2013 "Game of the Century" - Oregon vs. Stanford

[crimsonaudio]

I'm ashamed of a lot of you in this thread. OB wants opinions from the fans of the best team in college football on how they think they'll fair against the team a lot of people have said is the closest thing to Bama out west (not my words). It comes off to me as a bit flattering that he cares, or would like to know what we think. He doesn't make new threads everyday, yes he holds his position on his team (rightfully so), but he does it very respectfully. He has violated no rules here, and yet he is treated as if he has. Just like anyone coming to visit BDS, let us be respectful, welcoming, and entertaining.

He's not being treated as if he has broken the rules, so stop repeating that. If you think I'm unfairly singling him out, PM me, but stop with the passive / aggressive stuff. You may or may not read most every post every day, but I do my best to, and it's why I made the post above. Basically, I'm tired of threads that have NOTHING to do with Oregon being turned into Oregon threads, so I posted this here - in an actual Oregon thread.

Opposing fans are welcome, but when they essentially hijack every thread they post in towards discussing their team, it gets tiresome to me.

If you wish to discuss this further with me, PM me. Otherwise drop it.

 

[theballguy]

I have no issue with any Oregon threads. If you don't like them, don't respond to them. No need to be uncharitable to them. But if you post them here, don't be terribly surprised if the fans here don't enjoy it. Common sense. Here's a pro tip, obk: if you come in with an ocassional to rare thoughtful post, it will be welcomed here. Hey, we're better than TigerDroppings in that regard. If you post something that's the same old thing, it will annoy people here.

All that being said, Oregon (if they are as good as everyone thinks they are) *should* win this game. They need it to get to the Championship game. Pure and simple. (that could change if FSU loses a game though and I wouldn't be surprised if that was too happen -- READ: It's too early to tell) If we were to lose to Auburn or someone else before then (not counting the SEC CG), we still have something of a chance to be there. Not saying that's fair maybe (maybe it is) but that's the way it is right now. Seems like Oregon/Stanford is becoming like our Bama/LSU game.

As for me? I'm hoping Stanford wins. But I have nothing but respect for Oregon's game and program. It's certainly not like Bama's and there's always more than one way to skin a cat I guess.

All the best,
tbg

 

[twofbyc]

He's not being treated as if he has broken the rules, so stop repeating that. If you think I'm unfairly singling him out, PM me, but stop with the passive / aggressive stuff. You may or may not read most every post every day, but I do my best to, and it's why I made the post above. Basically, I'm tired of threads that have NOTHING to do with Oregon being turned into Oregon threads, so I posted this here - in an actual Oregon thread.

Opposing fans are welcome, but when they essentially hijack every thread they post in towards discussing their team, it gets tiresome to me.

If you wish to discuss this further with me, PM me. Otherwise drop it.

Amazing...there it is in print...and yet...oh, well, nvm......

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Let's not be rude. No rules were broken. The Thread title is Stanford vs. Oregon. If you do not want to read the thread, or you are not interested in the games listed, then simply do not read it or comment. I am a true blue Bama girl, but I am also a college football fan and enjoy reading/discussing other relevant upcoming games. Just sayin.......

Not to step on your toes, BUT...
Did you notice that Crimsonaudio is one of our Administrators?
NOTICE... The sentiments expressed by Crimsonaudio coincide with opinions of most members of TIDEFANS. This is after all our board.
I didn't see it as rude, but then again, I'm getting old and cantankerous.
My Grand Pa taught me that... "Plain talk is easy understood".

 

[lelandhorne]

Would it be great if Oregon and FSU both lose by some miracle and we get to make Urban Meyer retire for a second time??

 

[jnhgiela]

He's not being treated as if he has broken the rules, so stop repeating that. If you think I'm unfairly singling him out, PM me, but stop with the passive / aggressive stuff. You may or may not read most every post every day, but I do my best to, and it's why I made the post above. Basically, I'm tired of threads that have NOTHING to do with Oregon being turned into Oregon threads, so I posted this here - in an actual Oregon thread.

Opposing fans are welcome, but when they essentially hijack every thread they post in towards discussing their team, it gets tiresome to me.

If you wish to discuss this further with me, PM me. Otherwise drop it.

Let the man/woman post wherever. It's only an effective hijack if others reply (and you only would if you (1) cared to discuss or (2) wanted to be a jerk about football convo not directly involving the word "bama") or if it is an unnecessary barrage. You people are too high strung and are propagating the butthole bama fan stereotype. What the hell fun is it being shut inside a box.

 

[crimsonaudio]

Let the man/woman post wherever. It's only an effective hijack if others reply (and you only would if you (1) cared to discuss or (2) wanted to be a jerk about football convo not directly involving the word "bama") or if it is an unnecessary barrage. You people are too high strung and are propagating the butthole bama fan stereotype. What the hell fun is it being shut inside a box.

This isn't a democracy, and frankly, I couldn't care less if we're perceived as 'high strung'.

If you or anyone else wishes to discuss the way we run this site, feel free to send a PM. Otherwise, drop it.

 

[mhiggy45]

Mmoooooooo !

 

[mhiggy45]

Let the man/woman post wherever. It's only an effective hijack if others reply (and you only would if you (1) cared to discuss or (2) wanted to be a jerk about football convo not directly involving the word "bama") or if it is an unnecessary barrage. You people are too high strung and are propagating the butthole bama fan stereotype. What the hell fun is it being shut inside a box.

Mooooooo

 

[sabanball]

 

[JIB]

...back to the topic at hand.

I expect Oregon to win but it may be close. UCLA kept it close for more than a half in Autzen and I wouldn't say UCLA is a great team. Hundley threw one INT that was about as bad a throw as I've seen from a supposed 1st round talent in a long time.

 

[CraigD]

i'll be watching! don't know that I care that much who wins, but it will be an entertaining game... a contrast of styles. If we do play Oregon then the game with Stanford should be valuable to study.

i think it will go about like the Washington game: Stanford will keep it close for a while, maybe into the third quarter. At some point Stanford will make mistakes and Oregon will capitalize and will win by 3+ TDs.

 

[Zaiva]

It should be a decent game at first, especially considering Oregon usually starts out slow. They won't have the luxury of being able to do that against Stanford though. I'd be surprised if Oregon doesn't win by at least 14 points.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

I don't care. I really don't. I'd love to play either Fla St or Oregon. But we've got to get there first. I'm not ready to count our elephants before they stampede. We've got LSU in two weeks and they are a wounded team who will make this game their bowl game and their season.

 

[beachbum94]

As a College Football fan I am looking forward to this game. Stanford has held their own against a pretty tough schedule for them. I hope its an entertaining one and we can see Stanford defense slow down the Duck offense. Would like to see how Oregon performs when the offense is on the field longer than 2 minutes.

 

[RollinTider1335]

Re: 2013 - Oregon vs. Stanford

Win this one and we've reached the summit of the mountain and are cruising down the other side with Bama looming on the distant horizon like the land of Mordor and nothing but an open plain separating us from the goal. How do you think it'll play out? How do you hope it'll play out? What do you think you'll learn from this game?

Thanks for admitting your weak schedule ( no where near SEC caliber). Nobody just cruises the last 3 or 4 games here because no one can.

I hope we see you though.

 

[CajunCrimson]

Re: 2013 - Oregon vs. Stanford

Can I go back to my comment a few months ago about petting stray dogs yet? lol

 

[uafan4life]

I don't care. I really don't. I'd love to play either Fla St or Oregon. But we've got to get there first. I'm not ready to count our elephants before they stampede. We've got LSU in two weeks and they are a wounded team who will make this game their bowl game and their season.

I want to be worried about the LSU game, I really do.

I just can't.

Having watched both teams over the past few weeks leaves me with only one conclusion: barring some catastrophic set of circumstances involving injuries and/or illness among the Bama starters, there is no reason that we should lose to LSU.



Now, I'm not saying that LSU isn't a good team, can't give us a run for our money, and will be an easy win; I do, however, think that we're going to make it look easy.

We match up very well with LSU this year - especially considering how they've been playing the past few weeks. Yes, perhaps they have been looking forward to the Bama game for weeks and over-looking their opponents but they have a few issues that are fundamental and/or personnel problems that don't get fixed overnight.


Here are three defensive category rankings for LSU and Bama, only taking into account SEC Conference games:

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 600"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 6, align: center"]Defensive Category Rankings vs Conference Opponents[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]LSU[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]Alabama[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Avg. / Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Conference Rank[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Avg. / Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Conference Rank[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rushing Defense (YPR)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.41[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]8th[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3.77[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2nd[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passing Eff. Defense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]131.9[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5th[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]113.06[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2nd[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scoring Defense (PPG)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]24.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5th[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]11.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1st[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Unlike recent years, there's a significant difference between the two. Of course, even this doesn't fully take into account the level of competition each team has faced, since both teams have only played five conference games. So, let's look at what each defense has done in conference play relative to what their SEC opponents have averaged in conference play.

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 600"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 4, align: center"]Defensive Category Differential Stats vs Conference Opponents[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]LSU Defense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]LSU Opponents' Offense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Differential[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rushing (YPR)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.41[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.38[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]0.03[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passing Efficiency[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]131.9[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]134.29[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-2.39[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scoring (PPG)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]24.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]27.2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-2.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Alabama Defense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Alabama Opponents' Offense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Differential[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rushing (YPR)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3.77[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.38[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-0.61[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passing Efficiency[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]113.06[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]122.43[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-9.37[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scoring (PPG)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]11.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]23.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-12[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


While LSU has faced slightly better offenses in regard to Yards per Rush and Passing Efficiency than has Alabama, the Crimson Tide Defense has fared significantly better than LSU's against their opponents - relative to what their opponents are averaging in conference play. Amazingly enough, both Alabama's and LSU's opponents have collectively averaged exactly 4.38 Yards per Rush on the season - that wasn't a typo or copy and paste error. However, just like the other two stats, the Crimson Tide Defense has fared much better than LSU's - this time playing against virtually identical levels of offensive rushing prowess.


Ok, so what about the offenses?


[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 600"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 6, align: center"]Offensive Category Rankings vs Conference Opponents[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]LSU[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]Alabama[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Avg. / Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Conference Rank[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Avg. / Game[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Conference Rank[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rushing Offense (YPR)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.23[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]9th[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6.89[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1st[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passing Eff. Offense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]157.92[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3rd[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]164.02[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2nd[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scoring Offense (PPG)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]35.2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4th[/TD]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]43.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]2nd[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 600"]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 4, align: center"]Offensive Category Differential Stats vs Conference Opponents[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]LSU Offense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]LSU Opponents' Defense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Differential[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rushing (YPR)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.23[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4.37[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-0.14[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passing Efficiency[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]157.92[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]132.19[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]25.73[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scoring (PPG)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]35.2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]29.5[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"][/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Alabama Offense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Alabama Opponents' Defense[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Differential[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rushing (YPR)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]6.89[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5.22[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1.67[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Passing Efficiency[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]164.02[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]152.02[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]12.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scoring (PPG)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]43.8[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]36.0[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]7.8[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]




As you can see, LSU has faced noticeably better defenses than has Alabama. However, the differentials tell an interesting story. First, you'll see that LSU wins its first - and only - differential comparison with Alabama in the way of Passing Efficiency Offense, as the Tigers have performed significantly better than the Tide in this differential. Second, you'll see that while both teams have significant scoring differentials, Alabama has fared a little bit better than LSU in that category. Finally, you'll notice that Alabama's Rushing (Yards per Rush) differential is excellent while LSU's is actually negative - putting LSU's Rushing Offense firmly in the bottom half of the SEC.


Of course, there are a few things to consider when looking at these offensive stats. First, in Alabama's closest conference tilt the Tide netted its highest Passing Efficiency Rating and its second highest Scoring Total (though netting its second "worst" Rushing performance at 6.32 yards per rush) in conference play - a win against Texas A&M. In addition, every other SEC game the Tide has played in has been a blowout win for Alabama. While blowout wins for many teams equals padded stats, for Alabama - as we all know - this usually means taking their foot off the pedal. Meanwhile, only one LSU conference tilt could potentially be considered a blowout - their 59-26 win over Mississippi State - although even that game yielded only a 31-26 lead for LSU going into the 4th Quarter. While this does mean that LSU has been tested more often in conference play than has Alabama, it is worth noting that Alabama won its only closely contested game while LSU lost two out of its three most closely contested games.


Add to all of this the facts that:
1) Alabama's Special Teams - for the first time in recent memory - is performing significantly better than LSU's,
2) Alabama's Time of Possession is better than LSU's,
3) Alabama's Turnover Margin is better than LSU's,
4) the 'Eye-Test' tells you that Alabama has been improving significantly as the season has progressed while telling you that LSU has seemingly been trending downward as the season has progressed, and
5) against their only common opponent - Ole Miss - the Tigers lost on the road while the Tide blew them out at home...

And the signs all point to a big Bama win over LSU.

 

[BamaPokerplayer]

Re: 2013 - Oregon vs. Stanford

Can I go back to my comment a few months ago about petting stray dogs yet? lol

He is a sweet little doggie, he just wants to earn your approval.

 

[crtide]

[Win this one and we've reached the summit of the mountain and are cruising down the other side with Bama looming on the distant horizon like the land of Mordor and nothing but an open plain separating us from the goal.]
Is that you, Gollum?