With the Oregon-Nebraska kickoff looming this Saturday, it is clear this will be no ordinary week. What is not clear is the skies as wildfires burn all around the West.
Duck Sports Authority takes a look at that and more in our Tuesday Notes.
The moving line
On Sunday, the betting line came out for the Nebraska-Oregon game at Oregon -6. Bettors were all Ducky about that. By Sunday night the line had moved to Oregon -10. That means that on Sunday when Vegas said Oregon by a touchdown, all the money was laying down on the Ducks.
The bucks continued to flow to the Ducks on Monday.
As of Tuesday, the people who put their money where their mouths are think Oregon wins by two touchdowns against the Cornhuskers with the line currently at Oregon -14.
Apparently, people were more impressed with Oregon’s 77-21 domination of Big Sky foe Southern Utah than Nebraska’s 43-36 nail-biter of a win against Arkansas State.
Smoked out Ducks to practice in Florence
The West is ablaze with major wildfires in Oregon, Washington and California. Smoke was a minor issue for the Ducks’ season opener on Saturday. The first thing everybody noticed when they got up to the Oregon press box looking out over the Willamette Valley that it was quite smoky.
On that day, the Air Quality Index was as measured by the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency was 118.
The smoke has thickened since then. For Tuesday morning, LRAPA says the index in Eugene is 395, literally off the chart.
As a result, the football staff has decided to move today’s practice to Siuslaw Middle School in Florence for some fresh coastal air.
In all my years covering the Ducks I cannot remember moving practice for air pollution reasons. It is severe enough that the powers that be are monitoring the situation very closely and may move the game times or dates as a result.
Going for it
OK Duck fans you may want to stop reading right here. I am about to talk about last year’s 35-32 loss at Lincoln. More specifically, the five times Oregon went for two-point conversions after touchdowns, and failed four of those times.
For those of you proficient in both math and football game theory, you’ll no doubt calculate that the probability of Aiden Schneider connecting on five PAT’s was quite high. Needless to say, that game was winnable.
Luckily Willie Taggart takes a more traditional approach to the post-touchdown game. He said during fall camp that he would “only go for two if it is necessary” and he proved that in the Ducks’ season opener. Schneider was 11 for 11 in PAT’s on the evening.
Of all the things I will not miss about the last staff, their proclivity towards the 2-point conversion is near the top of the list.
Glad he is gone
Speaking of things not to miss, Nebraska QB Tommy Armstrong will not be part of the festivities this year following his graduation after last season. In May the Minnesota Vikings gave him a look at safety and in June they waived him. He still hopes to make an NFL roster someday soon.
But he will not be the Nebraska QB on Saturday. That will likely be Tanner Lee, who transferred from Tulane after the 2015 season. The redshirt junior beat out redshirt freshman Patrick O’Brien for the job and had a fair opener against Arkansas State. He was 19-32 for 238 yards and 2 TD’s with no INT’s. Not great but not bad.
But he is not the dual-threat Armstrong was. Last year he was 17-33-200 and 3 TD’s passing, and 16-95 and a TD rushing. Contrast that with Lee’s one rush for -7 yards last week.
Good luck making it into the NFL Tommy Armstrong. We’re glad that is what you are doing now.
