This is the second consecutive loss to Oakland. Oakland. Once at Mac Court now.

And this is also two years in a row that Ernie has some sort of complex about not fouling with precious seconds left on the clock.

With some 48 seconds left on the clock, trailing by 3, Coach Kent elected to "play defense." That is, let them drain clock til there is close to nothing left.

So we let them bleed clock until, oh, 8 seconds, at which point they created a mismatch and their best player and shooter sank a little 10-foot jumper to put the game out of reach. Thus, we were left with a 5 point deficit and 8 seconds left. We ran down the floor, Tajuan forced a foul and sank 2 free throws, but it was already a two possession game. Didn't occur to you, huh Ernie?

I wasn't ever anti-Ernie until last year. I was actually the most pro-Ernie around for the prior few years. I sent angry emails to firecoachkent.com. And look, I understand that this is a young team, and Oakland is a veteran team... but when they're in the position that they need to get the ball back with MORE than 7 seconds, you need to give them some breathing room. The way Oakland was shooting free throws, I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see them split or even clank both at the charity stripe. You need. To stop. The clock. Ugh.

But maaaaaan... maybe Mark Few can put in place fundamental coaching when his time comes.

Caution: Extensive rant following.

I just wanted to have a post all for myself of all the things I want to tell everybody. Not just here, but to Ducks all around the blogosphere, to those who think someone died and made them the Duck football guru.

Jeremiah Masoli is a very good good quarterback. At least, at this point, he is adequate, and seemingly overachieving. He is a 5'11"... make that 5'10"... sophomore with no more experience on this team than I have of being a high schooler, or, say, JShuflunk has of being cool. 

Justin Roper is also a good quarterback. But as it stands now, we have a healthy QB who is also well fit for our system. Chip knows who he wants in place. He knows what he wants to do, and is going to do, with the QB he is given. For this reason...

Chip Kelly is an excellent coach. With Chip at our offensive helm, we haven't the need to "play the hand we're dealt" despite, for the second consecutive row and the 3rd time in 4 years, having to play down to our 3rd string QB. Chip has completely sacrificed his preferred system, and comfort zone of playcalling, for the individual skills of each of these kids. The ability to mold an offense to strength is what determines a flexible coach. The ability to mold an offense toward strengths with success is what determines the best coaches.

J-Will is J-Will. We've known this for years now. J-Will gets open better than any receiver, against oftentimes the secondary's best CB. The drops are frustrating, we know. But it's a tradeoff. Less J-Will open = more coverage sacks (Masoli cannot scamper out of a capsizing pocket everytime.). Believe it or not, I am one of the biggest J-Will... haters... out there, but it's become a fact of Oregon football lately. I have coped with it by way of finding solace in Terence Scott.

Terence Scott is one of the biggest pleasant surprises we've had in a while. Of course, aside from the emergence of Dennis Lee Dixon, Jr., Terence Scott came absofuckinlutely out of the blue, and has become seemingly the only reliable target in our receiving corps, and sometimes in our entire offense. He's got quick enough feet for reverses, good enough hands for 3rd down plays, and seems to gladly take hits.

Jeff Maehl is a trooper. He's been quiet this year for a starting receiver, but so has the entire receiving unit. I have seen since his humble beginnings last year that he takes a LOT of hits, and gets right back up. He's not yet a playmaker, but man that's gotta be dejecting to lay a TJ Ward-like hit just to see the guy get up confident as ever.

TJ Ward is the biggest badass on defense this year. That's right P-Chung, Nick, WT3, J-Byrd... TJ Ward is among the most feared safeties in the Pac-10, and the biggest hat-layer in our defense for sure. Everyone else is doing their job as it should be, but TJ Ward makes the most out of EVERY opportunity. I miss Anthony Trucks, but TJ's picked that up for me.

You can chant Fire Alliotti from a mountaintop all you want, he isn't leaving until Bellotti is. Obviously everyone here and around has figured out Nick Alliotti is the weak link. He does less with more, and has the worst of all schemes to highlight a talented secondary. A secondary with no support is completely nullified of all competitive value. But yeah. We've all heard it enough. See Rob Moseley's latest blog, he captures it well.

Matt Evensen is best suited as a Kickoff specialist. He's got the leg strength, but Morgan Flint's got the accuracy. Seems to make sense to have him at KOS and Superman Flint doing the real kicking. It's sad, as a kicker myself, to see a Senior with such a successful career up until now to be unseated... but you gotta make the field goals man.

Does anyone have anything to disagree with me about? Better yet, would you like your face pummeled in?

So it looks as though there will be no broadcast of Ducks at Devils in Tempe next weekend. And I feel as though everytime I miss a Duck game, they lose. Now it's up to all of us in the blogosphere to somehow find a TV stream in the coming week. There has got to be one somewhere. There are some here and around that are skilled at foraging for such, so now's a good time for you to show off your skill. We all would much appreciate it, and I'm sure I'd love you forever.

Can it be done?

In lieu of recent chatter about how players are in real life, here's a whole thread to let out what you know about our favorite (or non-favorite) players' personalities, i.e. J-Will being a pompous ass, or Blount being a humble but flamboyant clown. Anything you know or have heard, I'm sure many of us would find interesting. Did you have a class with a player? Get your haircut next to him at Kampus Barber? Share it here.

If you don't know anything, you are as useful and worthwhile as an 8 year old's skidmarks. 

The only reason I didn't Fanshot this is because it's just too rich and quotable and needs the attention the Fanshots generally don't garner. Anyway...

Up until today I had never heard of it, but I guess Jason Elam wrote a book in early '07...

Courtesy of Wikipedia--

Book

Elam published his first book in January 2008, titled Monday Night Jihad. He co-wrote it with Steve Yohn, who is director of adult ministries at Centennial, Colorado-based Fellowship Community Church. The book is an action-adventure tale about football and an attempt to stop a terrorist plot.

In a statement issued by his publisher, Elam said, "The genesis of Monday Night Jihad goes back almost 10 years...My brother kept a journal of all the crazy football stories I'd told him over the years. About a year-and-a-half ago, I began to think what if I was able combine all those quirky stories with a terrorist element to create an action-adventure story. Through this story, I want to bring out why people of strong conviction do what they do."

George Schroeder is telling us that Roper's "knee sprain" is indeed a partially torn medial collateral ligament... or MCL. They made a point of saying that his ACL seems to be apparently ship shape for now. Still, the MCL tear will hold him out 2-4 as we've heard... but I'm thinking more like 4-6. This offense... much as I (and we all) love it... it's taken big time tolls. The worse that can happen now is that Chris Harper takes a helmet to the knee. 

Oh god. Fuckey doo no. Please god. Spare Chris and Darron. And LeGarrette.

Ugh. 

I'll be up with a longer more in-depth fanpost about our injuries and their psychological effect on us later, but for now this will do.