U S Cya Later!

David R.

October 31, 2010 - 3:19 PM

The high-powered machine know as the Oregon Ducks offense was functioning at full efficiency on Saturday night in the Coliseum. Anymore, it has become expected of the Ducks that they put up at least 40 points in every game, as they did last night with 53.

The tailgating began at around 1:30 in the afternoon and continued until about 4:30 when we began making the walk to the stadium. We spent a good deal of time walking around all of the different tailgating sites, taking all the flak we received with a nice smile. The USC fans weren't as hostile to us as the UW fans were last year in Seattle, but it is always difficult representing the visiting team at a college football game. At one point we walked in front of Heritage Hall on the USC campus, and we were booed in unison by all of the Trojan fans who were present to watch the USC band. It's never fun being the target of harsh booing, but it all seemed to come in good fun, and I gave back my share of "enjoy your bowl game" comebacks to the Trojan faithful (Don't forget that USC isn't allowed to play in a bowl game this year or next).

Aside from being pumped about the football game, I was excited to see a game inside the Coliseum. I have seen this stadium on ESPN for years but never had I made it inside. I didn't realize that it holds around 100,000 people, or that you have a phenomenal view of downtown LA and the Hollywood sign(like we did) if you are sitting on the right side of the stadium. We were sitting one row below the very top of the stadium, but we had a great view and there were Duck fans scattered all around us.

The game went back and forth for a while, and early in the second half the Ducks were down 32-29 to a Trojan team that has nothing more to do than be a spoiler this season. I have to admit that I was a little concerned for a short period of time, but the Ducks, being clearly the better team, pulled it out in convincing fashion as they were expected to.

La "Heisman" James put up over 200 yards on the ground and Jeff Express Maehl had eight receptions for three touchdowns and over 140 yards. Our offense was the feature of the night, and I think we throw defenses for a loop due to how fast we move. The elapsed time from tackle to snap is kept to a minimum, and on multiple plays last night we were hiking the ball before the USC defense was even set up. The Ducks offense moves like lightning and literally runs teams off the field...until someone fakes an injury. In a few games this season, including the Stanford game in Autzen, there has been some controversy surrounding defensive opponents faking injuries to slow down the quack attack.

With each week that passes, the Ducks move closer and closer to reaching the pinnacle of college football, and being given the opportunity to make their dreams come true in Glendale, Arizona.