Bowl Talk!

[Free Bagel]

Seriously, I hate hate what this game has become. That Cincinnati player looked like he was going down but never actually did, and he kept running so hicks pushed him out of bounds and got flagged for a late hit. He wasn't down, and was still running. How do you get called for a lat hit on a player who isn't down yet?

It's no wonder that we see all these plays where a guy almost goes down and the whole defense stops and watches the guy run to the endzone. Then the announcers go on about how they "quit" on the play. They didn't quit...it's a lose/lose because they can just as easily get flagged for making a perfectly legal tackle.

[Nfl Fan]

Didn't belong on a high school field? That's a bit of a stretch.

Dude.. it's sandrock.
He doesn't post here without taking a swipe at the Ducks.

[A Fleshner Fantasy]

Was anyone else perplexed as to why the Ducks attempted a 45 yard kick on the 4th and 1? That's a kick that's longer than their kicker's career high (at least according to the announcers a couple minutes earlier). A 4th and 1 is very doable, so putting a kicker in a position where he's likely going to fail doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially given their prolific offense.

[Sandrock]

Whoops, wrong post.

[Sandrock]

Didn't belong on a high school field? That's a bit of a stretch. He had a bad game overall but if Dickson makes a few of those catches he usually makes Masoli would have looked a lot better. Really the undoing of the Ducks were penalties and turnovers, as well as good defensive play by Ohio State. No excuses, Oregon simply got beat.

His stats really say differently. I can only recall two catches that Dickson really had a chance at and neither would have gone for game-changing yardage. Give Dixon 20 yards on 2 catches and Masoli is still barely breaking 50% completions, just over 100 yards and no TDs. Tack on 9 yards rushing and it's still quite a horrid performance. Now, it's not as bad as the bomb that was Canfield in Vegas or Foles in the Holiday. But you can't have stats like that and hope to win that caliber of game.

I give credit to the OSU D, but Oregon had chances and couldn't come away with it. And I think most of the blame falls on Masoli.

[AquaMan2342]

Nothing said about the Outback Bowl, huh? Best game I have watched in a while.

[moochman]

Seriously, I hate hate what this game has become. That Cincinnati player looked like he was going down but never actually did, and he kept running so hicks pushed him out of bounds and got flagged for a late hit. He wasn't down, and was still running. How do you get called for a lat hit on a player who isn't down yet?

It's no wonder that we see all these plays where a guy almost goes down and the whole defense stops and watches the guy run to the endzone. Then the announcers go on about how they "quit" on the play. They didn't quit...it's a lose/lose because they can just as easily get flagged for making a perfectly legal tackle.

I still don't know what they were thinking. Like you pointed out, the player had not gone down, I don't recall hearing a definetive whistle, so where was the foul? There has to be a more coherent officiating philosophy. Either you say a play is dead early or you let plays run out until the runner is clearly down. If you blow whistles early, then you have to stop using replays to over-turn plays, since you could say you blew it dead prior to the result in question. Now that is not going to happen. So the only alternative is to let a play play out. All that is left now is to tell the zebras.

[Metroid]

Didn't belong on a high school field? That's a bit of a stretch. He had a bad game overall but if Dickson makes a few of those catches he usually makes Masoli would have looked a lot better. Really the undoing of the Ducks were penalties and turnovers, as well as good defensive play by Ohio State. No excuses, Oregon simply got beat.

His stats really say differently. I can only recall two catches that Dickson really had a chance at and neither would have gone for game-changing yardage. Give Dixon 20 yards on 2 catches and Masoli is still barely breaking 50% completions, just over 100 yards and no TDs. Tack on 9 yards rushing and it's still quite a horrid performance. Now, it's not as bad as the bomb that was Canfield in Vegas or Foles in the Holiday. But you can't have stats like that and hope to win that caliber of game.

I give credit to the OSU D, but Oregon had chances and couldn't come away with it. And I think most of the blame falls on Masoli.

I guess I just saw a different game. Like I said Masoli had a bad game but he could have looked better with help. Receivers dropped passes, not many but some key passes. There were at least 3 that Dickson missed that would have kept drives alive, that's game changing. I'm not really sure what you expected out of him though, considering the defense he faced. Masoli uses his legs to open up the passing game. OSU did not allow that to happen. But again the undoing of Oregon was not the poor play of Masoli, it was the turnovers and penalties. If Blount doesn't fumble that ball into the endzone, and rather carries it in, it's a different game. If that batted pass doesn't fall right into the defenders lap, it's a different game. And if Dickson makes just a few catches, that would have kept drives alive, it's a different game. There also were quite a few penalties that kept OSU drives rolling, those didn't help either.

But again, those are just things that Oregon could have done...they didn't. OSU took full advantage of their opportunities, the Ducks didn't. Kudos to the Buckeyes, they beat Oregon fair and square.

Was anyone else perplexed as to why the Ducks attempted a 45 yard kick on the 4th and 1? That's a kick that's longer than their kicker's career high (at least according to the announcers a couple minutes earlier). A 4th and 1 is very doable, so putting a kicker in a position where he's likely going to fail doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially given their prolific offense.

Not perplexed at all. Oregon needed points there, Morgan Flint is more than capable of hitting a 45 yard field goal, his longs are 43, he just missed that one. I wouldn't have minded at all if the Ducks had gone for it, but it didn't surprise me at all that they attempted the kick. They needed a FG at some point.

[Nfl Fan]

Was anyone else perplexed as to why the Ducks attempted a 45 yard kick on the 4th and 1? That's a kick that's longer than their kicker's career high (at least according to the announcers a couple minutes earlier). A 4th and 1 is very doable, so putting a kicker in a position where he's likely going to fail doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially given their prolific offense.

Not perplexed at all. Oregon needed points there, Morgan Flint is more than capable of hitting a 45 yard field goal, his longs are 43, he just missed that one. I wouldn't have minded at all if the Ducks had gone for it, but it didn't surprise me at all that they attempted the kick. They needed a FG at some point.

I was surprised that they didn't go for the yard. Seems the odds with LMJ and/or LGB behind Masoli were better than a 45 yarder. Cest la vie, as they say.

[The Lung]

Is it just me or has this Ole Miss - OSU Cotton Bowl been brutal? Other than McCluster's big run, the offenses have just been sloppy, undisciplined and ineffective.