Get Ready for Oregon’s New Pass Defense

Coach Morris Coach's Opinion, Learning the Jim Leavitt 3-4 Hybrid Defense

Ever have one of those moments when you highly praise someone or something to a lot of people – and then when they see that someone or something, it’s, admittedly, pretty awful?  As a highly opinionated [about most everything] old man, it’s happened lots of times to me.  My most recent humbling experience came Dec. 29 in the Alamo Bowl [What …

Ducks Downed in East Lansing

Tyler Timm FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

“Revenge,” “redemption” and “heavyweight fight” were all used to describe Michigan State’s much anticipated top-10 showdown with Oregon on Saturday night. “We have lost 3 of our last 30, and we know what teams we lost to,” Spartan coach Mark Dantonio stated in an interview with mlive.com earlier in the week. The 46-27 loss a year ago to the Ducks was still very fresh in …

Spartans: “Oregon Adjusted, Mariota Evaded & We Lost It”

Mark Saltveit FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

The Michigan State Spartans were stoic after Oregon’s huge comeback victory Saturday, accepting responsibility for failure and giving full credit to the Ducks, especially Marcus Mariota. MSU Coach Mark Dantonio said “Mariota’s tough, he leads, and he creates. And that’s the difference in the football game. He created, and we let him get out of it. Probably 4 or 5 …

Mark vs Mark: Who Will Reign Supreme?

Alex Towne FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Oregon’s second game on the schedule brings a match-up that could define the Ducks’ entire season, for better or worse. A win against Michigan State would help the Ducks dramatically improve their chances of contending for a National Title — especially under the new playoff system. While there has been a lot of talk about the offensive and defensive match-ups the …