Canzano: Saturday Special comes with questions, answers, and a punch
Canzano: Saturday Special comes with questions, answers, and a punch
A college football primer.
Welcome to the Saturday Morning Special…
• Idaho football coach Jason Eck engineered a terrific defensive game plan last Saturday vs. Oregon. The Ducks won 24-14. Eck joined me this week for a 1-on-1 interview about his game plan, what he saw on film, and what his messaging was to his team after playing a Top-5 ranked team close.
Eck was direct with his players after the game and said: “I told them ‘I’ve never seen a ring inscribed at the end of the year that says ‘We Played Oregon Within 10 Points.’”
• Oregon had problems on the offensive line in the opener. But it sounded like the Ducks also tried to win with a vanilla Week 1 game plan on offense. It makes sense given what’s ahead for Oregon. Is Eck’s interview the Rosetta Stone for figuring out what went wrong last week in Eugene? Listen for yourself:
• Boise State is 3-0 vs. Oregon all-time. The Broncos are in Eugene on Saturday night.
• The game was originally scheduled to be played in Week 3, but Boise State worked with Oregon and agreed to move the matchup to Week 2. The maneuver opened the door for the Ducks to play at Oregon State in next week’s Civil War.
“The other option was losing the game,” Boise State AD Jeremiah Dickey told me on Friday. “This is a great game. I’m glad we still have the opportunity to play it.”
• Kickoff of Boise State at Oregon is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Peacock, with Andrew Siciliano, Michael Robinson, and Laura Britt on the broadcast.
• Remember the LeGarrette Blount punch after the 2009 game in Boise? I do. I was in the stadium for Oregon’s 18-9 loss. It was Chip Kelly’s first game as the head coach. I’ll never forget how irate and incensed the Boise State fans were as they watched the replay — over and over and over — on the stadium video screen.
• Nick Cody was also there. The former UO offensive lineman was suited up for his first game as an active player that night. He remembers Boise State fans pounding on the barricades outside the visiting locker room and shouting at players as they hustled to the team bus. He also remembers what Chip Kelly said in the cramped, loud, and emotional visiting locker room immediately after the incident.