Friday, December 18, 2009

HOOPS AND FOOTBALL by st

Tomorrow night at Mac Court the Oregon men square off with Oakland. They turned in a solid performance in beating Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday despite the continued absence of Tajuan Porter. The Grizzlies play out of the Summit League and in recent years have put together some nice teams and won 23 games last season. They play a heck of an out of conference schedule which this year has included Memphis, Kansas, Wisconsin and Michigan State. After this visit to Eugene, they'll head for Syracuse. This is a good test to see how much Oregon has improved since the bad outing at Missouri. I'm a believer that this Duck team is much more talented and deep compared with last season's disaster. Look for the coaches to continue to experiment with different lineups so they can have a better gauge of how they want to run things once Pac 10 play begins in the New Year.
With the Colts rallying to beat Jacksonville last night, playoff doors have been opened. The Jags are now on the outside looking in at 7 & 7 a game behind the Ravens, Jets & Dolphins. Intriguing game between Tennessee and Miami. The Titans, once and 0 & 6 laughing stock, have rallied behind Vince Young and the remarkable running of Chris Johnson to sneak into the picture at 6 & 7. Johnson reminds me of Barry Sanders or Reggie Bush at USC. When the ball is in his hands, you must watch. He will have to average 161 yards per game over the final 3 to break Eric Dickerson's single season rushing mark of 2105 set a quarter century ago with the Los Angeles Rams. We also get a nice Saturday night game on the NFL Network with Dallas in the Big Easy to try to not only derail the Saint's perfect season, but maintain their wild card lead. The Cowboys have been a horrifying December team and it's been well documented. I expect a heavy duty dose of Marion Barber because if New Orleans has a weakness, it's stopping the run. Enjoy the weekend! Go Ducks. Go Jets.

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