And a question for those smarter about football than I am

Football
1

A Utah fan on Twitter that goes by the handle MussEmeritus posted the video of Covey’s TD return in the final seconds of the Utah/Oregon USS Salt Lake City game. Two observations.

First off, a fantastic job by one of our guys, I think the number is 2 but I can’t see it clearly enough to be certain. He could have had the first block of the return but realized he was behind the defender and that an easier than easy decleat would have been flagged for 15. He backed off and made minor contact after Covey was well past.

Secondly, if you’re the Oregon special teams coach, how in hell do you not tell your punter to kick the ball as far away from Covey as possible. Britain was lined up outside of the right hash (from his perspective) but why would you not put the ball 5 yards outside the opposite hash mark? I don’t care if it rolls dead at the 30, I don’t care if it rolls out of bounds at the 20. At the point Covey crosses his right hash there’s only 0:03 left. Give Utah the ball with three seconds left, Rising takes a knee and Utah goes in with 21-0 momentum, not 28-0 we just rammed it down your throat on an effing punt return you overrated paper tigers momentum.

Am I seeing something that people smarter than me aren’t seeing?

2

You’re seeing the same things. Really big blunder by the Oregon staff.

Edit to add: I realize you were asking what the smarter people were seeing, but I answered anyway.

6 Likes
3

In regard to my football knowledge and yours, I still defer to my original statement, Uncle Newbomb.

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4

Duck arrogance. Simple in my mind. Simple.

5

Kicking the ball to one of the most dangerous return men in College football was not a smart move. The whole thing gave me flashbacks of Steve Smith gashing the Lobos.

That said, the stats say the risk of what happened were very low. It was more likely Covey would simply run out the clock and get tackled.

Given the way the game was going for Oregon, hindsight says kick the ball out of bounds and let Utah take a knee to end the half.

As what happened against us (twice) were situations not unique to Oregon’s issues last season, it will be interesting to see how things work for Cristobal with the ‘Con’s.

6

It took 7 years, but Covey got to score on a PR that ripped the heart out of Duck nation, where last time he played the decoy for Boobie Hobbs in another rout, in Eugene.

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7

Ah, yes. I was there in person that day. It was truly something glorious to behold.

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8

Somebody pointed out on twitter that the amazing thing was that we rushed everybody to try to block the kick (obvious strategy w/ 11 seconds left) and did not try to set up a wall. There are 4 ducks with a shot when Covey catches it.

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