Sports Talk With Steve Tannen: Observations from Saturday

Boise State travels well: my paying job is as a delivery driver, and driving around Friday I couldn't help but notice the amount of orange and blue around Eugene. It could have just been those colors, but those who made the 8-hour drive from Idaho sure scattered a good amount of Autzen too.

Oregon fans aren't as bad as the national media make them out to be: messages around different blogs and callers to the post-game radio show confirmed what most Oregon fans already know: that Duck fans are classy, except when the Huskies are involved.

Chip Kelly's job is harder than yours: towards the end of the third quarter on Saturday, as frustrated as you - me included - thought you were with the offense's ineptitude, Chip Kelly had to be that times ten. And the conflict that must have been going on in his head on whether or not to burn Darron Thomas's redshirt year must have been WWIII. And what will he do when Roper is healthy, or Costa for that matter? Obviously Thomas's play next week will have a huge impact on who will be Oregon's QB the rest of the season, but what is Kelly supposed to do if Thomas throws for 300 yards and 4 TDs against the Cougars, which is something he could conceivably do?

Boise State's offense was a clinic: who plays quarterback might not be the biggest problem as Pac-10 play resumes next week. Boise State completely dictated what Oregon did defensively for most of the game. They shifted and motioned, which created mismatches that led to most of their scores and big plays. Oregon's defense looked confused and constantly a step behind Boise State. Hopefully for Oregon, the Broncos didn't make a blueprint for how to attack the Ducks' D.

Thurmond III might have been missed more than Roper: and not the way you might think. Thurmond had over 100 tackles last season and had been used as both a corner and safety in different situations this season. Thurmond III not being out there had to change the way Nick Aliotti called the game on defense.

Oregon can't live by its running game alone: the Ducks proved on Saturday that even the best running offense in the country can't run against nine guys in the box. Chris Harper in an amazing athlete, but if he can't throw the ball, he shouldn't be on the field more than 10 plays per game. The Broncos knew he couldn't and wouldn't throw, so they stacked the box, blitzed like crazy and made Oregon's offense ineffective.

With the QB situation as it is, Thomas makes sense: Thomas has been around the offense longer than both of the other QBs from Saturday. This situation is the reason Thomas showed up for Spring term last year - side note, he was in my J201 class and showed up to nearly every session. You could see his confidence in the pocket. He stood in, went through his progressions and slung darts. He might not be as fast as Harper, but he is strong, athletic and has a cannon for an arm. Masoli and/or Roper MIGHT be the better fit for this season, but Thomas looked too good to ignore.

LeGarrette Blount's TD run was the best I've ever seen in person: his run in the first quarter on which he hurdled a pile, juked a guy, and stiff-armed through a tackle beat out a run I saw when I went to a game between the 49ers and Lions in which Barry Sanders made one of his ridiculous 50-yard runs for a TD on Monday Night Football.

Thank God we play the Cougs: nuff said.