Dearest Blog Believers,
I sincerely apologize for my brief, but (in my humble opinion) pronounced absence from the blogosphere. Needless to say, there is soooo much more to look forward to in 2012, and I'll be sure to continue expounding upon the pressing, intriguing, and inspirational developments in the world of sport. I am currently drinking in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, and thrilled that both BCS bowls have lived up to the much-belabored hype so far. I will now take this moment to publicly apologize to all the Wisconsin fans out there, as your dream season became a microcosm of 3 games and tragic plays, and unfortunately, it was this final instance where the Badgers were most to blame. Spiking the ball with limited odds of success aside, ball security is nearly your only meaningful task against the Oregon defense, and Jared Abbrederis failed to do so in the climax of one of the great Rose Bowls ever. What a fitting tribute to greats Dick Enberg and Ron Dayne, who were honored today, but no doubt Dayne will have wished he could've thrown up one more W for Bucky. Alas, the Badgtastic Voyage falls just short for the second consecutive season, albeit against a truly impressive Oregon team that has revolutionized the offensive spectrum of collegiate football. May I qualify my point about the fumble in saying that Oregon's offense is essentially the Death Star of college football, and if you don't do enough damage before the generators fire up the beam, you're going to get vaporized. LSU and USC knew how to do it, and no one else figured it out. Look out for USC in the title race next year, also. Those are two massive programs that took out the Ducks, so don't look past their ability to beat anyone on a given day based on the 2 sitting at the right of the dash. These teams put up tons of points, but scoring against the Ducks is a double-edged sword, and seldomly have teams been able to keep pace with the likes of Darron Thomas, De'Anthony Thomas, and LaMichael James. Wisconsin played this game the right way for much of the proceedings, and unquestionably seemed destined for an OT shootout with Chip Kelly's waterfowl, had it not been for the crucial turnover. Unalienable facts state that when Oregon has the ball, they will score, and when they don't, they're extremely liable to giving up points. That defense has one assignment (to my knowledge): Give the football to the offense. Same as every other defense, right? Not really...
Chip Kelly has developed such a well-oiled offensive machine, he knows that no one can score with him if he cannot be stopped, and also understands the commandment that He Who Hath Won the Turnover Battle Hath Won The Game. When you know you'll turn those mistakes into points, all you're looking for is that mistake. Oregon plays open and aggressive on every side of the ball, and although they could be criticized for playing 30 yards off the ball at the end of the game, look what happened. They did exactly what they spend 75% of practice doing...getting the ball. Watch that defense enough and you'll realize that the ability to tackle, wrap up, bat down balls, bump-and-run, and pursue properly is put upon the athletes. The discipline is nowhere near the level of that at LSU or Alabama, let alone Stanford, Wisconsin; the list goes on...
Oregon gets any defensive effort it can muster from a commitment to getting the football, even at the cost of broken arm tackles. Lovely philosophy when you consider the only defense able to slow this offense isn't eligible and wears the stripes...Well, of course, them and the team that has a striped mascot and a great shot at lifting the crystal on January 9th.
