The game revolved around the massive frame of Nick Fairley. The Auburn defender crushed plays, destroyed attempted reads, charged into tackles and represented the obstacle that even the mighty Oregon couldn't overcome; a bigger, stronger defensive line that stopped repeated opposition attempts to run the ball up the middle.
As hard as Oregon tried they couldn't sustain a legitimate running threat between the hash marks. Quarterback Darron Thomas struggled to make the correct option reads against the sheer speed of the Tigers defense that ended plays in the backfield and forced drives to sputter to a premature halt.
In contrast, the offense of Auburn was able to pick apart the seams in the Ducks' secondary coverage, frequently finding defensive end Kenny Rowe looking uncomfortable when dropping into coverage and burning the player for yards and points.
Auburn weren't completely ruthless. Heisman winner Cam Newton started the game looking rusty and made mistakes throughout - underthrowing Eric Smith when positioned to score, overthrowing a receiver who had shaken off the attentions of the defensive backs in the third quarter, and fumbling when tackled by Casey Matthews to allow the Ducks to come back and tie the game.
But Newton was still impressive. He connected for twenty passes and as ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit noted, always seems to fall forward when carrying the football himself. Newton repeatedly extended his long frame to keep the chains moving and his unit on the field.
The steady production of back Michael Dyer was also key to the Tigers' success. Dyer was productive throughout but exploded in the final quarter, and was fittingly involved in the key play of the game.
Apparently wrestled to the ground, Dyer twisted his body free from the tackler and set off again as if to continue downfield, only to stop assuming the play to be dead along with the Oregon defenders. But with the urging of his coaches on the sidelines, Dyer sprinted free once more and was not dragged down again until well inside winning field goal-territory for the Tigers.
* Oregon's best moments featured receivers Jeff Maehl and Lavasier Tuinei. Maehl's stand out moment of the game was his catch on a play-action pass for 81 yards after the Ducks had been pinned deep. Tuinei displayed great awareness in making his first significant contribution in the third quarter - catching a pass in traffic, darting past the onrushing linebacker and getting a first down, and greater athleticism in the second - reaching high over his head to pluck the ball down before heading towards the endzone, only to be dragged down yards short.
* Casey Matthews is frighteningly close in both appearance and playing style to his Green Bay-based brother. Matthews was all over the field, chasing down players and getting his just reward when forcing the fumble that kept Oregon's chance of winning alive late on. Equally worthy of a mention is
* What did I think to Oregon's latest Nike configuration? Worryingly, I quite liked them. The flashes of neon against the carbon and neutral colours kinda worked for me, as much as I hate myself for saying it.
On a related note however, it seems Mr Nike himself has an alarmingly large-sized Air Max wedged in the door of all of Oregon's footballing output according to this article.
* Richard Sandomir wrote a fairly savage review of Brent Musberger's game in the Times blog. He makes some valid points, but personally I didn't find Musberger's commentary a distraction from the game, and I'm the first to complain about poor announcing efforts. His early call on Tuinei's phantom touchdown was an easy mistake to make; on first appearance I too thought the tall receiver was just short of striding into the endzone.
No comments:
Post a Comment