With the latest AP Poll

[Targus]

1. LSU 2. Bama 3. Okie St 4. Stanford 5. USC 6. Oregon

Oregon has played three of the top five teams.

Combine score against those three opponents: 115-108

Our only two losses are to #1 and #5

Wisconsin lost two road games. One to MSU and the other to Ohio St. MSU is #12 and Ohio St (6-6/3-5) unranked. A 10-3, #12 MSU team is the most impressive (highest ranked) team Wiskey played this season.

In the tOSU loss, tOSU ran all over Wiskey - with two 100+ rushers. Wiskey also gave up huge return yards = 128 total on 26 ypr.

Noteworthy, in that game - tOSU has only THREE first half points. Wiskey tired, made mistakes and started giving up huge plays in the second half as very average tOSU offense put up 30 second half points. In the second quarter of the second game vs MSU, Wiskey's defense gave up 22 - second Q pts and appeared slow and tired - giving up big yardage plays.

Def plays to the hand of Oregon.

I really like this matchup....

With Wiskey's 63rd rated pass attack and a QB with avg arm and avg WR's - we can key the run and force some down turnovers and play field position.

Go Ducks!!

 

[BrianFromWA]

QB with an avg arm

I fully admit that I watch less Wisconsin football than even Oregon football, but I thought Russell Wilson was a Heisman contender for most of the year b/c of his arm and accuracy?

Edit: Looked it up, and he had a 73% completion% and a 31-3 TD/INT ratio. That seems pretty dangerous, even if he had a noodle for an arm.

 

[Targus]

Thanks for pointing that out. I reread my post and it's hardly understandable - lol, what's new? My disclaimer is typing on a droid in a dark hotel room while the rest of the fam sleeps, while continuing to lose 4G connection doesn't lend to quality posting.

The main point I was trying to make is that while Oregon and Wisconsin appear identical in so many areas, Oregon has played much better teams and faced talent at RB, QB, WR and defenses that Wisconsin hasn't.

Wilson has some nice stats, but as far as productivity, doesn't appear in the top 40. Six QB's Oregon has faced do though. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/stats/bycategory?cat=Passing&conference=I-A_all

Take the Wis at Illinois game. Ill is an avg team and held a nice lead at half. Wilson only completed 10 passes for 90 yards in the game. Yes, he only threw 13 times - so his completion rate looks great, but it's a completely less than impressive game. Ill actually ougained Wis, had more first downs and if not for 4 terrible turnovers, would have beat Wis.

 

[tlongII]

Wisky's O-line averages 322 lbs. That is where they do their work. They are going to try and pound the Ducks and play keep away. We'll see how it works out for them.

 

[Targus]

They are big. It's the one area that concerns me the most, given games are often won or lost in the trenches. The right side concerns me the most with two SR's - but the C and left have JR, SO, JR. Oddly, this group gave up a healthy amount of sacks this year - more than MSU - and graduated their two best OL men last year.

Yah, they will get their points and some of our tackles will be made in the secondary...but, I don't see them matching the 50 pts we'll put up on their defense.

Heimuli (320) and Keliikipi (290) will need to be solid. Our defense will need to play explosive and quick football at the LB position with our front concentrating on gap containment. Last years Wisconsin OL was touted as more experienced and physical that this years. They lost at least two All-American's. TCU in the Rose Bowl was not overly big, but brought a 4-2-5 defense and different schemes that held Wis to under 5 yards per rush. Considering TCU only had one 300 pounder on the line and went 250 and 246 at the ends, they did exactly what they needed to. Size doesn't always equal ball movement. This year, Illinois did an outstanding job at holding Wis to a season low pts, 285 net yards and 4.3 ypr and Ill is small - they avg 263#'s across the entire front 4.

Yup, big. Unstoppable? Not at all.

 

[Ed O]

Wisky's O-line averages 322 lbs. That is where they do their work. They are going to try and pound the Ducks and play keep away. We'll see how it works out for them.

Oregon allows other teams to keep it away, though, as evidenced by their 119th-of-120 finish in terms of time of possession.

http://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot

It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

Ed O.

 

[Sinobas]

Oregon has had a tough schedule. Playing 2 top 5 teams on the road, and I believe USC would definitely be a top 10 team if they weren't banned from post season, they deserve it. Next year there will be no Andrew Luck and no Matt Barkley.

One of the computer rankings has the Ducks a lot lower than the human polls....I guess it doesn't weigh strength of schedule much. If either Stanford or USC had played at LSU, they'd most likey have another loss too.

 

[Nate Dogg]

Notre Dame was ranked at #22 when it played Stanford. Previously Notre Dame played three ACC teams with wins. I think when Stanford dominated Notre Dame that pulled some weight in the BCS calculations for Stanford.

 

[Wheels]

Not downplaying Wisconsin or overlooking them at all in this. But looking at our last 3 OOC losses They were teams that could "Bludgeon (sp?) us to death with their power lines and running game (LSU, Auburn, and Ohio St) and our Defense seemed to do pretty well IMO (Yes even LSU given the circumstances) Where we lost those games was their D-Lines tore up our O-Line and disrupted our plays. Wisconsin may have a pretty good Defense Stat wise like Stanford, but do they have the personell to slow down the Ducks Offense? (LSU, Auburn, and Ohio St did, while having the ability to play some keepaway) Serious question though, Maybe Wisconsin does have those elite D-Lineman, and I just dont know about it.

 

[Targus]

Not downplaying Wisconsin or overlooking them at all in this. But looking at our last 3 OOC losses They were teams that could "Bludgeon (sp?) us to death with their power lines and running game (LSU, Auburn, and Ohio St) and our Defense seemed to do pretty well IMO (Yes even LSU given the circumstances) Where we lost those games was their D-Lines tore up our O-Line and disrupted our plays. Wisconsin may have a pretty good Defense Stat wise like Stanford, but do they have the personell to slow down the Ducks Offense? (LSU, Auburn, and Ohio St did, while having the ability to play some keepaway) Serious question though, Maybe Wisconsin does have those elite D-Lineman, and I just dont know about it.

REP