I was hoping the first update to the blog in almost two months would be a happier one. I had planned on writing about the first Ducks game of the season win or lose, and unfortunately it was a loss. Boise State won 19-8, yes a game that should have been in the 30's for both teams ended up with more turnovers than offensive scores. But the worst part of the game was not the final score it was the boneheaded sucker punch by LeGarrette Blount after the game.
Blount was being yelled at by a BSU defensive player Byron Hout after the game, BSU coach Chris Peterson was attempting to restrain Hout and while his head was turned Blount sucker punched him with a straight right. You can read all about this on all other sports sites I'm sure. So I'll stop with the details. After seeing this three things hit me.
1. Anger. Blount should be kicked off the team. No suspension, no apology, just the door. There is no room for that at any level of sports, let alone life.
2. Shame, I feel shame for being a Ducks fan. This is not the type of thing Ducks football, athletics or the University should be known for. I literally feel it in the pit of my stomach.
3. Respect. Respect for Chris Peterson, not only was he riding his guy for making an ass out of himself, after the game he had not ill will towards Oregon or Blount, just the following quote.
"You know, just emotions getting the best of players, and you know, it was a hard fought game, really proud of our defense," Petersen said. "Typical first game, lot of sloppy football, but I thought our defense rose to the occasion and played great."
He went right from a statement back to the game. Good for you Peterson.
That being said...
Give credit to BSU they outplayed the Ducks. The Ducks looked more like Idaho than an Oregon team that was supposed to score well in to the 40's this year. Zero first downs at half is pathetic. You can chalk it up to a terrible showing by the offensive line. The entire spread option attack is predicated on blocking and without that a team will not get anything out of the running game and it will put undue pressure on the passing game.
During our last show I picked the Ducks to be the second best team in the Pac-10, I did say at the time it would come down to the lines, both with almost all new inexperienced players. So far the lines look dismal.
P.S. Can the Ducks DB's stop giving five yards of spacing to all receivers?
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