Friday, October 28, 2005
UA Preview
Admittedly I have not seen UA play yet this year so much of this is based on past experience and reading reviews form their games. Here is what I do know. The Beavs are playing at home and are facing a true freshman starting his first game. Ask Alex Brink how that worked out for him. While UA brings in a tough D, they are the only team in the Pac-10 to yield less than 200 yards passing per game, they should be able to stop the Beavs. This is the home debut of the newfound running game, Mike Hass is still Mike Hass, and Jason Vandiver is starting to emerge as a viable option at TE. If Moore can handle the zone blitz package of the cats and not through too many balls to the guys in white the Beavs win comfortably. If turnovers become an issue the cats are good enough to get their second win.
Once again injuries will play a role. The cats lose their punter who was leading the nation in yards per kick and their starting left guard. I look for the Beavs to be aggressive on D and look to apply pressure and make the frosh make quick decisions. That should lead to some inefficiency and some turnovers. Beavs have the edge in the kicking game with the cats K making only 3 of 6 on the year while Serna is 14 of 16 with both misses being outside 40. The weather play into this as well as cool wet conditions are forecasted for Saturday. Not something the boys from the desert are used to dealing with.
This is a big one. With Stanford looking tougher by the week and the status of UO unknown as the Dixon era starts, the next two weeks are must wins for the Beavs to have the kind of season they are hoping for. I think they play well in front of the home crowd and get it done. MM throws two picks but the D picks him up by getting 4 TO's for us.
Prediction:
Beavs - 30
UA - 15
PS - It's Halloween, how about breaking out the Orange pants with black tops.
