon and Oregon State fans alike have been like, why don't we just, you know, air the ball out? Open this sucker up. Why don't we open up the playbook and be less conservative? Well. Running the ball has been working. Running the ball has been working for Oregon State. And now you haven't needed to. Yeah. And it's allowing room to grow for everyone else. Yes. Across all position groups. So, and that is it. This is kind of that weird feeling about, you know, or this game this weekend is you have two teams that are two now. First time we've ever had a civil war with undefeated teams. Uh huh. How about that? Yeah. All right. You want spins on? You want spins on? Let's give the spins on right there. We might want to put a little asterisk on that one, but you know, yeah. All right. We will. We will. It's a fact that is happening. Both teams two and O. Yeah. All right. One feeling really good about where they are at. The other one at two and O, a lot of unrest and uneasiness. Yeah. About their, their play and their production. But the reality of it is at some point, you know, if you are Oregon, you've got to put it all together. And it has been too long to see the wide gaps in consistency. Of play. And if they put it together this weekend, and if you look at the way that Vegas has approached this game with the point spread and all that, they're still thinking that the fatal flaw of Oregon still isn't there. Right. Because the fatal flaw would be they see something that say that can't be fixed where a double digit point spread turns into, yeah, their favorite by three now. Yeah. Right. For Oregon State, it is, you're riding this high. You've been playing really high and at a really effective level. Now you get that talent gap is not in your favor any longer. How do these games look moving forward? Speaking of that points, Brad, I've noticed earlier this week or yesterday, even I noticed it was 14, 14 and a half. We're up to 16 and a half. Yeah. Bump back up to 16 and a half. Yeah. Which means that's big money that's coming in. That isn't Vegas making a line adjustment. That is... That is a head scratcher to me though, just watching the way that Oregon has played the first couple of weeks. Yeah. And look, they have their metrics in their formulas that they use. Yeah. I don't know how much of it is that you just go back and you watch the second half when that group of alignment was on the field together and you say it looks a little bit different. It looks a little bit more comfortable. They were driving down the field prior to the Patrick Herbert Fumble and it looked like they were going to tack on another one. And then that would have been a 14-point lead for Oregon. Yeah. Yeah. That feels a little bit different in that game because as it was, Herbert Fumbles, Ashton Gente, sudden change, very first play of the next drive. Was that the 70 yarder? 70 yards to the house. And then Gabriel lost the fumble next drive. Guys, and this is the thing about this, I cannot emphasize enough. Think back and go and look at when you have a sudden change and your defense goes from on the sideline to on the field, that's where explosive plays happen. Yeah. That's jarring. That is where you have big time plays. Yeah. And it's not surprising. You watch enough football, you say after a turnover, next play, you're going to have the likelihood of a big pop play. It goes through the roof. And that's the fire though that Oregon has been playing with over the first couple of weeks of the season is those self-inflicted wounds lead to scores for the other team with sudden change against Idaho, right? Well, I guess it wasn't all that sudden. You went forward on fourth down and didn't get it. But that momentum swing, the defense comes back on the field after a turnover on downs. Boom. What do you get? Yeah. Trick play touchdown. Yep. Things happen all the time. This, it happens all the stink of time. I'm excited for Oregon, Oregon State this weekend though. Yeah. There's so, there's so many questions surrounding this game, this matchup and where we are at right now that it, there's a lot of, there's a lot of unrest, uneasiness on both sides of, of this matchup. But a lot of excitement because for Oregon State, you can go out and plant your flag and you can for Oregon too, man. If they put it together, which we have not seen for 60 minutes, you had in a football game. So what is it in terms of planting the flag? What are you looking for? What kind of a result are you looking for to say that Oregon really planted that flag? No, Oregon, it is, you run away. Yeah. The talent gap, like on paper, that talent gap is monumental. You got a grand canyon and talent gap right now. Yeah. So are we talking like near the spread? With production that has, has been over the course of their careers in college, whether it's at Oregon or elsewhere, recruiting metrics, that is, in AI, it is, it is covering and, and winning comfortably not towards three scores plus. Not the entire fan base biting their fingers down, fingernails down to the cuticles. Gotcha. You know, like that, that, that is planting the flag for Oregon. For Oregon State is winning in being three and out. I mean, my goodness. Yeah. What an incredible feeling that would be. He's better over here. AT&T customers switching to T-Mobile has never been easier. We'll pay off your existing phone and give you a new one free, all on America's largest 5G network. Visit T-Mobile.com/carrierfreedom to switch today. Pay off up to $650 via virtual prepaid master card in 15 days. Free phone up to $830 via 24 monthly bill credits plus tax, qualifying court and trade in service on Go 5G next to credit required. 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