Furd/Oregon and the "mental edge"

1,461 Views | 4 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by bearister
510 Bear
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Watching the 2nd half, it just seemed highly possible (if not inevitable) that the Ducks would ****e the bed and lose. But if furd were up 24-7? No way they'd do the same. And you knew the guys in the white jerseys weren't making any mistakes during that comeback. There's a lot of hand-wringing on Oregon's board about how all the brain cramps were on the Ducks' sideline and how furd just doesn't do that.

Is this game just a good reminder that having smart players is more important than most people think? There are a couple obvious reasons: (1) penalties (2) football players have a lot of plays to remember, and smart players are less likely to forget the details.

But there seems to be more to it - Rob Pelinka, who played BB for Michigan in the 90s, once commented on how they'd build a big lead against less talented teams, but that teams like Rice and Duke and NWU were less likely to get rattled and give up, that they understand it's "one play at a time". They're also less likely to make huge mistakes when they go up big themselves, and less likely to go into a downward spiral (and forget their plan) if they do make such mistakes. We saw Oregon do both those things last night.

Seems like this is a big part of furd's rise to the top, but shouldn't we benefit from this effect as well?
heartofthebear
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Sorry, Oregon didn't lose that game because of mental mistakes.
And Furd didn't win it because of mental toughness.
Furd had an assist from the officials, and I'm not talking about the pylon thing at the goal line.

Oregon did make a bunch of physical mistakes, like snapping over the head of a 6'6" QB, for example.
And in OT, they tried to force the ball to Mitchell instead of spreading the ball around.

Furd seems to have a knack for forcing fumbles late in close games.
It happened last year against OSU.
Luck maybe?

Furd got exposed and dominated and benefited from many moments of luck.
But it is true that Furd never gave up and that contributed to their victory significantly
Dduster
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Outside of football 'smarts' and general intelligence Stanford has far better athletes/players on both the D Line and O Lines along with Tight Ends. That's why Stanford can do the impossible. Cal has not had quality line play in over a decade. That is the foundation to the losing streaks to Stanford, Washington, Oregon and SC not intelligence. We cannot run the ball against anyone in the Pac 12 outside of Oregon State and until the O Line can push anyone around being smart won't get You 3rd and short.

510 Bear
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Dduster said:

Outside of football 'smarts' and general intelligence Stanford has far better athletes/players on both the D Line and O Lines along with Tight Ends. That's why Stanford can do the impossible. Cal has not had quality line play in over a decade. That is the foundation to the losing streaks to Stanford, Washington, Oregon and SC not intelligence. We cannot run the ball against anyone in the Pac 12 outside of Oregon State and until the O Line can push anyone around being smart won't get You 3rd and short.


I'm not saying intelligence is the #1 factor, just that it's a factor that often gets overlooked.

Kind of like field goal kicking - in years when we don't have good kicking, people here point out correctly that we now have to go for it on 4th downs, lose a certain # of points every game, etc. Lots of "side effects".
bearsandgiants
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All Oregon had to do was take a knee. That was one of the greatest mental coaching mistakes in the history of college football. Instead of playing #15 Oregon, we may be playing an unranked Oregon. The blown PI call adds insult to injury. What a sad outcome.
bearister
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bearsandgiants said:

All Oregon had to do was take a knee. That was one of the greatest mental coaching mistakes in the history of college football. Instead of playing #15 Oregon, we may be playing an unranked Oregon. The blown PI call adds insult to injury. What a sad outcome.

Make that two blown PI calls at close. The last one the broadcasters never mentioned. The Furd defender was clearly holding the shoulder pads of the Duck WR. Hate both schools. Could care less one way or the other but fair is fair.
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