Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal. I'll that for me.
Speaker 2: I'm a man, I'm forty.
Speaker 3: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
Speaker 3: be happy. You want to be happy for Dake Ato Steak?
Speaker 3: Is that whoo whoom?
Speaker 1: And Dan and Tie.
Speaker 3: Hey everybody, it's yet another show. This one is called
Speaker 3: only Homer Is Allowed. It's a reference to this from
Speaker 3: The Simpsons. You're probably old enough to remember, but.
Speaker 1: You let in Homer Clublet look, it has no homeers,
Speaker 1: we're allowed to have one. I felt so left owed.
Speaker 3: And so because we're doing deep dives on random teams
Speaker 3: that we either love or we're just interested in, this week,
Speaker 3: we're starting with Oregon. They just beat Washington. I throughout
Speaker 3: the idea of doing a mid season check in with
Speaker 3: how I'm feeling about Oregon, with how our guest Jeff
Speaker 3: Schwartz is feeling about Oregon. Former Oregon offense of lineman,
Speaker 3: longtime NFL offensive line and he now does work on
Speaker 3: the radio, does work for the Action Network. So decided
Speaker 3: that we are just going to box Tie out because
Speaker 3: he is normally too professional to let me talk about
Speaker 3: Oregon for too long. So with that, let's just or
Speaker 3: just I am going to bring on, Jeff, Jeff, how's
Speaker 3: life in Charlotte?
Speaker 2: Life is good. Life is better when Oregon Football win
Speaker 2: some games.
Speaker 3: So it's fantastic, all right, So let's let's this is
Speaker 3: what we're focusing on. So I guess let's start here
Speaker 3: and rewind a little bit. How has Oregon looked in
Speaker 3: comparison to your expectations going into the season. How they
Speaker 3: looked and how have they performed as it relates to
Speaker 3: what you were expecting?
Speaker 2: Oh, they performed much better. I mean think we all
Speaker 2: assume that Herbert was going to be good. Just what
Speaker 2: extent was he going to be good? But the physicality,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, is something that no one expected out
Speaker 2: of this Orgon team. I think we thought eventually Mayo
Speaker 2: Crystobaal would would bring that toughness to our team, but
Speaker 2: not as quickly as it happened, and not as kind
Speaker 2: of as much of a bully as I think people
Speaker 2: have seen this play so far.
Speaker 3: And this is probably the most you know, physical is
Speaker 3: kind of a weird term because all have all offensive line.
Speaker 3: All trench play is inherently physical, but the degree to
Speaker 3: which Oregon is relying on plays between the tackles, I
Speaker 3: would say is surprising that when something even moderately works,
Speaker 3: they just repeat it. They're they're depending on an offensive
Speaker 3: line that really, coming into the season was thought of
Speaker 3: as a strength. But the depth and degree to which
Speaker 3: they're they're relying on this is that it's such a surprise.
Speaker 2: Well, I agree, I mean they are definitely relying on
Speaker 2: it a lot. I mean they ran on the ball
Speaker 2: forty six times. I think against Washington, I went through thirty.
Speaker 2: You know, we saw against Stanford really a big heavy
Speaker 2: reliance to the run game. And they're very simple. Man,
Speaker 2: They're just bludging you to death. They don't care. Four
Speaker 2: yard carries, three yard, seven yard carries, eight yard carries.
Speaker 2: They're going to hit you over and over over again.
Speaker 2: Eventually they'll break out that long run. It keeps a
Speaker 2: defense off the field. But what's funny is that I
Speaker 2: think if actually hinder Justin Herbert because when we watch
Speaker 2: him play, Yeah, if he throws the ball two times
Speaker 2: in a row, it doesn't feel very it doesn't happen
Speaker 2: very often. That second throw often is like a bullet
Speaker 2: like it's a very good throw, and it feels like
Speaker 2: they need to let him throw more.
Speaker 1: But you can't really, how do you.
Speaker 2: How do you tell Mark crystal Ball to do anything
Speaker 2: different because it's working right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems like it's in a good place, and
Speaker 3: the perception is probably a little bit inflated because they
Speaker 3: win that Washington game. You know, part of it is
Speaker 3: luck and part of it is taking advantage of situations,
Speaker 3: and that's you know, all football is taking advantage of
Speaker 3: situations and capitalizing on stuff. Your point, I think is
Speaker 3: well received on Justin Herbert. I don't think he has
Speaker 3: the receivers nearly on the level that the offensive line
Speaker 3: is performing, and I don't think he has the skill
Speaker 3: talent general. I think the running backs are fine, but
Speaker 3: I don't think in terms of looking back to you know,
Speaker 3: Jonathan Stewart, Legarrett Blunt, Michael James, Kenyon Barner, you know
Speaker 3: Royce Freeman. There there isn't that guy in the backfield.
Speaker 3: And to me, it's almost like Mario Cristibal. I know
Speaker 3: you're you're a healthy eater. And I've made this comparison before.
Speaker 3: There's something about a chopped coach versus a top chef coach,
Speaker 3: and Mario Cristobal with limited talent right now at places
Speaker 3: I think is getting the most out of his ingredients.
Speaker 2: Oh, I had one hundred percent agree with you here,
Speaker 2: which I think is why it's very impressive what he's doing.
Speaker 2: And you know, they have supposedly a top five class
Speaker 2: right now, which Organ has never had.
Speaker 1: Who knows they end up there, but yeah, just.
Speaker 2: Having the number one recruit in town against the Washington Huskies,
Speaker 2: and he comes away.
Speaker 1: From the game really excited about Oregon.
Speaker 2: He even said something about how he might he might move,
Speaker 2: He might move, you know, has a commitment date up.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's all positive for Organ.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what it seems. I'm excited, Like honestly, I
Speaker 3: I don't have huge, huge expectations. I think it's funny
Speaker 3: to me that people use the word contender with the
Speaker 3: playoff in Oregon because I think they have a ceiling.
Speaker 3: I think the defense has a good chunk of a
Speaker 3: way to go. I'm still not fully in on the secondary,
Speaker 3: I'm not fully in on the pass rush, and maybe
Speaker 3: it'll improve over the course of the season. The linebacking
Speaker 3: corps is uneven, I would say, but again, this is
Speaker 3: a PAC twelve. Like, who I guess scares you the most?
Speaker 3: Is it at Washington State? Is it at Utah. Who's
Speaker 3: the scariest team to you?
Speaker 2: I kind of think it's Washington State this weekend, coming
Speaker 2: off that big win, going to game day. I mean,
Speaker 2: the video is already and the bus showed up yesterday.
Speaker 2: It's ahem in Pullman right now, and they have the offense.
Speaker 2: I think they can really bother Oregon. Utah to me,
Speaker 2: while their offense is getting better and they're starting to
Speaker 2: really do some things with Tyler Honey they should have
Speaker 2: done from the beginning, they don't scare me as much
Speaker 2: because offensively they can go, in my opinion, in the
Speaker 2: big roles and you don't really you'ren't going to see
Speaker 2: that as much with Washington States. I think Washington State
Speaker 2: can score with Oregon where Utah can't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a style thing too. To me, like to
Speaker 3: get Washington State and a wide open throw the ball
Speaker 3: fifty times compared to what this sort of patience of
Speaker 3: Washington it seems like a dramatic change it is.
Speaker 2: And that's why I think the Washing State to me
Speaker 2: is the toughest opponent because they don't face this air
Speaker 2: ra anymore. It's not it's not as often in the
Speaker 2: Pact twelve you know, Sunny Dice is not there anymore,
Speaker 2: cal and you face more of the spread offenses, the
Speaker 2: stuff you see every day in practice than you would
Speaker 2: this air rate and guarded Minshew's playing such a high
Speaker 2: level that you know, it's got to worry you a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 3: All right, I'm going to stay with the Oregon offense
Speaker 3: just because that's that's received so much of the attention.
Speaker 3: But something that is sort of concerning to me, and
Speaker 3: you touched on this a little bit, is is this
Speaker 3: the best situation for justin Herbert as it stands now?
Speaker 3: Because he plays really well. He throws the ball really
Speaker 3: well considering you know, the receiving the general receiving core
Speaker 3: is not you know where Oregon was a few years ago.
Speaker 3: What what are the sort of drawbacks of running the
Speaker 3: style of offense at Oregon runs, which relies so heavily
Speaker 3: on power.
Speaker 2: Well, the drawbacks obviously are if you can't do it
Speaker 2: that week, you might struggle, but then you have Herbert
Speaker 2: to fall back on. I think it's more just getting
Speaker 2: Herbert in a rhythm, and it's tough to do when
Speaker 2: you run the ball so much. And Herbert is such
Speaker 2: a good quarterback that he can he can make plays
Speaker 2: when he has to, and so I just I think
Speaker 2: that that when you're playing a tough game, sometimes he
Speaker 2: needs to score points. Sometimes running the ball is not
Speaker 2: the best way to do it. I just worry at
Speaker 2: times that Herbert is not going to have, you know,
Speaker 2: the kind of rhythm he needs with his wide receivers.
Speaker 2: You mentioned probably the least depth on the team is
Speaker 2: a wide receiver. We saw again Stanford too, they got
Speaker 2: really considered the second half, and then they started allowing
Speaker 2: Herbert to throw the ball in the fourth quarter and
Speaker 2: they started moving it again. So just being you know,
Speaker 2: just being mindful of making sure Herbert's still it's enough
Speaker 2: touches I can still stay active at quarterback.
Speaker 3: What is it like? It's hard to ask this question.
Speaker 3: You're not there but watching Oregon in the second half,
Speaker 3: and there have been a number of schools with second
Speaker 3: half issues. What what does it come down to when
Speaker 3: you you look so good in the first half, as
Speaker 3: you know Oregon does against Stanford, as Oregon does certainly
Speaker 3: better than they looked in the second half against Washington.
Speaker 3: Even last year against a pretty bad Nebraska team, they
Speaker 3: get out to that huge I think they score forty
Speaker 3: points in the first half and just barely hold on
Speaker 3: what what generally is the diagnosis for why a team
Speaker 3: suddenly just grounds to a halt.
Speaker 2: Well, I think what happens is when you have a
Speaker 2: big lead like that, your natural inclination is to slow
Speaker 2: the game down and just make sure that you know
Speaker 2: that you take, you know, take time off the clock,
Speaker 2: because you know the clock is basically your your biggest
Speaker 2: your biggest.
Speaker 1: Ally at that moment, right.
Speaker 2: And so it happens is when you try to do that,
Speaker 2: you limit your creativity and you're aggressive, that's on offense.
Speaker 2: And then when you do that, it's hard to get
Speaker 2: that back. It's hard to restart the engine once you've
Speaker 2: cooled it off. And that's why I think that in
Speaker 2: all these offenses, and we've seen it with you know,
Speaker 2: West Virginia at times that really in the second half
Speaker 2: just kind of sputter is because they you can see them,
Speaker 2: they slowed down with big leads. It's hard to get
Speaker 2: that thing back going. And I understand that the coaches
Speaker 2: want to give their defense rest, they want to eat
Speaker 2: time up right, you know, because if you score too quickly,
Speaker 2: of course, it put your defense back on the field
Speaker 2: and allows the other team to end up scoring.
Speaker 1: So understand the inclination to want to do that.
Speaker 2: I think it is a fine line between trying to
Speaker 2: eat some of that clock and also making sure that
Speaker 2: you stay at grass and scoring enough points.
Speaker 3: How is it We've talked about, you know, as they
Speaker 3: start and stop a sentence, but LSU for example against Georgia,
Speaker 3: and I mentioned this a couple of times, it's almost
Speaker 3: like an alley when the offense and defense are working together,
Speaker 3: where the defense forces a turnover, offense quickly takes advantage.
Speaker 3: Everybody's energized, everybody's on the same page. What is it
Speaker 3: like being on the opposite side of the field when
Speaker 3: your defense is just making huge plays? Or what is
Speaker 3: it like when you know you're at Oregon and you
Speaker 3: know you were there for Chip Kelly's first year as
Speaker 3: an offensive coordinator and you just go down on go
Speaker 3: down the field and efficiently score. What is that that
Speaker 3: push pull like with guys on the other side of
Speaker 3: the ball.
Speaker 1: Well, are you talking about what it's like?
Speaker 3: You're saying, like, you know, for your own defense, Yeah, Like,
Speaker 3: what is what was the Oregon defense like when you
Speaker 3: and the Oregon offense was rolling. What is it like
Speaker 3: on the sideline watching your own defense dominate.
Speaker 2: You just get fired up because you understand that you
Speaker 2: don't have to be perfect, and so I think what
Speaker 2: happens is and I've played in some really poor offense
Speaker 2: and see to be poor defense, especially in twenty fifteen
Speaker 2: with the Giants, is Yeah, there's just a lot of
Speaker 2: pressure to score every drive. I'm the Chiefs professional to
Speaker 2: deal with this right now. You have to score every
Speaker 2: drive because your defense can't stop anyone. So it just
Speaker 2: puts the pressure on you to score. If you know
Speaker 2: that your defense is playing well in a game, you
Speaker 2: know it's fun. Obviously they have your defense get stops
Speaker 2: and get great field position, which leads to easier opportunities
Speaker 2: to score. But just knowing that if you have a
Speaker 2: three and out or you have a bad play, the
Speaker 2: defense will pick you up.
Speaker 3: Do you think this is like, how does this sustain likes?
Speaker 3: I think the obvious answer is that there's pressure to
Speaker 3: recruit high level offensive lineman at a huge clip. Is
Speaker 3: that the only real way is that the only real
Speaker 3: concern if they can't do that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think they're doing a good job with
Speaker 2: developing these guys too. It's a lot of it is coaching, right,
Speaker 2: and we see that offense. So I do you think
Speaker 2: is organ continues to get better, they're gonna start plucking
Speaker 2: their coaches away, and you have to be able to
Speaker 2: brand qualified coaches that they can do the job. Obviously,
Speaker 2: your head coaches is a former offensive lineman offensive line coach,
Speaker 2: so that position is probably handled well.
Speaker 1: But you know, we know.
Speaker 2: It's you know, someone gonna start calling for the assistance,
Speaker 2: whether it's a Royo or or I mean, Marabell's the
Speaker 2: name of the offensive line coach. Right, Teams are gonna
Speaker 2: start calling for these guys trying to get them to
Speaker 2: be the OC and head coach. So as a matter
Speaker 2: of just making sure that they can bring in other
Speaker 2: assistants they can be as good of the program as
Speaker 2: these guys are.
Speaker 3: Now, is it a transition? Is it a like a
Speaker 3: severe transition? I guess to go from what Oregon had
Speaker 3: been doing with a lot of sort of outside zone
Speaker 3: getting guys who are two ninety instead of three thirty five.
Speaker 3: What is the transition like between going from a more
Speaker 3: wide open offense to you know, two and a half
Speaker 3: downs out of every four downs you are going straight
Speaker 3: at an opponent. What is that transition?
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure the guys up front enjoy it
Speaker 2: because there's not as much right, not as much getting
Speaker 2: back to line of scrimmage and trying to try to
Speaker 2: stop the ball as quick as possible. It's a lot
Speaker 2: of finishing guys downfield, and eventually that wears on teams.
Speaker 1: Eventually.
Speaker 2: You've seen the second half of games teams at times
Speaker 2: against Oregon because you've been running at them all games.
Speaker 2: So I don't think it's much of an adjustment. I
Speaker 2: think the guys front, especially really enjoy it to be
Speaker 2: able to really get after guys. So I think it's
Speaker 2: probably a positive development, and guys have really enjoyed.
Speaker 3: It, so I am probably correct. And assuming you are
Speaker 3: extremely high on Mario Cristobal and the potential of this program,
Speaker 3: are they do you see them?
Speaker 2: And I really and I really, I really haven't been
Speaker 2: I guess up until the season started, and I obviously
Speaker 2: saw the way he didn't look. He obviously did not
Speaker 2: handle the Stanford game probably the way that that people
Speaker 2: had wanted. But he's a good top Against Washington, I
Speaker 2: wish he'd be more aggressive. I think it's gonna cost
Speaker 2: organ at some point and his coaching career obviously maybe
Speaker 2: this year maybe not so. But his recruiting I think,
Speaker 2: to me and his energy have been something that I
Speaker 2: think is most important right now. You know, they'll they'll
Speaker 2: get the scheme down, they'll get the players in, but
Speaker 2: just his energy is recruiting and the kids.
Speaker 1: Really love him. A lot of positives for working program.
Speaker 3: Did you imagine Orgon would be bringing in at least
Speaker 3: as they are right now, a top five class to Eugene, Oregon.
Speaker 1: I don't think.
Speaker 2: I don't think people realize how where and how or
Speaker 2: people get to Orgon, Like that's not a recruiting hotbed.
Speaker 2: I think people see our facilities and realize that they
Speaker 2: think that, like we get five star recruits and we
Speaker 2: do not so right, you know, Mariota winning the Heisman
Speaker 2: was such a big deal obviously, and then bring in,
Speaker 2: you know, a bunch of five star recruits would be
Speaker 2: a new thing for us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it takes. If you are flying to Oregon from
Speaker 3: anywhere basically outside of the West Coast and even parts
Speaker 3: of the West Coast, you're probably flying to Portland, and
Speaker 3: that's a good what hour forty five.
Speaker 2: To use me from the problem is from the airport's
Speaker 2: far east of Portland, so by the time you get
Speaker 2: out of the airport and down to Eugene's probably almost
Speaker 2: two thirty.
Speaker 3: It's incredible, it really is. So who what is your
Speaker 3: final record for Oregon at this point? And I say
Speaker 3: that saying Oregon's final record is probably going to be
Speaker 3: better than they actually are because of that non conference schedule.
Speaker 2: I could see them losing one more conference game. I
Speaker 2: don't think they'd lose much more than that. I think
Speaker 2: who win the rest of them? But if you look
Speaker 2: at Utah and Washington State, it'd be pretty I mean,
Speaker 2: if they get through both those games, they're a really
Speaker 2: good team. And so I mean, if you look at
Speaker 2: their schedule, those are probably the last two games that
Speaker 2: could really be hiccups for them, and they can get
Speaker 2: through those two road games, I mean, they could be
Speaker 2: twelve and one. I think they would beat USC in
Speaker 2: the South if they play in the Pacto Chenion, especially
Speaker 2: they're undefeated, know, the last cost nine games a year
Speaker 2: or whatever. So I really, I really like their chances
Speaker 2: to be really good. And the question is do Serbert
Speaker 2: come back next year?
Speaker 1: What do you think they're going to be really good.
Speaker 2: If he comes back. I mean, they're going to be
Speaker 2: a favorite to make the playoff. I think if he
Speaker 2: comes back, so his brother's coming to you Gene next year,
Speaker 2: I would advise him to leave, but I kind of
Speaker 2: think he's going to stay.
Speaker 1: What do you think.
Speaker 3: I think he'll probably stay, although it's it's getting kind
Speaker 3: of dicey when more and more people I don't think
Speaker 3: it's a good quarterback class coming into the league this year.
Speaker 3: You know, I just saw something where it was like
Speaker 3: Daniel Jones from Duke being the second best behind Herbert.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Yahoo are right.
Speaker 3: And so that to me says he's a smart dude
Speaker 3: and he knows that if he plays really well next year,
Speaker 3: and that's he'll have his line in front of him,
Speaker 3: you know, so will be a sophomore, his left tackle,
Speaker 3: the receiving core will only be better with some incoming freshman.
Speaker 3: The defense will only be deeper. I know the schedule
Speaker 3: is a little bit trickier, but the guy he's from
Speaker 3: ten minutes, he's like he's he grew up off of
Speaker 3: MLK in Eugene, and so I think he comes back.
Speaker 3: But you know, if I were advising I'd probably stay.
Speaker 3: I'd probably say to leave, but it's it's hard to
Speaker 3: Does he look ready to you?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think he does, Okay from I mean from both
Speaker 3: a physical and emotional standpoint. I think those are two
Speaker 3: kind of separate issues.
Speaker 1: I think I think he totally does.
Speaker 3: What what is the what have you seen from him
Speaker 3: specifically that you've said, okay, he has the ceiling to
Speaker 3: be an immediately competent NFL quarterback.
Speaker 2: Some of the throws he's made into coverages, you know,
Speaker 2: from a pro style system. Right, he's dropping back in
Speaker 2: the pocket.
Speaker 1: You know that.
Speaker 2: Even go back to Game one, that fourth and fifteen
Speaker 2: throw he made for the touchdown. Go back to last game,
Speaker 2: the touchdown.
Speaker 1: On the run. He can do that as well.
Speaker 2: He's got a canon of an army puts the ball
Speaker 2: right where the wide receivers need to catch it. It
Speaker 2: just feels very much like he can do everything that
Speaker 2: a pro Scott would ask him to do.
Speaker 3: All right, Jeff Schwart, thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 3: Go Ducks, and this was for Homers only. Sorry if
Speaker 3: you listened and you're.
Speaker 1: Not one, love it.
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for listening. Thanks to Jeff, Thanks to listen
Speaker 3: thanks to Oregon for beating Washington and really bringing this
Speaker 3: out of us because it's it's all very new if
Speaker 3: you've watched Oregon football these past couple of years. But
Speaker 3: we're going to be doing this more often, deep diving teams,
Speaker 3: just checking in and seeing how we feel about teams,
Speaker 3: maybe learning a little bit more than what we usually
Speaker 3: just have time for on our normal schedule. So thanks
Speaker 3: for listening, even if you're not an Oregon Homer or
Speaker 3: just interested, and to homers talking about their favorite team.
Speaker 3: And hey, follow the solid verbal on Twitter, Facebook, the subreddit, whatever.
Speaker 3: We have a good time everywhere and I We'll see
Speaker 3: you soon.
Speaker 1: Peace,