Oregon @ Washington (Nov. 4, Sat 7 PM FS1)

[pezsez1]

I'm also not impressed with UW. The Pac-12 is definitely down this year.

That said, I'm not pleased with Taggart, either. He's clearly not a bad coach, and he's a great recruiter. Braxton seemed to be playing with confidence those first two drives, which is good. I think dthomas is right... had Benoit the Ducks not suffered that Cascade of errors, then perhaps the game unfolds differently.

My problem is once that happened, the Ducks just rolled over. No, correction -- Taggart rolled over. The players are out there busting their asses trying to win, but Taggart simply didn't give them realistic opportunities for that to happen. Even the announcers were mystified that we weren't making honest attempts to try to win (or even try to close the gap)! If we're not even going to TRY, then why even come out for the third quarter? Why even risk any of our starters? Why not just play the third strings and work on depth for 2018 and beyond?

I don't even care of Braxton throws picks. DO SOMETHING, damn it! Running a glorified practice while the other team is pile-driving us isn't "doing something." That's just getting neutered.

Seriously, I just don't get it.

We can't only try to win games when we have the talent advantage. That's just chickenshit. And that's exactly what we're doing right now. "Herbert can't play, so let's try to minimize how badly we get beat while giving ourselves a 5 percent chance of winning."

ALSO...

I'm not the only one on this forum who feels this way. And last night, several of my friends voiced similar thoughts on social media. The media is voicing these concerns, too. And if that's all happening, you can bet there are players who are starting to resent Taggart for pulling the rug out from under them.

[OregonFan4Life]

Pez so glad you’re on this forum cause your expressing exactly what I think but in a far better way! I couldn’t agree more with you. And this goes back to my posts about Herbert. Any player can get injured in any game, Herbert apparently told Jerry Allen he thought he was good to go (which if true, is kinda surprising for Herbert), I know fans will say that we didn’t have a chance even with him and save him for the winnable games, but a good coach needs to see any game as winnable, not just the ones where superior talent is evident. If Willie did bench Herbert because he thought this wasn’t winnable, then what does that tell his team? And to the poster that used Sark benching Locker as an example, Sark is a drunk fool, don’t be like him. Just feels like Willie only knows how to win with superior talent and he needs to grow out of that to succeed in this conference.

[buckmarkduck]

Where are people seeing Braxton with confidence and looking good? BB hasn't looked good, at least not for a QB. And it's easy for teams to adjust and take away what little he does decent, namely rolling out. He can't read the d to save his life, when he his first option is covered he wilts and just tries to run, unfortunately he's not athletic enough to outrun most guys.

[pezsez1]

Sark is a drunk fool, don’t be like him.

I'd wear this t-shirt.

[nogerO]

Some of the petals on the rose are starting to turn a bad color Willie.

[dphi]

Don't forget this was the guy spent all this effort flipping after he got hired so it is a little on him

It didn't take much effort honestly. He would have been a duck long before if he had an offer. The guy WT spent a lot of time trying to get was Tui.

Yeah, I was gonna say, people act like BB was the only QB Taggart went after. It's not easy to try flipping a QB that late in the game with a new coaching staff.

[GrandpaDuck]

.... And to the poster that used Sark benching Locker as an example, Sark is a drunk fool, don’t be like him. ....

That was me, and I didn't use him as an example of what to do. I thought it was a defeatist thing for him to do, even though it did work out for him that year. I just wanted to know if anyone could confirm my memory before I said that WT might have unknowingly copied a Sark strategy in the same rivalry, if Herbert truly could play.

[UofDuck]

Willey is reminding me of Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. Many of the fans are turning on him while he’s going back to basics. I like that I’m seeing improvements. Not one team has had a 100 yard rusher against UW. We did, and that was with a stacked box. Very little penalties. LOS was Oregon’s. Those are solid improvements. I think Willey is trying to stick to fundamentals development at the sacrifice of being as competitive as possible. The evidence in improved fundamentals is starting to show. It will pay dividends next year.

[Duck07]

Willey is reminding me of Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. Many of the fans are turning on him while he’s going back to basics. I like that I’m seeing improvements. Not one team has had a 100 yard rusher against UW. We did, and that was with a stacked box. Very little penalties. LOS was Oregon’s. Those are solid improvements. I think Willey is trying to stick to fundamentals development at the sacrifice of being as competitive as possible. The evidence in improved fundamentals is starting to show. It will pay dividends next year.

I don't see that at all. What QB basics are we using to help the WR/TE develop? There are no route concepts that build off each other for example. We're basically going to be relying on a bunch of unproven WR's and RB's next season to come in and make a difference. I get that BB is limited, but if you limit the playbook you've told the kid you have zero confidence in his abilities. I can live with mistakes because player's are in over their head, I can't stand playing scared of losing. Unless BB was throwing all of those same routes in practice all week long and not other routes then I get it. However the offense looks like it takes anything more than 5 yards down the field out of the playbook for BB and that is not beneficial to anyone's development.

[buckmarkduck]

Willey is reminding me of Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. Many of the fans are turning on him while he’s going back to basics. I like that I’m seeing improvements. Not one team has had a 100 yard rusher against UW. We did, and that was with a stacked box. Very little penalties. LOS was Oregon’s. Those are solid improvements. I think Willey is trying to stick to fundamentals development at the sacrifice of being as competitive as possible. The evidence in improved fundamentals is starting to show. It will pay dividends next year.

Tackling is much improved, the run blocking from game 1 until yesterday, much improved. Team effort is much improved. Just think how awesome this OL will be in two years, and I can certainly see our D being as good as UW in a year or two. Now add in actual legit WR and Herbert as a Sr, that team is going to either make or break how people view WT at UO. I personally think that's the year we roll back into the playoffs.