(Civil) War for the Roses Preview

Duck will be on air with Keith Becker, aka The UO Sports Dude early this week to preview the 113th edition of the Civil War.

Ireland vs. France debacle raises questions

From everything I've read--there was no doubt about it. The Associated Press has used terms such as "clearly" and "obvious" to describe Henry's handball. As a journalism student, it is shocking to see a sentence like this in an AP article:

"In extra time, Henry twice handled the ball, then passed to William Gallas in the Irish penalty box for the deciding goal."

Normally, no matter how bad a call is, professional writers would say that Henry "appeared" to handle the ball-but that is not the case here.

So let's call it a missed call. What's FIFA to do with that information? Ireland is apparently calling for a replay, but is that really practical? The missed calls came in extra time--doesn't the old adage go that if you lose a game because of a missed call you didn't deserve to win anyway?

Besides, Ireland could have put the game away in regulation. Would a replay of the game even be justified? Imagine the hullabaloo if France won that game 3-0. The missed call would be largely forgotten, and soccer would be left vulnerable to have another situation happen again.

But then what if Ireland wins? A World Cup berth reversed? France would be outraged, and nobody wants the French outraged. In 2005, FIFA invalitaded the results of a World Cup qualifier between Uzbekistan and Bahrain--but the situation was entirely different as it was not a game that decided who qualified (neither team was in the World Cup).

It would seem then, that some kind of a rule change is in order. I've heard a few things tossed around. One suggestion has been to add an extra official behind each of the goals. Think back to the Zidane incident at the last World Cup. Had one of the linesmen not seen the headbutt, Zidane wouldn't have been sent off, so he'd have been able to take a penalty. This might have changed the outcome of a World Cup. So clearly, an extra pair of eyes can't hurt.

As with any missed call, replay has also been a suggestion, and it seems like it might be time--though it does pain me to say that. If ever there was a timeless sport, it is soccer, but how many more scenarios like this one are we going to need before we bite the bullet and implement replay.

Ducks vs ASU postgame

Forget about it
Homecoming. All black unis. The knowledge that Cal knocked off Arizona. There were plenty of things to take the Ducks' minds off of last week, and they all did. Oregon didn't look like they were stuck thinking about last week's loss to Stanford, and it showed as the took care of business against ASU.


Capitalize on opportunities
The Ducks had two field goals and a couple of questionable third down calls, but overall they did a good enough job to come away with the win.


Defense Defense Defense
The Duck defense looked nothing like the unit that game up 51 last week in the Bay Area. Coincidentally, Stanford's 34 point demolition of USC in Los Angeles made the Ducks nine point loss in Palo Alto seem, well, not as bad. And by the way. That best-rush-defense-in-the-Pac-10? USC had the best run defense in the conference until they came to Eugene. Anybody sensing a theme here?


Duck Out.

OSU-Iowa Postgame

ROSE BOWL. That is all.

Ducks vs ASU keys

Forget about it
The Ducks lost a tough game in Palo Alto last week, but they've got to bounce back from that. Their mantra all year has been that one game does not define their season, and that's as important as ever this week. Oregon still controls it's destiny as far as the Rose Bowl is concerned, but it's all down the tubes if they don't focus on ASU

Capitalize on opportunities
Arizona State has one of the better defensive units in the Pac 10. The held USC to just 14 points last week in Tempe, so Oregon had better make the most out of all the opportunities they get.

Defense Defense Defense
Last week was a bit of an off week for the Duck Defense. Okay, who am I kidding? Last week was a terrible week for the Duck defense. To score 42 points on 570 yards of offense and still lose just doesn't happen very often.

Duck Out.

Ohio State-Penn State Postgame

This weekend's game was a big stepping stone for the Buckeyes and Terelle Pryor in particular. With the commanding win over the Nittany Lions and Iowa's loss to Northwestern earlier in the day, all that separates Ohio State from a trip to the Rose Bowl is a win this week against the Hawkeyes. That's right, though it once seemed like the best the Bucks could hope for was the Outback Bowl after losing at Purdue, they don't even need to show up against Michigan if Iowa is defeated. 

The three things that stood out in this game were Ray Small, Terelle Pryor, and the Buckeye defense. Small had a great game returning kicks, as evidenced by his Big Ten Player of the Week nod. Two of his returns were a broken tackle away from being touchdowns, one of which set up the Buck's first score. When he holds on to the ball, Small is a dangerous weapon who has really helped out the struggling offense this year with good field position. 

Though Pryor's stats may not have been very impressive, he did what he had to do to win. His first quarter touchdown run was a good example of what he can do with that 6-6 frame. His decision-making continues to improve week by week, and that's the first step to becoming a good quarterback.

The Silver Bullets are firing on all cylinders. If Penn State had not scored their only touchdown, the Bucks would have had their 5th shutout of the season. Darrell Clark was contained well and threw 2 interceptions. A win like this is a great confidence boost for what will essentially be the Big Ten Championship game this week in Columbus, when the Hawkeyes come to town. OSU is peaking at the right time.

Buckeye out.

Ducks vs USC Postgame

47-20. That is all.