Cal scored 35 vs USC and was then crushed by Oregon State. Justin Wilcox fired his OC. That and more in this #USC / #Pac12 notebook:
There is a lot to keep track of in the world of Pac-12 football after a crazy Week 11 and heading into a Week 12 which features two mammoth games.
“Showdown Saturday” gives the Pac-12 the two biggest games of the coming weekend in college football. USC-UCLA is the first game at 8 Eastern and Utah-Oregon is second at 10:30. We will preview those games as the week unfolds, but for now, let’s look back at Week 11 and offer some updates on Pac-12 teams plus sharing some rankings from analysts and commentators.
We start with the fact that California and head coach Justin Wilcox fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave just over a week after Cal scored 35 against USC. Cal was flattened by Oregon State this past Saturday.
Imagine what a team with USC’s offense and Oregon State’s defense would look like.
Only a few more sleeps before Oregon vs. Washington kicks off. Check out what Lanning had to say as the Ducks continue to prepare for the Huskies.
In just a few days, the newest chapter of the Oregon Ducks vs. Washington Huskies rivalry is going to be started. With Dan Lanning and Kalen DeBoer squaring off for the first time, we’re going to be in for a treat.
This feels like one of the more important matchups that we’ve seen in quite some time between these two teams. Not only are both schools represented by new coaching staffs and a fresh belief that their team is heading in the right direction, but it also comes on the heels of a highly-contentious matchup in 2021 that saw hate and vitriol lobbed across the field at one another like grenades on a battlefield.
This matchup means a lot to everyone involved, and both teams have been hard at work making sure they’re prepared.
After Wednesday’s practice, Lanning met with media members one last time before the big game on Saturday. Here are some of the most notable things that he had to say:
The 114th chapter of Oregon vs. Washington is coming on Saturday. This one will be written by Dan Lanning and Company.
Your average college football team plays 12 games a year. The good ones get 13 games, and the great ones get 14. To say that each individual contest is important is an understatement.
Rivalry games come once a year. If you’re lucky, and the school that you root for is entrenched in a passionate clash with another fanbase, then these games are arguably more important than any other on the schedule. The result of this meeting will go on to shape the next 11 months of interactions for the two regions, with one walking tall, holding reason to boast. The other will often quietly sulk and pretend that it didn’t mean as much as we all know it did.
For those reasons, this upcoming game between the No. 6 Oregon Ducks and No. 23 Washington Huskies is one of the most important games that will be played in Eugene this season. The potential ramifications are enormous.
This is a rivalry that has lacked some luster in recent years. The Ducks are currently on a three-game winning streak over the Huskies, and have won 15 of the last 17 matchups between the two, with an impressive 12-game stretch from 2004-2015.
While the play on the field hasn’t always been competitive, the heat off of the gridiron has been as entertaining as ever. The 2021 matchup between these two teams might have served just a small role in either team’s season outcome, but it certainly added fuel to the fire of Washington vs. Oregon hatred.
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For starters, you had the “academic prowess” comments from former UW head coach Jimmy Lake, where he proclaimed that Oregon isn’t a rival to the Huskies because they don’t have the same scholastic accolades as “Notre Dame, Stanford, and USC,” a trio of teams that Lake considered rivals.
It was the first “petty grenade” that was lobbed in the 2021 matchup, and though Mario Cristobal continually shrugged it off as nothing, you could tell that it made the rounds in the locker room.
(AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
If you look at those comments as Lake putting his foot in his mouth, then the actual game between the two teams served as the Huskies’ head coach tripping over himself and face-planting into the mud.
It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Oregon ended up winning 26-16 on the road after an ill-advised decision to punt when trailing by 8 with less than 2 minutes left in the game resulted in a comical safety for Washington.
Once the clock struck zero, Cristobal grabbed that petty grenade and lobbed it back into the Huskies’ camp, landing it perfectly in Lake’s lap.
“Those (expletive) guys right there, they represent everything that’s wrong with football,” Cristobal exclaimed in a locker room celebration video captured by a number of players after the game. “So when you kick their ass, you let them know it.”
Oregon vs Washington 2021 video. The game that got Washington's head coach suspended and ultimately fired. pic.twitter.com/UfnjA5ULjy
As I alluded to earlier, the Duck faithful have been dining on that one night of travesty for the last 366 days, never missing a chance to take pleasure in the Huskies’ misery.
On Saturday evening, though, the slate will be temporarily wiped clean as the two teams meet again. Should Oregon triumph, expect more ammo to be added to the arsenal of a rabid fanbase that has grown drunk with moxie and winning over the past two decades. Should the Huskies come out on top and end the Ducks’ campaign for a College Football Playoff berth, expect years of hurt and anger to be lobbed over the fence in the form of ridicule and slander.
The Oregon Ducks are fortunate enough to have a pair of rivalry games on their schedule this year, with the Oregon State Beavers coming up at the end of the regular season as well. I will contend that this Washington game is the one that really matters, though, and the one that will hold greater weight going forward.
It’s called ‘Husky Hate Week’ in Eugene for a reason. All due respect to little brother OSU, but there isn’t a ‘Beaver Hate Week’ that is celebrated throughout the Oregon campus every year. At some point, it starts to feel like bullying and piling on.
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What makes this game so important this year is the representation of a new chapter in the rivalry. While Oregon fans got the last laugh in 2021, they were still left down in the dirt after the season came to an end with Cristobal jetting for South Beach. Now both teams enter this rivalry with a new head coach at the helm, as Dan Lanning and Kalen DeBoer prepare for their first of hopefully many duels.
It’s an outcome that will likely hold greater weight than others down the road. A win in the first meeting between these two will mean more than a win in the second meeting, or the third. I can’t tell you why, exactly, but it’s simply the case. Both fan bases are feeling as confident in their team’s ability as they have in quite some time, and the loser of this game is going to face a harsh realization that they aren’t as good as they previously thought.
My early prediction is that Oregon is going to win, and potentially by a lot. Washington has a great passing offense, but the defense needs a lot of work, and they’re going to struggle to stop Bo Nix and Kenny Dillingham. I couldn’t tell you what the final score will be, but I feel confident saying that a lot of points will be put on the board when all is said and done.
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And if Duck fans are lucky, they will be leaving Autzen Stadium with some pep in their step, knowing that there are another 360-plus days of ridicule and chastising that they can direct at their neighbors up north. Who knows, there may be some petty grenades that get lobbed around as well — the week is still young.
As we gear up for the showdown between Oregon and Washington, I encourage fans on both sides to get prepared. This game isn’t just another game, and the outcome won’t be held in the same regard as any other outcome.
This is the newest chapter of Husky Hate Week in Eugene, written by Dan Lanning and Co.
Former Tennessee graduate assistant hired at Washington on Kalen DeBoer’s staff.
Kalen DeBoer was hired and introduced as Washington’s head coach on Nov. 30.
He comes to Washington after serving as Fresno State’s head coach from 2020-21, compiling a 12-6 record. DeBoer served as Indiana’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019. He did not coach for the Hoosiers in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Tennessee as he departed for Fresno State.
At Indiana, Nick Sheridan served as DeBoer’s tight ends coach. Sheridan will serve as tight ends coach on DeBoer’s Washington staff.
Sheridan served as a graduate assistant at Tennessee from 2014-16. He played quarterback at Michigan from 2006-09.
Kalen DeBoer was hired and introduced as Washington’s head coach on Tuesday.
He comes to Washington after serving as Fresno State’s head coach from 2020-21, compiling a 12-6 record. DeBoer served as Indiana’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019. He did not coach for the Hoosiers in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Tennessee as he departed for Fresno State.
DeBoer served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Eastern Michigan from 2014-16 under head coach Chris Creighton.
Creighton and DeBoer run various similar concepts as Heupel, utilizing H-backs and motion.
Creighton hired Brandon Blaney as Eastern Michigan’s tight ends coach in 2020 and is co-offensive coordinator and running game coordinator, while overseeing tight ends, in 2021. Blaney served as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line at Oklahoma when Heupel was the Sooners’ starting quarterback.
DeBoer also served as a head coach at NAIA Sioux Falls, compiling a 67-3 record and winning three national championships from 2005-09.
Like Heupel, DeBoer brings an attacking offense to the Power Five level as a head coach. DeBoer will mix tempo, utilize H-backs and run mesh in timely situations. He will also go under center and feature motion to set up strategic run or pass plays.
Against Oregon this season, DeBoer showcased the following sets and motion.
10-personnel, pistol
Shotgun 11-personnel, X sweep motion
11-personnel, 3-man surface set
10-personnel, 3×1 set, running back draw
Empty
One back, 11-personnel, X motion, play-action
11-personnel, X-motion, running back draw
11 personnel, 3-man surface, motion from the Y, fake hand off and fake sweep, pass to the running back in the flat
10-personnel, shotgun, 2×2 set
Empty with an H-back, slot near the line
20-personnel, one back, one H-back, 2×1 set, running back draw
10-personnel, under center, H-back, X near the line, Z in motion, outside zone run
Pistol, 11-personnel with an H-back
Below are various plays of DeBoer over the years running mesh and motion.
Kalen DeBoer, the head coach of Fresno State, has been hired by the Huskies, according to 247Sports and other reports.
DeBoer took over for the Bulldogs midway through 2020 and posted a 3-3 record. He is 9-3 overall this season. DeBoer has coached at Sioux Falls, Southern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State, and Indiana as an offensive coordinator.
There were rumors swirling about Bryan Harsin and his connection to the Washington head coaching job, as former Boise State coach Chris Peterson was on the search committee with obvious ties to Harsin. Those rumors have been put to rest.
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FRESNO — Indiana’s football team got a bit of a distraction Tuesday when Fresno State hired Kalen DeBoer as its next head coach.
DeBoer, the current Hoosiers’ offensive coordinator, was tapped by the Bulldogs to replace Jeff Tedford.
Tedford stepped down at Fresno State earlier this month due to health concerns caused by heart problems.
Tedford also served as head coach at California from 2002-12 and was in the same capacity of the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions. Throughout his career, Tedford was an assistant coach at Fresno State, Oregon and Washington as well as with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He was also an assistant in the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders.
Tedford had a hand in naming DeBoer as his successor. DeBoer was at Fresno State prior to going to Indiana.
Indiana will play Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Thursday, Jan. 2.
