good article on utah/oregon.........

[gman2]

still dont have a good feel for this game. probably gonna pass. oregon getting lots of action, but too tough for me to go against urban meyer as a home dog. but this is a good article for those playing the side or total.
(apologies if someone already posted it in another thread or something. ive got no clue. just think its a good read)
=============================================


Meyer to let ''O'' off leash
By Michael C. Lewis
The Salt Lake Tribune

The way coach Urban Meyer sees it, the Utah Utes have dinked and dunked with their new spread offense long enough.

It's time to see what this baby can do.

So when they kick off against the No. 19 Oregon Ducks in a nationally televised game tonight at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the Utes plan to open the throttle on a system that Meyer used to rank third in the nation in scoring with the Bowling Green Falcons last season.

"We're going to start running the spread offense the way it's meant to be run," Meyer said. "And not be quite as conservative."

Part of the reason is that sophomore quarterback Alex Smith has two full games of experience now -- he's expected to start again in relief of injured regular starter Brett Elliott -- and should be better equipped to handle an expanded playbook. Another part is that the Utes probably will need more firepower than they have shown, particularly in the passing game, to defeat a typically strong defensive team trying to bounce back into the national championship chase after one of its worst defeats ever. "Very, very tough time to be playing Oregon," Meyer said.

Utah is only 3-11 at home against ranked opponents -- Oregon is the first ranked team to visit the Utes since No. 8 Brigham Young in 1996 -- and the Ducks are coming off a shocking 55-16 home loss to Washington State that ruined a 4-0 start that included a victory over Michigan.

The Ducks said it was easy to put that loss behind them, because of the almost fluky way it happened -- with an astonishing nine turnovers (including seven interceptions, four that were tipped at the line) and two blocked punts.

The Ducks' secondary has been the weakest part of their defense, having allowed nearly 259 passing yards per game even before WSU lit them up for 315. The Ducks are much stronger against the run, allowing just 59 rushing yards per game.

The Utes have yet to scorch anybody in the pass game, though, and Meyer has expressed some concern about their inability to fight their way out of their own end in some crucial situations against Cal and Colorado State.

"At times, we do lag," Smith said. "Especially the last two games, we've kind of seen that a little bit at the end of the games. But when we want to perform, we can. . . . We're the only ones stopping ourselves."

While the Utes figure to attack through the air a bit more than they have, the Ducks might be expected to do the same thing. With quarterbacks Kellen Clemens and Jason Fife splitting time, they love to throw to some of the fastest receivers around, including track star Samie Parker and Demetrius Williams. Utah secondary coach Bill Busch said he's concerned about their incredible speed, and that the Ducks "are as vertical a throwing team as I've ever seen."

Busch expects the Ducks to throw as many as two dozen passes 30 yards or longer, which could be a huge test for a sometimes shaky secondary that includes freshman Eric Weddle at one of the cornerback positions. "That's where we have to improve," Meyer said. The game also represents a chance for Utah's Paris Warren to back up his trash talking.

The former Duck transferred to the Utes after the 2001 season, and had been talking for months about how much he wanted to get back at his former team for supposedly not giving him a chance. He said last week that he didn't believe the Ducks were "that good," and that he has "a lot to prove to them."

But Meyer quickly put the muzzle on his leading receiver, making him off limits to the media this week to avoid giving the Ducks any more motivation. They have enough of that.

 

[IX_Bender]

Bump, and another good informative piece

The preseason is over, as far as Utah wide receiver Paris Warren is concerned. Now, the real fun begins.
The Utes play Oregon.
It's a nonconference game, sure, on the heels of a historic 28-21 victory at defending champion Colorado State to open the Mountain West Conference season Saturday. But it's a game to which Warren has been looking forward since he transferred from the Ducks after the 2001 season, angry they did not run in games the plays for him they rehearsed in practice.
"Never," he said. "I put that on the head coach, though."
Warren did help beat the Utes two years ago in Eugene by throwing a 50-yard pass on a trick play that set up a go-ahead touchdown, but he has been talking about getting back at Oregon and coach Mike Bellotti for months. And he hardly has shied from questions about his taste for revenge -- even before the Ducks blew their chance to come into Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday night (8 p.m., ESPN2) unbeaten and eyeing a serious run toward a national championship by losing 55-16 at home to Washington State.
"It's going to be hard to keep my emotions down," he said. "But I'm going to be fired up for this game. I just feel I have a lot to prove to them."
The Ducks have something to prove now, too. They were riding high before meeting WSU, ranked 10th in the AP Top 25 after beating Michigan and poised to become one of the highest-ranked teams ever to play the Utes in Salt Lake City.
But just as soon as they appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine behind the headline "Dazzling Ducks," they fell apart, throwing seven interceptions against a defense coordinated by former Weber State player and assistant coach Robb Akey -- quarterbacks Jason Fife and Kellen Clemens had not thrown any in their first four games -- and allowing the most points ever at home.
"I don't feel that they're that good," Warren said -- before the Ducks lost. "They beat a quality team, but I feel we can beat 'em. We've got everything they've got, and I think we've got a little bit more."
Maybe so.
The Ducks fell nine spots to 19th in the AP poll, and suddenly it's the Utes who are on a little roll, having rallied for back-to-back victories 16 days apart -- the latest on Arnold Parker's 80-yard fumble return for a touchdown with 1:33 remaining at Hughes Stadium that snapped a five-game losing streak to the Rams dating to 1995. The 31-24 victory over Cal is looking even better, too, after the Golden Bears upset No. 3 USC in triple-overtime.
Coach Urban Meyer said he was "a little upset" at the offense after the CSU game, though, because it failed to move past its own 23-yard line on three straight possessions in the fourth quarter -- the first of which allowed the Rams a short-field touchdown drive to tie the game after punter Matt Kovacevich shanked a punt that went only 26 yards.
"We have to get out of there and quit putting our defense in bad positions," Meyer said. "Our offense did a good job in the first half of controlling the game, but it was awful there for awhile, so we have to get some things corrected."
The defense forced a punt after the second failed possession and another Kovacevich shank put the Rams at midfield, and Parker came up with the longest fumble return in school history on the possession after that.
"I was just in the right place at the right time," he said.
Finally, linebacker Corey Dodds sealed the victory by intercepting CSU's Bradlee Van Pelt for the sixth Rams turnover of the game. The Utes had forced only eight turnovers in their previous three games.
The Utes might have to decide on a quarterback to start against the Ducks, with regular starter Brett Elliott planning to return after missing the past two games with a broken left wrist. The junior wants desperately to play the Ducks, having grown up hating them in Lake Oswego, Ore., and sophomore replacement Alex Smith might not have done enough against the Rams to deny him, in spite of completing 17 of 21 passes for 158 yards.
Meanwhile, Warren continues to salivate over the prospect of sticking one to his old mates. "I'm just happy to be in a better place," Warren said. "These coaches gave me a chance, and that's all I wanted -- a chance."

Parris was a redshirt freshman and expected to get playing time over Sammie Parker, Keenan Howry, and Jason Willis. I can see getting frustrated by not getting playing time, but there was no way that Parris was better than those players at that time. Those 3 players helped Oregon go 11-1 with a win in the Fiesta Bowl that year. I read a line in the paper that stated, "unless Parris could have prevented a couple of blocked punts in the Stanford game-Oregon's only loss of that season-it's hard to argue that Warren could have dramatically helped that Ducks had he been used more often on offense."

Because Warren was running his mouth about Oregon and coach Bellotti, Utah coach Meyer has banned him from interviews this week. Meyer had this to say about Warren's comments, "I'm a big believer in just shutting your mouth and playing football. It drives me crazy, and I wish I would have gotten ahold of him before he made those comments."