Early Primer: Portland State
Well folks it’s about that time. Time for me to start talking about football, the actual game, on the field. Yes you can darn near hear the cheers and taste the Hop Valley beers. (Rhyme time)
Unlike the 2022 season, Dan Lanning’s first ever game as a head coach, Oregon won’t open against the eventual (and reigning) national champions. This year will be the EXACT opposite season opener and might help the Ducks remain on track for a top ten ranking.
Mighty Portland State will head into the Autzen buzzsaw on Sept. 2. A noon kick and a game that all of you will be able to watch on the Pac-12 Network.
The two best parts about this game will be the actual return of football and the weather.
What to Expect:
A blowout. Plain and simple. Anything less and we’ll have questions. Remember you can have questions that aren’t covered in panic. Things should be on track for Dan Lanning to pull most or all of his starters for all or nearly all of the second half. As long as that’s the case, fans should rest relatively easy.
You won’t see any of the new offense under Will Stein. In fact Oregon will probably just run 4-6 plays all game with slight variations of them. If anyone is injured, they won’t play. There’s absolutely no need for them to play.
On defense, I doubt you’ll really see anything new there either. If Oregon is as good as we hope they are, they should be able to limit Portland State with good old fashioned tackling and effort. And this should be an opportunity for some young guys you expect to count on this season to get meaningful reps.
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Conclusion:
Oregon wins big. Anything less than a 30 point blowout, we’ll have those questions. But it will be important not to get too carried away with them. This is essentially a glorified Spring game, in the Fall.
Your biggest takeaways should be about the fundamentals of football. Does Oregon commit too many penalties? Stupid penalties. Are they tackling well in space? Are they taking the right angles? Are they holding up at the point of attack? On both sides of the ball. Are they dropping passes? Fumbling the football? Making extra points and field goals?
That’s pretty much it for this game.
Get some good early reps in. Put some points on the board, stay injury-free and get ready for a long trip down to Texas in week two.
Player of the Game Prediction: Noah Whittington
Oregon will run the ball, at will, against Portland State. I expect Oregon to have multiple 50-yard plus rushers in this game but I’m betting Whittington breaks it loose on a couple big runs.
Whittington gets the week one game ball for Oregon.
