The Stoopseses have a tumultuous history at Autzen, and a very suspect call by little brother Mike to go for it on 4th-and-3 with just under five minutes to play from his team's own 45 in Saturday's shootout between Oregon and Arizona only adds fodder to the farce known as Mike Stoops's tenure in Tucson.

As you may recall, older brother Bob and his Oklahoma Sooners are 0-1 in their only visit to Eugene, losing controversially to the Ducks on what some have argued was a blown call in the final minute and a half of the 2006 contest.  (I, like many Oregon fans, think it's pretty hard to blame a loss on a blown call that occurred while the Sooners were clinging to a 6-point lead.  I'd probably blame the touchdown and the blocked field goal.  But that's just me.  And probably every other rational football fan.)

But, all things considered, Bob probably has a legitimate gripe.  Mike, on the other hand?  Not so much.

With just under five minutes left in the game, Arizona faced a 4th-and-3 at their own 45.

Now, you play head coach for a moment (and, quite frankly, most of you could probably do a better job than Stoops has done in his four seasons at Arizona): Your team has scored 28 straight points; your opponents have punted four times and fumbled a kickoff to end their last five possessions; and, although down by three, you've successfully taken the notoriously raucous home crowd out of the game.  Would you, under any circumstances, go for it in this situation?  Would you put undue pressure on your offense, even if you were a defensive-minded coach whose D had successfully brought its opponent's offensive attack to a screeching halt?  Ignore the obvious fact that home crowds tend to suddenly become interested again when the visiting team decides to go for it on 4th down.  How about if it meant throwing a swing pass to an 18-YEAR-OLD TRUE FRESHMAN RUNNING BACK?!

Yeah, didn't think so.

But, apparently, the brilliant and resilient Mike Stoops did!  And the result was, well, not surprising.  A well-thrown Willie Tuitama pass to a wide-open Keola Antolin (who, having grown up in Vegas, probably wouldn't have bet on HIMSELF to make that play) hits the youngster in the hands and rolls out of bounds, all but eliminating Arizona's chance for a wild, come-from-behind win in one of college football's toughest environments, not to mention dashing its hopes for the school's first-ever Rose Bowl bid.

And the rest is now history: The Ducks took over on downs, quickly added another score with LeGarrette Blount's 40-yard TD dash, and held on to win, 55-45.

Nice work, Mike.  The other Mike probably appreciates it.  Now, back on the hot seat you go!

If you are a fan that was booing at the game, please never attend a game again. There is absolutely no reason to boo, and you need to freaking grow up.

That may have been one of the worst played games I've ever seen. Oregon fumbled the ball four times and hiked another ball out of the end zone. Because of this, Stanford ran eight more plays, and had almost double the time of possession during the game. Oregon moved the almost at willl, and punted the ball only once. Yet, going into the final two minutes, Oregon was down by one point.

On top of this, the passing game showed few signs of progressing, though the weather may have had a part to play with this. Play calling did as well, as Oregon only ran one pass play in the second half up until the final drive. But two things are encouraging. First, Masoli had a great play where he stood in the pocket, was flushed out but did not scramble, and directed Drew Davis. Now, Davis did not catch the ball, but this play showed the type of promise that Masoli has. Also, on the final drive, on Masoli's big run, he stood in the pocket for a good amount of time, and only ran when it was wide open. Both of these plays were incredibly important, as they showed a maturity that Masoli has rarely shown, someone who it able to look down the field, and stand in, and make a play with his arms rather than his legs.

But though these signs were good, Masoli had his low spots as well. He had trouble hitting the simplest of passes through most of the game. He missed short passes consistently, and if not for the early screen to Drew Davis (who looked a lot like J-Will), he would have had pathetic stats again.

But the running game was stellar today. Johnson saw the field impeccably throughout the game, and Blount did in the 2nd half as well (minus the almost safety). This led to another 300+ yard game, on 41 carries, with both Blount and Johnson averaging 9.0 yards per carry.

On the other side of the ball, the grade is merely so-so. Stanford was 5/15 on 3rd down and the Oregon secondary held Stanford to only 138 yards passing, but they gave up 187 yards rushing, and 28 points. However, they were put in many bad positions all day long. In the first half, every scoring drive started at least past the UO 40 yard line, and in the second half, it was all past the UO 30. On top of this the TOP and play discrepancy meant that our defense played about 2/3 of the game on the field.

One bright spot on the defense was the play of the line and secondary in terms of penetration. There was constant pressure on the RBs and QB, which is a good sign. However, there were also missed tackles on Kimble throughout the game, which does not bode well for when we must face the Rodgers brothers in a few weeks.

But overall, it was a game of mistakes. Turnovers and penalties put Oregon in bad positions all day, and they still gutted out the win. The final drive is indicative of the Oregon offense throughout the day. They moved the ball at will and didn't have to use a TO in the two minute drive for the winning touchdown. I never doubted that we would win this game, even after the Stanford score.

There are worries for sure, but a win is a win. This Oregon team is talented, and could put together a great game. But they have not done so this season, and we may be waiting until next to see it.

Leave your game thoughts in the comments.

GO DUCKS!

Well, we know as much about Costa as we did yesterday. The MRI results are back, but won't be released until the orthopedist gets back on Sunday. Everyone is keeping a pretty tight lip, but apparently the injury is "different" than it was last year. I'm not really sure what this means, but because of how its been handled, I'm leaning away an ACL tear. Now, it could be something just as harmful, but it's more wait and see.

And that shouldn't be a huge problem. Roper has been stepping up. In the scrimmage yesterday, he was 3/4 for 61 yards and had a 25 yard touchdown run. Granted, this was with most defensive starters out, but seeing 2 good performances in a row is very encouraging. And Roper is saying all the right things as well. He's been preparing to be the starter since Day 1, and he's ready to make the most of his chances, even under unfortunate circumstances.

One added problem to Costa's injury, which Rickert brings up, is that our depth takes a shot. Yes, there is a ton of talent, but these are players with weeks in the system, not years. I think with the talent around, we'll be better off than last year were we to lose a bunch of QBs, but if Costa is unavailable, that is quite a shot to the depth of the QBs.

In the rest of the scrimmage, Blount and the offense were "dominant". Blount had 87 yards on 4 carries, which was against the mostly 2nd string defense, but still quite impressive. The rest of the QBs played solidly as well, and Remene Alston drew praise for his 27 yards on 6 carries.

The only bright spot on defense was a Scott Grady 100 yard interception return for a touchdown off Darron Thomas.

However, despite the praises, there were also some criticisms. From the RG:

On the negative side, Bellotti ticked off a number of things that needed improvement.

“We had too many procedure penalties, too many snaps on the ground and too many missed tackles,” he said. “Our tempo needs to improve and overall, our kickers and punters did not have a very good day. I was disappointed in their performance and it hurt our ability to evaluate some of our return people.”

Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti was even sharper in his criticism of the overall performance of his players.

“We played a lot of younger kids, but that’s no excuse,” he said. “I didn’t see a thing I liked ... we didn’t give a great effort, we didn’t give great focus, we didn’t pay attention to detail, we didn’t tackle, we weren’t mentally tough. We didn’t do anything that a great defensive team would do to win football games. The only good news is, we didn’t play a real game today. It was brutal, as bad as I’ve ever seen it.”

So there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. But with many of the top players on the sidelines today, that shouldn't be too difficult.

In other news, one of the things I am most excited for this year is the return of Jeremiah's stiff arm. With how much the team went through after he went down last year, it's easy to forget just how awesome it is. Ted Miller did a feature on him yesterday, and he sounds confident and ready, a great combination. I really like Jeremiah, and am excited to see what he will do as a team leader.

Bleacher Report has some good info on Jairus Byrd. The dude can play, and I am excited to see the secondary in action.

Well, we'll a mere 7 days away from season kickoff, and only 5 days away from college football in general. It's game week everyone!

GO DUCKS!