After the dust settled on a crazy weekend of Duck football, here are a few observations I've made.

1. Donte Moore escaping that ruthless hit with "only" a concussion is a miner miracle. I hope he makes a full recovery.

2. Raiola is clearly the QB1 the Ducks need. The offense came to life the moment he walked on the field and everybody saw it.

3. Score pre Raiola: USC 7 OBD 3. After Raiola OBD 38 SUC 20. Again, Raiola is that guy.

4. Holding SUC to 27 points on their home field shows they have the potential to hold anybody in the twenties which should be enough against anybody.

5. After the hit, the Ducks had their metal tested and they rose to the challenge. A sign of growth since Stillwater.

6. Lanning kicking a field goal at the end of the half instead of going for it, another sign of growth.

7. The D getting 4th Quarter stops against a good offense on the road, another sign of growth.

8. The offense came to life when the down field threats became real. Check downs became real threats when the D was spread out.

9. Jamarie Johnson is a problem.

10. If the O line can give just enough, it's more than enough and that works for me.

16 minutes ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

If the O line can give just enough, it's more than enough and that works for me.

AMEN

"Lanning kicking a field goal at the end of the half instead of going for it, another sign of growth."

YES!! I almost got a tear of joy in my eye when Coach chose to take the 3 😄

Coach is coachable and is learning!

20 minutes ago, Desert Duck said:

"Lanning kicking a field goal at the end of the half instead of going for it, another sign of growth."

YES!! I almost got a tear of joy in my eye when Coach chose to take the 3 😄

Coach is coachable and is learning!

As 3rd down ended....I was shouting at the TV...."Take the F---cking Points!" I'm glad he heard me....

1 hour ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

If the O line can give just enough, it's more than enough and that works for me.

The group feels like they are settling down and building chemistry.

They get a bye this week to continue to build.

I think building in more blockers at times helped stabilize them. It doesn't need to be a whole season thing but helping them get their legs is a big deal. Especially when other teams feel they can target that unit and rush them.

28 minutes ago, Charles Fischer said:

As 3rd down ended....I was shouting at the TV...."Take the F---cking Points!" I'm glad he heard me....

Not sure was growth as the other times he went for it in a past life he didn't trust our defense, and Saturday he didn't trust our OL and knew he'd have another chance at more points getting the ball after halftime.

We do agree he made the right call Saturday to take the points.

1 hour ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

After the dust settled on a crazy weekend of Duck football, here are a few observations I've made.

1. Donte Moore escaping that ruthless hit with "only" a concussion is a miner miracle. I hope he makes a full recovery.

2. Raiola is clearly the QB1 the Ducks need. The offense came to life the moment he walked on the field and everybody saw it.

3. Score pre Raiola: USC 7 OBD 3. After Raiola OBD 38 SUC 20. Again, Raiola is that guy.

4. Holding SUC to 27 points on their home field shows they have the potential to hold anybody in the twenties which should be enough against anybody.

5. After the hit, the Ducks had their metal tested and they rose to the challenge. A sign of growth since Stillwater.

6. Lanning kicking a field goal at the end of the half instead of going for it, another sign of growth.

7. The D getting 4th Quarter stops against a good offense on the road, another sign of growth.

8. The offense came to life when the down field threats became real. Check downs became real threats when the D was spread out.

9. Jamarie Johnson is a problem.

10. If the O line can give just enough, it's more than enough and that works for me.

11. Drew Mehringer can call an excellent game.

Separately, I think Moore and Dylan are probably a wash. Moore's best is better than Raiola's and Raiola's worst is likely better than Moore's.

Moore was playing too conservative early in the game, but he did have us in scoring position to go ahead when he was injured.

58 minutes ago, Solar said:

Not sure was growth as the other times he went for it in a past life he didn't trust our defense, and Saturday he didn't trust our OL and knew he'd have another chance at more points getting the ball after halftime.

We do agree he made the right call Saturday to take the points.

Yes,

My thoughts as well. It was the correct call given the circumstances.

He's going to continue going for the throat. That's what I love about him.

2 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

After the dust settled on a crazy weekend of Duck football, here are a few observations I've made.

1. Donte Moore escaping that ruthless hit with "only" a concussion is a miner miracle. I hope he makes a full recovery.

2. Raiola is clearly the QB1 the Ducks need. The offense came to life the moment he walked on the field and everybody saw it.

3. Score pre Raiola: USC 7 OBD 3. After Raiola OBD 38 SUC 20. Again, Raiola is that guy.

4. Holding SUC to 27 points on their home field shows they have the potential to hold anybody in the twenties which should be enough against anybody.

5. After the hit, the Ducks had their metal tested and they rose to the challenge. A sign of growth since Stillwater.

6. Lanning kicking a field goal at the end of the half instead of going for it, another sign of growth.

7. The D getting 4th Quarter stops against a good offense on the road, another sign of growth.

8. The offense came to life when the down field threats became real. Check downs became real threats when the D was spread out.

9. Jamarie Johnson is a problem.

10. If the O line can give just enough, it's more than enough and that works for me.

Methinks this shows JJ may have been a major threat, had he been available.

54 minutes ago, Solar said:

11. Drew Mehringer can call an excellent game.

Separately, I think Moore and Dylan are probably a wash. Moore's best is better than Raiola's and Raiola's worst is likely better than Moore's.

Moore was playing too conservative early in the game, but he did have us in scoring position to go ahead when he was injured.

That's a pretty fair assessment. I wasn't feeling good about the tone of the game, despite Moore taking the reigns and finally running.

I felt very confident Raiola was going to kill it. He showed it in the Spring, he showed it last week.

I also believe Mehringer calls better plays for Raiola. They haven't figured out the best way to get Moore in rhythm. Moore is lights out when he gets out of his own head.

If Moore ever relaxes, and starts going for the throat, he will be lethal. Right now that's a big if. Hope he recovers and continues to run. Though I'm sure they're going to tell him to slide ten yards away from everyone from now on.

Edited just now1 min by Mike West

2 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

After the dust settled on a crazy weekend of Duck football, here are a few observations I've made.

1. Donte Moore escaping that ruthless hit with "only" a concussion is a miner miracle. I hope he makes a full recovery.

2. Raiola is clearly the QB1 the Ducks need. The offense came to life the moment he walked on the field and everybody saw it.

3. Score pre Raiola: USC 7 OBD 3. After Raiola OBD 38 SUC 20. Again, Raiola is that guy.

4. Holding SUC to 27 points on their home field shows they have the potential to hold anybody in the twenties which should be enough against anybody.

5. After the hit, the Ducks had their metal tested and they rose to the challenge. A sign of growth since Stillwater.

6. Lanning kicking a field goal at the end of the half instead of going for it, another sign of growth.

7. The D getting 4th Quarter stops against a good offense on the road, another sign of growth.

8. The offense came to life when the down field threats became real. Check downs became real threats when the D was spread out.

9. Jamarie Johnson is a problem.

10. If the O line can give just enough, it's more than enough and that works for me.

When I saw some fans saying it was time to have Raiola start over Moore after the PSU game, I said hold on. He was 11-11 against reserves for a very bad team. I'm not impressed.

Well Raiola just impressed me!

When Dante gets back he might be a Heisman candidate reserve QB. Raiola made the offense click. Period.