Write up Ducks and K. State (warning heavy Oregon lean)

Coach: Advantage Oregon (slight)

I realize Snyder is an icon and a fantastic motivator. His schemes have grown with the times and his players play smart. Chip's teams have become a polished and well oiled machine (accept against teams with dominating front 7's). His teams consistently rank in the top 5 in major offensive categories and he allows his coordinators to coach with confidence.

I give a slight edge to Chip (partly because his recruiting has given him the more talented team).

QB vs pass rush/secondary: Advantage Oregon

I will give an edge in receivers to K.State. But I don't believe the WR's are going to decide this game.

Regarding pure passing skills Mariota is the choice. Mariota's passing efficiency is 165.3 compared to Klein's 156.1 rating. Mariota's completion percentage is 69.87; Klein's is 66.18. Mariota threw six pics. Klein had seven. Lastly, Mariota  has passed for 30 TD's to Klein's 15. Klein is the better and tougher runner. Klein is way more important to his team. Mariota will out play Klein because the talent around him is better and Chip has a month to prepare.

Backfield rushing vs front seven: Advantage Oregon

Both teams have effective rushing attacks (but with different styles). With Klein being an TE playing QB, K. State likes to pound teams and tire them out with a physical attack (a weakness of the Ducks in the past). Oregon uses high tempo and a precise execution of a handful of plays to befuddle and tire out opposing D's and then....BOOM. Arthur Brown is a stud (Meshak Williams is pretty good too) but the rest of the front seven is slightly above average. Brown is going to have to cover a ton of ground. K. State will try to do what Stanford did (stay with assignments (on zone read and option plays), penetration and make plays in space) but all teams try to play this way against UofO. K. State's front 7 is no Stanford (its not even close). Oregon's front 7 will have most of their players back. When healthy, Oregon's front 7 played very well and I think they have enough to hold K. State's rushing attack until K. State needs to pass  (after falling behind early). Also, look for plenty of big plays from Oregon's back field.

Overall, Oregon has the more talented team and will be ready to play. K. State has some talented players but they have too many average (though overachieving) players to hang with the Ducks. I believe K. State will play tough early but cant stick around with Oregon. Oregon wins the eye test hands down.

Thanks for reading.

52-34 Oregon

dibenis, great write up and I respect your opinion.  I certainly hope you are incorrect, obviously, because I am a KSU fan.  It was evident that we missed Zimmerman (safety) starting with the Baylor game through the end of the season.  It is still up in the air as to his status for the Fiesta Bowl.  Don't get me wrong, I am not using excuses for our loss against Baylor and he is certainly not going to single handly win the game for us against Oregon if he is back.  However, he is going to be a very key ingredient against a high powered offense, like Oregon.  Even if Zimmerman was back, I don't think he would be 100%.  I do think the cats will use the clock to their advantage if we can run the ball...That is certainly a big IF.  Our offensive line has been average to finish out the season, except for the second half against Texas.  IF our offensive line plays to their potential and we can establish the run and if Zimmerman is healthy for this game, then I think the Cats can win this game straight up.  KSU would have to go back to their disciplined football, like they played for 3/4 of the season.  No penalties, no turnovers.  Further, I would give the coaching advantage to Snyder for obvious reasons with all due respect to Chip.

Go Cats!     

Were they saying that 2 years ago when they went 7-6 and lost to Syracuse in their bowl game. Last year with basically the SAME TEAM they got beat 29-16 to Arkansas in their bowl game. Klein with 24 carries 42 yards.  What about 2009 when Kstate lost 3 out of 4 of its last games and went 6-6 and NEVER MADE A BOWL.  Its not like Kstate is this EPIC program that has been there done that and is always playing for the NC. This is ONE YEAR and when it is all said and done they got absolutely blasted by a average at best Baylor team that went 4-5 in conference play. They got blown off the field. Snyder does a good job with what he has but C Peterson plays with much less and wins a lot more games. All Chip Kelly has done in 4 years as the head coach was to take them to 4 straight BCS bowls, play in a NC game. His record the last 4 years is 10-3, 12-1, 12-2, and 11-1. This year was the only year he didn't win the PAC-12 Championship. So please give me a break on which coach is better. Anyone who says Snyder is a better coach has no idea what they are talking about period. This years team is better but not by much while Oregon's team is A LOT BETTER. I have nothing against Kstate and think Snyder done a tremendous job at Kstate but lets not go overboard. Oregon is a POWERHOUSE.

Hes not just better, hes waaaay better. Oregon wouldnt have lost a single game in the last 4 years if Snyder was coaching all that talent.

Will probably play the over, even at 75.5. Both teams can score..

Oregon #2 at 50.8 PPG  KSU #10 40.7 PPG

Both pretty close in actual stats on scoring D, but if Zimmerman plays for KSU, they might get a few more stops. Not going to concede the side yet... probably game day decision for me.

Quote Originally Posted by Crusher13:


I really don't see any NFL team interested in Snyder

Last time I looked, Snyder coached in NCAA, exactly where he wants to be.....  and exactly WTF does  mean?

Do you have to be an NFL coach prospect to be a great college coach?