Monday, November 3, 2008
Calm Down, Take A Deep Breath ... So I Can Yell by Alex
I've been reading and hearing a lot of comments lately from people calling for Oregon's coaches' jobs because the team has been underachieving a bit and has made a lot of mistakes. I normally dismiss what people have to say when they preface it with "Bellotti can't take us to the next level," or "it's Allioti's fault that the D gives up yards," but those comments have been so frequent recently that I'm getting really tired of it. These are the same coaches who brought the program to where it is today and who had the team in national title contention twice in the last 10 years, which is way more than most schools in the country and certainly the Pac-10 can boast. I think if there's anyone to blame in the way the Ducks have played the past couple of weeks, it's Chip Kelly. Is he an infallible character who can do no wrong? Last I checked, the reason Oregon has struggled recently is its inability to move the football. And I'm not saying that it IS Kelly's fault. Oregon has three underclassmen quarterbacks right now. At the most important position on the field, the team has the least experience. To people who are calling for Darron Thomas: are you really ready to start an 18-year-old after one quarter of solid football? Remember, he played against Washington State and was ineffective against backups. not just backups, Washington State backups. If you are ready to go with a true freshman at the most important position on the field, you had better be ready to lose at least two more games this season. Boy, how long would Bellotti last (in your eyes) if he actually made that move and we lost? And don’t use the future argument. What coach, at 6-3, ever put in a freshman QB to gain experience for next year? I’ll tell ya, a coach who gets fired. -Alex
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3 comments:
Good points. Bear in mind that fans and supporters of Oregon Ducks football now have the highest expectations for the program -- a top one or two finish in the Pac-10, and a top 10 ranking in the national polls while competing for a BCS bowl game selection. With that, some fans are too quick to ask for the ouster of Coach Mike Bellotti or his staff members when Oregon drops a close and critical game to a team like Cal. In light of Coach Bellotti's achievements during his long tenure at Oregon, I believe he is among the best college football coaches in the nation. Struggling teams such as Notre Dame (yuck!), Nebraska, or Washington would love to have Bellotti step into the shoes of their head football coach. With that, let's show our support for Coach Bellotti.
(Alex, incidentally, in the future, please enclose those commas and periods INSIDE the quotation marks when you post your entry to the Sports Talk blog. See your high school or college English teacher for details. Thanks.)
I couldn't agree more. The Ducks are on their 5th/4th string quarterback (arguably should have been 3rd), but I've never seen a team go through quarterback problems like the Ducks have. Our offensive line is suppose to be one of the strongest in the country yet in Berkley they looked undersized and over-matched. Our supposedly number one receiver can't catch a pass when it hits him in the chest and I have heard he is constantly seeking professional help to try and cure his 'cement hands'. This is hardly a coaching problem, I think the coaches are doing an exceptional job with the hand they have been dealt. We could easily be 8-1 right now. A tough loss against Cal is understandable, but the Ducks stayed moderately competitive. The loss to Boise State was again a quarterback problem and I think its pretty easy to predict that Darren Thomas would have a big 4th quarter because the Broncos had been looking at an excess of running plays the entire game and never would have thought the 5th string quarterback could even complete a pass.
Michael, Wow! That's what I get for not editing my posts. I'm a senior at the UO making high school errors on blogs. What does that say for the future? Yikes!
-Alex
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