DSA Roundtable: Biggest "trap" game
With the start of fall camp for the 2019 football team a couple weeks away, Duck Sports Authority once again gathered its analysts including Scott Reed, Dale Newton and Brandon Gibson for a discussion on an array of topics.
In this edition of DSA Roundtable, we look at the 2019 schedule and pick out which game could be a “trap” game that the Ducks need to be on the alert for.
Reed
Unlike some seasons, the ‘trap’ game that always seems to exist does not stand out on the schedule. The 2019 football schedule for the Ducks plays out like a waterfall dropping to a serene pond which rambles for a couple of weeks before heading to the heavy white water rapids that imperil every team with aspirations.
I think that the biggest trap game is a home game against Colorado. I know no one would otherwise pick this game; it’s at home and it’s Colorado with a new coach. But the Ducks will be coming off a short week as the game is on a Friday. It will follow a road game at Stanford and a home game against the improving Cal team and the lost day of rest could be important.
The bigger issue is what lay ahead after Colorado: Washington on the road, new nemesis Mike Leach and Washington State and a road game to USC. To me that has trap written all over it; a short game week followed by three games to which the Oregon team might be looking ahead. It will follow two physical games and comes in the midst of a very tough five game stretch.
Newton
A trap game is one that looks easy on the refrigerator magnet schedule but has mold on the underside of the cheese.
A cautious man approaches the season like Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars or Prince Humperdinck of "The Princess Bride"
The Ducks have high goals for this season, so the slate is full of potential land mines. A loss to Arizona State in November does as much or more damage than a stumble in Palo Alto on the weekend of the September equinox.
The most trappy of the potential trap games appears to be USC on November 2nd. It falls after pivotal showdowns with UW and the Cougs. The Trojans season will likely be in ruins by then, so they'll be easy to overlook. Yet they still have plenty of talent, and the core of this Duck team comes from Southern California. The two squads know each other. Bragging rights are at stake. The chatter and trash talk will provide a lot of extra motivation, and the four and five stars of Troy will be loose and ready for their shot at spoiling the Ducks' shot at playoff contention. A wounded gladiator still swings a sword.
Gibson
Looking at the potential trap games on the schedule, I would narrow the field down to only two games, USC and ASU. I wanted to include Colorado, the game prior to the meat of the schedule, but one, it’s Colorado (lost to OSU last year somehow) and two, it is AT Oregon. So, that narrows it down to a couple of road games, USC and ASU.
Even if USC stumbles a bit, I think there is too much recent history between Oregon and USC and respect for the name brand the Trojans bring to overlook this game. Additionally, an ever increasing number of recruits are coming from this area (#CaliFlock, especially those of the LA area), so I doubt that this would end up being the biggest potential trap.
That leaves ASU, a team the Ducks prior to 2017 owned. Enter 2017, even with a healthy Herbert, and the Ducks drop their first game in forever to ASU on the road. Worst off, that was a Todd Graham lead team in 2017, that finished the year 7-6. Graham was let go and enter Herm Edwards.
At first they laughed at Edwards, but now other teams and recruits are starting to take notice. Edwards led ASU into Autzen last year and stormed back in the second half to nearly tie the game with under five minutes to go. That ended up being Oregon’s closest home win by far, and looking at Oregon’s 2-3 record on the road explains why this one could get nasty.