Saturday, October 4, 2008

Ducks/Beavers debate again!

OK, I know that I have visited this topic once already but it's time to go back to it again.

On Friday 10/3/08 (the morning after the Beavers lost at Utah 31-28) I was Switching to 95.5 the game because 1080 the Fan was on commercial and Whats the first thing I hear that tool Gavin Dawson say when I change the station? How Oregon State looked good and that they statistically won the game. But oh! They just came up short. "And Gavin, How great did they play?" They lost! It doesn't matter. They were up 8 points with under 2minutes to go. They let Utah march down the field in less then a minute score a TD and the game tying 2pt conversion, then went three and out, and then with one second left on the game clock Utah's stud kicker hit the game winning field goal from about 37 yds away. Then Freak show Gavin Dawson went on about how Oregon State played great and Said "The Beavers are the best 2-3 team there is."

As a Duck fan I have a problem with this. Belotti catches heat because he lost to a good Boise State team at home, while Mike Riley gets praise for having one upset victory at home on national TV against USC. I am not taking anything away from the win. They deserved it and they were by far the better team that night. However They lost to Stanford to start the season, they looked like a high school team against Penn State who had them beat by the end of the first quarter, they then go home and beat Hawaii (big one there), have the huge upset of USC the following week, and then play #15 Utah at Utah on a Thursday Night and collapse at the end of the game losing that one as well. Now here's my problem: After the win against USC people were asking who is the better team right now Oregon or Oregon State? Are you serious? That one win gets the program that much respect? After Beating USC the beavers would have to validate it the next week against Utah, but they didn't. The win against USC was meaningless because they showed their true overrated, over hyped, inconsistent play that they demonstrate year in and year out.

It's simple Greatness is expected out of Belotti and U of O. Mediocrity is not accepted at U of O, where at OSU it's not only accepted but encouraged. Belotti takes all the heat when they do bad and gets not credit when they win. When the Ducks Win the critics say "Well look at the money Phil Knight donates, or look at the facilities, or look at the Athletes." but when they lose it's because he didn't have them ready to play, or he is a bad coach. Belotti built this existence of greatness at U of O and his record with the University proves it as he is the winningest coach in Oregon history. The critics were getting on him last year when Dixon, and Brady Leaf went down and they couldn't get it done against UCLA or OSU in the Civil War. Then looked what happened when he had the time to prepare Roper to beat down UCF last year in the Sun Bowl (Who at one point was ranked second in the nation last year). There is no way anyone could have prepared to use the 4th and 5th string starters the rest of the year. Do all programs even have 4 or 5 people that they would even be able to plug into the starting role? This year he was a prepared and learned from his mistake and has done a great job. Using everyone he has at his disposal. Granted, I will admit that he flat out got out coached against Boise State, he and the whole coaching staff are responsible for that because the play calling sucked.

All in all OSU will be judged on one win this season against USC and 2-3 is acceptable for everyone that is involved with the OSU program, Boosters, Coaches, Players, the AD, Fans, and students. It is just amazingly pathetic. Where as Belotti has created a monster at U of O due to being highly successful. His success is the reason why the Ducks set them selves at such a higher standard then OSU. 2-3 is not acceptable in Eugene, no matter who they have played, beaten, or lost to. I just think Belotti doesn't get a fair shake with the fans at U of O a lot of the time. They want to use Belotti as the scapegoat for the losses and not give him credit for the wins. At times, not all of the time. I wish they could be a little more appreciative. I think some day they will when he decides to either coach a different college or NFL team and were stuck with some to replace him. If his replacement isn't 1 of the top 2 or 3 coaches available don't expect Oregon to be as great as they have been in the past.

Great Job Belotti- I wouldn't trade him for any other college coach out there!!!

PS. Utah out gained OSU on the ground, had less penalties, and less fumbles. the only categories they lost in were pass yds, and time of possesstion.
Smitty

1 comment:

Sparkplug17 said...

You've been slacking honey...you need to blog more! :)