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2008 Preseason and Regular season Polls

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Here's the thing: Jonathan Stewart had 253 rushing yards in that game. Their quarterback (who wasn't Dennis Dixon) had only 180 yards passing (although he did have 4 TDs passing). Stewart is gone - I just don't see Oregon being nearly as good as last year.

Now, Purdue isn't a fantastic team, either. I just happen to think that Purdue has a very good chance of winning that game.
 
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t_BuckeyeScott;1192818; said:
Where's OregonBuckeye for the breaddown of Oregon's next RB?
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since we're giving observations on how the local team may fare this upcoming year, i'll chime in too. the UNLV Rebels will suck. out loud. badly. Canton McKinley will probably field more talent. actually, they could conceivably eclipse the last three years' total conference wins... and that sounds good until you read that they've only won 3 conference games in the last three years combined. i'll be slightly amazed and consider the season to be a tremendous success if they get to 6-6. :p
 
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t_BuckeyeScott;1192818; said:
Where's OregonBuckeye for the breaddown of Oregon's next RB?
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Here!

Jeremiah Johnson was a great complimentary back to Stewart last year who did a little of everything. He's back but he's coming off a season-ending injury so it'll be interesting to see if he can regain that explosiveness he had last year. Bellotti has been a huge fan of him for a while.

Andre Crenshaw also returns after a solid sophomore season(400+ yards rushing, including 100+ against UW). He should figure into the mix.

But the star is expected to be JUCO transfer LaGarrette Blount from Florida. Bellotti compares him to Reuben Droughns. He had an excellent spring.

Here's a taste of what he'll bring: he comes in at 0:42

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvaB4wBA8WE"]YouTube - Spring Game Highlights[/ame]

How well the offense does rests on the QB. Chip Kelly did a magnificent job of slowing the game down for Dixon last year. If he can do the same for the new QB, they will once again put up points in bundles. It's possible Oregon will go with a Leak-Tebow system. Either Roper or Costa will win the starting job but Harper could come in for option running plays. He's a true frosh and he's strong and fast. He's also in the vid.

Purdue may have lost even more than Oregon. They do return Painter which really helps but their defense should be sub-par at best while Oregon's may be the 2nd best in the Pac-10(I know that's not saying a whole lot but it still should be good, especially the secondary). Purdue always feasts on teams that don't have the athletes to defend the spread or aren't used to facing it. Oregon has both the athletes and the experience of defending the spread every practice. Purdue will put up some points but I get the feeling Oregon will pull away similar to their game against Washington last year. I envision a 56-35 sort of score.

Sorry for the unnecessarily long breakdown. I'm just anxious for some football! :biggrin:
 
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Ultimately, Oregon will have the following type of season:

Bowl eligible (plus 2-3) season while winning all but a couple of the games they should have along with a regularly expected loss in the Pac 10.

Oregon State will be battling Duke for the "Who sucks more?" trophy this year; but they'll play Oregon hard in Corvalis. However, since the Beavers broke the 10-year home team wins streak in the Civil War last year, the Ducks will likely return the favor.

Oregon's D I think will be tough. I think the RB will be good. I'm just not sold on the QB position.
 
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Rivals.com College Football - Looking for a sleeper outside the Top 25

Tom Dienhart
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It happens every season: a shocker team that not only cracks the top 25, but plays in a BCS bowl. There are many teams lurking on the fringe, ready and able to cross the velvet rope into the VIP room. My pick is Connecticut. I think the Huskies are being vastly overlooked. It's mind-boggling. If a team with this r?sum? were named "Florida," "Ohio State" or "Texas," there is no doubt in my mind it would be a top-25 team. Maybe even a top-15 team.
Check it out: UConn returns 16 starters from last season's 9-4 squad that shocked the world by winning a share of the Big East title. Couple that experience with a schedule that is manageable, add in a significant chip on the shoulder for being overlooked ? again ? and you have a recipe for a team that's just aching for another huge season.
Randy Edsall has done an outstanding job making UConn into a formidable I-A program in a scant six seasons. He nearly got plucked away by Georgia Tech after last season's Cinderella run. I guarantee if Edsall does what I think he can do this season, another big-time BCS program will knock down his door with a mega-contract in hand.
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Preseason Countdown: No. 50 Connecticut
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:roll1: Let's see, their wins came against:

Duke- Worst team in 1A

Maine- D-1AA team

Temple- One of the worst teams in 1A. Only won it 22-17 and Temple was robbed on a terrible call by the officials

Pitt- Didn't even win 5 games

Akron- Poor MAC team. No bowl.

Louisville- Won 21-17 against the team with arguably the worst defense in the country(right up there with Minnesota's). UL didn't go to a bowl.

USF- 22-15. Finally, a win over a bowl team(that ended up getting crushed, 56-21, by a team without it's top 3 QB's, key RB, and top 2 receivers in it's bowl but hey, at least they went)!

Rutgers- 38-19. I'll actually give them props for this one. Rutgers was mediocre but they still went to a bowl and that's a sound victory.

Syracuse- One of the worst teams in D-1A. Only won 2 games the entire year, I believe.

Here are their losses:

Virginia- By 1 point. UVA was quite a bit overrated but they still won 9 games, it was on the road, and it was only by a point. This is a forgivable loss.

Cincy- 27-3. Cincy had a very good year(for them) but UConn won't be taken seriously with losses like this.

WVU- 66-21, and it could've been a LOT worse. WVU was a top 10 team but still, UConn didn't even put up a fight.

Wake Forest- 24-10. Wake Forest is ok but UConn should've won this game if it wants respect.


Basically, Tom needs to STFU, IMO. UConn had two decent wins in USF and RU, 2 embarrassing losses, and a lot of wins over creampuffs. Oh, poor UConn.
 
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Got my Blue Ribbon Yearbook yesterday. They rank tOSU #1. Unbelievable book. Doesn't give as much history, but they give you EVERYTHING about EVERY unit on EVERY team. Coach/Assistant Coach interviews and what they say about individual players on every team is just amazing. I guess you can do that when you have 4-5 pages on every team. I'll be purchasing this for years to come.
 
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seed702;1200418; said:
Got my Blue Ribbon Yearbook yesterday. They rank tOSU #1. Unbelievable book. Doesn't give as much history, but they give you EVERYTHING about EVERY unit on EVERY team. Coach/Assistant Coach interviews and what they say about individual players on every team is just amazing. I guess you can do that when you have 4-5 pages on every team. I'll be purchasing this for years to come.
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Got mine as well. "Good" book but some GLARING issues with hit. I'll do the Big 10 as the example. As you pointed out OSU is the #1 rated team in the magazine. However, here are their "grades..."

Offense: B+
Defense: B
Special Teams: C+
Intangibles A-

So my first reaction was "DAMN, these guys must have a VERY lofty standard to give our defense a B." So I proceed to look at some other teams....

Equal/Better Defense: Illinois (A-), Michigan (A-), Michigan State (B), Penn State (A-), Wisconsin (B+)

So we have the FIFTH best (maybe SIXTH if you give the nod to MSU) according to this magazine...:crazy:

The magazine picks Beanie to be the offensive POY, Laurinaitis to win defensive POY, and Terrelle Pryor to be "Newcomer of the Year."

Oh, and on that 5th/6th best Big 10 defense we have "Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook All-America Defense" players...James Laurinaitis and Malcolm Jenkins.
 
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They have us #5 in special teams huh? I'd say that's pretty generous. I think that is the one are we definately need to improve on this coming season. Return game, kicking game, return coverage...

Maybe Steele knows JT well enough to know that after last season, this year our special teams will be much more special! :biggrin:
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Repped... I have not quantified it to prove or disprove it but the special teams to me and what I recall were a HUGE let down last year. Could not produce a big play when needed and gave up huge plays when it hurt the most. The return game was terrible!
 
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craigblitz;1202821; said:
Repped... I have not quantified it to prove or disprove it but the special teams to me and what I recall were a HUGE let down last year. Could not produce a big play when needed and gave up huge plays when it hurt the most. The return game was terrible!
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It should be a lot better with everyone returning plus some newcomers in Thomas, Posey, and Buchanan.
 
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Good Call Oregon....

I am hoping Thomas can be a great returner.... Buc... I personally like our kickers and think Buc redshirts.

As far as hopes go with Thomas... look how long it took for Ginn to see these duties as a Freshman... I am not putting any stock in Posey or Thomas to help right away... I "hope" they do... but we will see.
 
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