I am who I am

The stage is set for a fantastic Thanksgiving Day battle between the No. 8 (BCS) ASU Sun Devils and the No. 11 USC Trojans that likely holds a BCS bowl game for the winner. The teams sit in second and third place respectively in the Pac-10; whichever wins the rest of their games this season will probably get an invite to the granddaddy of them all: The Rose Bowl. Keep in mind that for this to happen for either team, they’d have to win their rivalry game, which doesn’t always happen, no matter how talented a team is.

When the season began, I never thought this game would have the importance it has now. USC was primed to make a run at the national championship behind 10 returning starters on defense and a Heisman candidate. ASU was breaking in a new head coach following a disappointing previous season and was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-10. Now, 12 weeks into the season, both teams are in positions I could have never imagined.

This will be a tough game… competitive, but also difficult for me personally. It’s the first time in five seasons that I haven’t been completely sure that the Trojans would win.

Though I’ve been a Sun Devil since enrolling at ASU in the fall of 2003, I’ve spent most of my life watching USC football. Growing up in California, if you watch college football you’re either a Trojan fan or a Bruin fan. And I sure as hell am not a dirty Bruin. My step father grew up watching USC football because his father watches USC football (he graduated from the school back in the day); I grew up watching it in a similar situation.

No matter who wins on Thursday — I’ll be a bit happy and a bit sad.

Devils vs. Ducks – “Live” blog

So I figured I could take a different approach with this blog and post “live” updates on the game with comments.  Instead of constantly trying to update this blog page, I figured I could just jot down notes while watching the game and post the full page at a later time.

First Quarter

13:54 – Oregon’s first drive is perfect – four plays, 76 yards and a touchdown. The opening play was a 43-yard pass… hopefully the ASU secondary wakes up soon.

8:33 – ASU moves the ball with ease, but fails to get it into the endzone. A touchdown would obviously be preferred, but just moving the ball this easily is certainly reassuring. The Devils will have to stop this from becoming a shootout if they hope to win.

4:18 – Oregon scores a second touchdown off of a screen to Stewart. ASU will have to slow down this offense if they want to be in it in the second half.

1:45 – Devils are forced to punt as Rudy bobbles the snap – credit that to his hand injury.

Second Quarter

14:46 – Dixon throws for a first down after scrambling for a first down. As of now, the Devils have no answer for him.

14:36 – ESPN has handled coverage poorly – the game was off the air for a couple of minutes and I missed Oregon’s last score. The Devils are now down 21-3.

ASU needs to slow this game down – a prolonged drive by the offense will tire out the defense in later quarters, and will keep Oregon’s offense off the field.

11:57 – Rudy runs and dives for the first down, and gets hammered in the process. Sometimes the best way to get your team fired up is to show some balls.

11:49 – Rudy Carpenter is a wacky, emotional guy (as Petros Papadakis has noted several times on FSN). After being forced to burn a timeout because he left his playlist on the sideline, Rudy throws a 26-yard touchdown pass to Mike Jones.

11:04 – ASU forces Oregon to a three-and-out.

4:59 – Rudy has been sacked twice and will have to give the ball back to Oregon. The Sun Devils have some huge problems with their punting game; Oregon will get the ball back around midfield. This will be a huge stand for the defense if they can hold the Ducks to a field goal.

3:27 – On 3rd-and-1, Dixon flubs the handoff to Stewart and the Devils recover the ball near the 50.

2:04 – On 2nd-and-26, an Oregon defender throws Dimitri Nance to the ground after he was already out of bounds. First down for the Devils.

0:03 – Poor clock management as the Devils try to run the ball without any times out, wasting precious time. Weber misses a 32-yard field goal; it’s his first miss of the season. This could end up hurting the Devils in the second half – you need to capitalize off of turnovers.

Halftime
Oregon -21, ASU -13

Prediction: I think the Devils have a good chance to win this one. It’s been well documented that they’re a second half team, holding four of their eight opponents scoreless in the second half, and outscored them 153-29.

While ASU is ranked higher in the BCS, they come into the game as underdogs. Both Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso of College Game Day picked the Ducks to win, as did every analyst from Yahoo! and Rivals.com.

Third Quarter

12:01 – Carpenter and the offense move the ball downfield but the drive stalls at around the 35. Weber makes the field goal to bring them within five.

Stewart gets a good return on the kickoff, putting the Ducks at midfield.

10:40 – Devils hold Oregon to a three-and-out again, but the Ducks special teams pin ASU inside the five-yard line.

9:25 – ASU is unable to get out of their own endzone, but have their best punt of the day.

8:40 – Jonathan Stewart runs for a 33-yard touchdown. The Devils need to lock this offense down if they’re going to make it back. The defense better come out like they have something to prove the next time Oregon has the ball.

6:23 – 4th-and-1 and the Devils are going for it… and Nance doesn’t get it. Oregon will have the ball at their 46.

1:32 – Oregon is rolling on offense. The defense is looking tired because the offense can’t seem to put a drive together.

0:00 – Oregon has scored on the last play of the third quarter, putting them up by 19 points. This will be a tall order for the Devils to come back.

Going into the fourth quarter, Carpenter will need to get the team downfield with his arm. He’s been sacked 5 times so far.

Fourth Quarter

13:34 – Nothing going on offense.

13:13 - Dixon rushes for 11-yards, but is hurt on the play. Brady Leaf comes in for the Ducks. The Devils need to take advantage of this opportunity.

9:13 - An extended drive gets ASU to Oregon’s 15, but Carpenter throws a pick in the endzone. Barring the amazing, this could be it.

3:45 - Oregon sacks Rudy for the seventh time on 2nd-and-10. Rudy throws a 42-yard pass to Thompson, but he fumbles on the end of the play. Oregon recovers.

2:13 - Brady Leaf runs for a first down, likely sealing the win.

0:08 - Rudy is sacked for the eighth time to end the game. Oregon fans rush the field for the second week in a row. Final score: Oregon 35, ASU 23.

Recap

ASU was unable to move the ball when it mattered most in the red zone. The Devils outgained Oregon 489-402, but turnovers in the redzone and having to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns is really what did the team in. While Weber missed only one field goal, it was probably one of the most important. The team failed to score going into halftime – had they scored, they would have been within 2 points of Oregon early in the third quarter.

The season is certainly far from over, but we’d need some crazy things to happen to make it to the Rose Bowl. In a season like this, anything is possible.

Duck hunt

By dominating Cal in the second half of a 31-20 win, the ASU Sun Devils have set a date with the Oregon Ducks that will have Rose Bowl and possibly national championship implications. This Saturday, the Devils will travel to Eugene for a second consecutive matchup between top-10 teams in Autzen (only the second in history).

According to Stewart Mandel, Oregon is still the team to beat in the Pac-10 despite ASU’s unbeaten and conference-leading status. If the team is to come out of Autzen unscathed, Erickson should take note of USC’s miscues last week, and follow my strategy on beating the Ducks.

Oregon runs the option better than any team in the country. Like Pat White and Steve Slaton at West Virginia, the Ducks boast a fantastic quarterback/running back combo in Dennis Dixon and Jonathan Stewart. Both run the ball extremely well and Dixon isn’t too bad of a passer as well.

To beat Oregon, ASU will have to try and contain the running game and force Dixon to rely on his injured receiving corps. The spread option running attack is based largely on a series of fakes; the quarterback will either fake the handoff to the running back, or hand the ball off and run the opposite direction as a decoy. This attack makes it extremely difficult for the defense to get any sort of pressure on the quarterback because it’s predicated on speed and making quick decisions.

The best defense against this type of running attack is to hit Dixon on every running play, even if he hands the ball off to Stewart. Oregon’s offense runs through Dixon; he calls the plays at the line after reading the defense in a no-huddle setup. Hitting Dixon will do two things: 1) it’ll wear him down physically as the game goes on, and 2) it’ll wear him down mentally as the game goes on.

If you put him on the turf enough times, Dixon will make mistakes. He’ll start getting rid of the ball early and will likely hesitate when running. Just knowing that he’s going to get hit is going to affect his play, and the Devils can’t be penalized for it because of the nature of the Oregon run game. I’m not saying I want him to get hurt, but he’ll think twice the next time he runs up the middle.

Fight on.

For those of you who caught the USC-Washington game, I don’t need to tell you how big of a bullet the Trojans dodged on a day when five of the top ten teams in the country were upset.  Following two dominating performances on the road at Nebraska and at home against Washington State, the Trojans showed that perhaps they shouldn’t be the number one team in the country by barely beating the Huskies 27-24.

On the bright side, USC was able to win a game in which almost everything went wrong.  The Men of Troy committed 16 penalties for 161 yards, compared to Washington’s  190 total yards.  Add those penalties to two interceptions thrown by John David Booty, the loss of two offensive linemen and the loss of yet another cornerback, and you have the makings of a close game.  In pure productivity, the Trojans dominated the Huskies, putting up 460 total net yards, 224 of which were picked up on the ground mostly by tailbacks Chauncey Washington and Staffon Johnson.

This year’s USC squad, with a preaseason ranking of No. 1, is a team that was supposed to be defined by 10 starters returning on defense.  Following a litany of injuries, the Trojans are down to their third or fourth string cornerback on one side and are missing their best pass-rushing linebacker, Brian Cushing.  It’s nice, however, to see that if one aspect of the offense isn’t working for the Trojans, they can always fall back on the other.  It’s a luxury that they didn’t have last year when Washington was often hurt and with four true freshman in the rotation.

People may think I’m crazy, but I still see this team easily handling Oregon and Cal.  Stewart Mandel called their weekend matchup one of the best games of the season, but I still think that USC is a way more physical team on defense and offense.  Many people question USC’s defense against Oregon’s deadly spread offense, citing that the Ducks would have beaten the Bears, if not for three turnovers in the red zone on their last three drives.  Stewart Mandel makes an excellent point on how to beat the spread following SFU’s victory over former No. 5 West Virginia.  Pete Carroll has gone on record saying this is his speediest defense yet…

I think Arizona State looks to be the toughest game for the Trojans.  Football fans know that Dennis Erickson, no matter where he’s coaching, should not be underestimated.  The Sun Devils have shown that they’re a physical team and that they can play tough through four quarters.  They’ve played two games this year where, in the first quarter they were down by at least two touchdowns, only to fight back and win.  One of these wins came against a Colorado team that just downed former No. 3 Oklahoma.  ASU’s next two matchups will show a lot about what type of team Erickson has.  The Devils play on the road at Washington State, a team they should beat easily (the test is that it’s on the road), and at home against Washington and the future of the Husky program, quarterback Jake Locker.   For those unfamiliar with Jake Locker, he’s called the Tim Tebow of the west…