The Big Game A Big Dud

(James taking his licks)

There's no crying in football, but I feel like crying.

The Mighty Oregon Ducks fell hard last night to the mean old SEC--again. It was close for a half, but Oregon didn't have the horses, finally, to stay with a fast, aggressive LSU team.

Darron Thomas looked ordinary, missing receivers too often. I said here earlier that Oregon needs to replace Jeff Maehl. No one showed that kind of ability for the Ducks last night as every one of the wideouts managed to drop a pass.

The returning wideouts, Huff and Tuinei, couldn't get separation from LSU's DBs, making it that much more difficult to pass successfully.

Thomas only occasionally threaded the needle. He's no Aaron Rodgers in that regard.

Worse, Oregon's bread and butter running game was stale and moldy.

If any goodness comes out of this defeat it could be said that Oregon, while not a top 5 team, still has plenty to play for this year.

The Pac-12 will be more to their liking, though I suspect there will be a few nailbiters throughout the season.

The Ducks are a very young team. Last night, it showed, translating into fumbles, bad penalties, and poor decision-making on many fronts.

Oregon must regroup for Nevada in friendly Autzen next week.

I'm saying they should win that one. But you never know.



TS