Post by usdlaw on Sept 1, 2014 17:20:22 GMT -6
Yote 53, I thought I would just move the weekend experience to a new thread, then others can post about the trip. For me, it was my first trip to Oregon so took advantage of some sight seeing.
Oregon coast
Took an hour trip west of Corvallis to the coast. This was not like a Southern California beach area. It was chilly and full of fisherman and Mo's Cafe. Saw a dump truck getting filled with shrimp ... that was actually kind of disgusting. The beach was fun, cool to see sand dunes, the water was cold. The Alumni Association group drove sand buggies, which would have been cool. We didn't join them. Visited a lighthouse older than SD, and a cool beach made entirely of rocks ... volcano lava turned to rock as soon as it hit the cold water. And of course tried a little Oregon made Pinot Noir and a few pilsners.
While in Corvallis we did check out Oregon State too.
Game Day in Eugene
Hayward Field - love the movie Prefontane so had to check out Tracktown USA. Was worth it. Thought about jumping the fence to take a lap, but decided against it.
The walk:
Decided to follow the huge crowds and walk from Hayward Field to the stadium. This was about a mile long path from downtown(ish) over the river and to the stadium. A stroll where several Oregon fans welcomed the few guys in red. A homeless lady(or lady who had smoked too much Medical Marijuwana - I couldn't tell which) tried to sell us "lucky gameday day green and yellow socks guaranteed to secure a Ducks win." it only took about a minute for her to realize we were the visiting team, hence my qualifying statement that perhaps she had visited the several Medical Marijuwana shops in the area. After going through a wooded path suddenly the stadium ermerged ... a sight well worth the travel.
The stadium and tailgating
We arrived on the south side of the stadium. To the east a huge parking lot full of experienced and no doubt veteran tailgaters ... the Oregon made beer was all over ... didn't see a lot of Bud Light, Miller Light, etc. Students were hauling cases of beer on their shoulders I didn't recognize. We walked around the stadium from south to east to north ... right next to it was the softball and baseball stadiums. Both of which appear to rival the best in the country. The north and/or west side of the stadium was full of more tailgaiting. A huge area, about the size of our entire area in Vermillion, was marked off for "public" use. USD was in this area. A large tent that eventually filled up to probably 400 Yote fans gathered and enjoyed some pre-game festivity. Next door, a band and bar with probably 50 different kinds of tap beer on sale. Monopoly money - the only way to get beer was go buy monopolgy money at a tent and use that with the bartender ... an interesting concept, and one learned real quickly when the bartender refused actual cash. A few Duck fans dropped by to get us cheering ... one being the really drunk guy who I'm pretty sure didn't even know where SD was, but was "damn glad we made the trip" and started a "Go Yotes" chant ... the other being a drag queen wearing a Gayville Queen sash, she even had a toy hay bale on her Sunday morning church hat showing she, I mean he, really researched the part. Since there were at least three people from Gayville in the tent this sparked plenty of conversation.
The Game
Walking into the stadium and seeing the crowd brought back memories of the trip to Camp Randall (IMO, Camp Randall was a slightly better experience but mostly just due to jump around). We were bascially all located in the first 30 rows of the end zone corner - a few pictures posted by OBC in another thread show it well. I had thought we had at least 500 there, actual reports said 525. There was no exaggerating there. Our small crowd was vocal, especially in the first half and when the guy dropped the ball on the one yard line. The crowd next to us was mostly decent, a few dipsticks among them, but overall they were pretty good. Several were giving us the "Johnny Manzel" money fingers, which we appropriately gave back after the kid dropped the ball hot dogging on the one yard line. Otherwise the fan to fan interaction seemed tame.
Their crowd was really loud even to the end. I was impressed with that. Even up 40-50 points they kept cheering, and only about half walked out with half a quarter left.
I'm not a football expert, but I thought our O line played really great. The receivers played well ... only dropping a couple catchable, but yet 3rd down conversion passes. Wesly called a good game, although I wish Jasper got a few more touches. The only Monday morning QB call I would state is the call on the two yard line ... we tried a zipped pass 30 yards across the field ... a few feet off and it was pick six. Fell incomplete and many around us were dissapointed we didn't run the ball. We had success that drive rushing and I think no doubt would have scored another TD. I think the next play we had a penalty and eventually settled for Miles second field goal. Earl played really well, and made good decisions and throws. The back up came in and surprised me how well he played ... give him more reps and lets hope we keep building. Offensively, I thought we played really well and had very good chances to score two more TDs that we didn't even score. Two simple less mistakes and we score 27, mabye even 30 on them. It was really a crowd eye opener and awesome to see our O score on their first team D. Their D was clearly not top 3 in the country, but their offense clearly is ...
Our Defense played as well as can be expected. We didn't get much pressure, but they quick pass a lot. When we did get some pressure Mariota scrambled for several yards. It is hard to judge our d backs because Oregon makes USC and UCLA d backs look silly so ...
There was one hit by our safety that, think number 8 or 9, that was sportscenter worthy ... even the Oregon fans around us were impressed. Their speed was impressive ... it was relentless and at all positons ... including the backups. the punt returner - wow was he fast.
Special teams - even though we gave up the punt return for a TD, I would actually say they improved from last year. Well, I guess they couldn't get worse either. But other than the punt, the coverage wasn't bad. We squib kicked a lot, which gave them good field position at times, but also short returns.
Considering we hurt ourselves twice inside the five yard line and didn't score (which by the way other than the fumble lost was the only times we hurt ourselves) I was happy walking out of the stadium. The score could easily have been 62-27, they will beat Pac 12 teams worse than that. I recognize coulda, shoulda, woulda, blah blah blah, just saying there were a lot of positives from this game.... especially on offense.
Earl getting hurt sucked, he walked right in front of us flexing his hand ... it was obvious he was in some pain. #90 was hurt too, not sure on his name. Haven't heard about him yet.
Overall:
It was a great weekend, fun crowd and game atmosphere, and we represented ourselves well. The announcer was classy to get the crowd to cheer when asked to thank "South Dakota for coming out here and hope they enjoyed their trip" I flew out last night from Portland so I didn't see, but I heard the USD fans gave the team a standing O at the airport. Lastly, I'm sure glad we have a tune up game in William Penn to give Ryan S some reps to prepare for Montana... GO YOTES! Probably more than you wanted to know, but thought I would paint a picture for those who couldn't attend in person.
Oregon coast
Took an hour trip west of Corvallis to the coast. This was not like a Southern California beach area. It was chilly and full of fisherman and Mo's Cafe. Saw a dump truck getting filled with shrimp ... that was actually kind of disgusting. The beach was fun, cool to see sand dunes, the water was cold. The Alumni Association group drove sand buggies, which would have been cool. We didn't join them. Visited a lighthouse older than SD, and a cool beach made entirely of rocks ... volcano lava turned to rock as soon as it hit the cold water. And of course tried a little Oregon made Pinot Noir and a few pilsners.
While in Corvallis we did check out Oregon State too.
Game Day in Eugene
Hayward Field - love the movie Prefontane so had to check out Tracktown USA. Was worth it. Thought about jumping the fence to take a lap, but decided against it.
The walk:
Decided to follow the huge crowds and walk from Hayward Field to the stadium. This was about a mile long path from downtown(ish) over the river and to the stadium. A stroll where several Oregon fans welcomed the few guys in red. A homeless lady(or lady who had smoked too much Medical Marijuwana - I couldn't tell which) tried to sell us "lucky gameday day green and yellow socks guaranteed to secure a Ducks win." it only took about a minute for her to realize we were the visiting team, hence my qualifying statement that perhaps she had visited the several Medical Marijuwana shops in the area. After going through a wooded path suddenly the stadium ermerged ... a sight well worth the travel.
The stadium and tailgating
We arrived on the south side of the stadium. To the east a huge parking lot full of experienced and no doubt veteran tailgaters ... the Oregon made beer was all over ... didn't see a lot of Bud Light, Miller Light, etc. Students were hauling cases of beer on their shoulders I didn't recognize. We walked around the stadium from south to east to north ... right next to it was the softball and baseball stadiums. Both of which appear to rival the best in the country. The north and/or west side of the stadium was full of more tailgaiting. A huge area, about the size of our entire area in Vermillion, was marked off for "public" use. USD was in this area. A large tent that eventually filled up to probably 400 Yote fans gathered and enjoyed some pre-game festivity. Next door, a band and bar with probably 50 different kinds of tap beer on sale. Monopoly money - the only way to get beer was go buy monopolgy money at a tent and use that with the bartender ... an interesting concept, and one learned real quickly when the bartender refused actual cash. A few Duck fans dropped by to get us cheering ... one being the really drunk guy who I'm pretty sure didn't even know where SD was, but was "damn glad we made the trip" and started a "Go Yotes" chant ... the other being a drag queen wearing a Gayville Queen sash, she even had a toy hay bale on her Sunday morning church hat showing she, I mean he, really researched the part. Since there were at least three people from Gayville in the tent this sparked plenty of conversation.
The Game
Walking into the stadium and seeing the crowd brought back memories of the trip to Camp Randall (IMO, Camp Randall was a slightly better experience but mostly just due to jump around). We were bascially all located in the first 30 rows of the end zone corner - a few pictures posted by OBC in another thread show it well. I had thought we had at least 500 there, actual reports said 525. There was no exaggerating there. Our small crowd was vocal, especially in the first half and when the guy dropped the ball on the one yard line. The crowd next to us was mostly decent, a few dipsticks among them, but overall they were pretty good. Several were giving us the "Johnny Manzel" money fingers, which we appropriately gave back after the kid dropped the ball hot dogging on the one yard line. Otherwise the fan to fan interaction seemed tame.
Their crowd was really loud even to the end. I was impressed with that. Even up 40-50 points they kept cheering, and only about half walked out with half a quarter left.
I'm not a football expert, but I thought our O line played really great. The receivers played well ... only dropping a couple catchable, but yet 3rd down conversion passes. Wesly called a good game, although I wish Jasper got a few more touches. The only Monday morning QB call I would state is the call on the two yard line ... we tried a zipped pass 30 yards across the field ... a few feet off and it was pick six. Fell incomplete and many around us were dissapointed we didn't run the ball. We had success that drive rushing and I think no doubt would have scored another TD. I think the next play we had a penalty and eventually settled for Miles second field goal. Earl played really well, and made good decisions and throws. The back up came in and surprised me how well he played ... give him more reps and lets hope we keep building. Offensively, I thought we played really well and had very good chances to score two more TDs that we didn't even score. Two simple less mistakes and we score 27, mabye even 30 on them. It was really a crowd eye opener and awesome to see our O score on their first team D. Their D was clearly not top 3 in the country, but their offense clearly is ...
Our Defense played as well as can be expected. We didn't get much pressure, but they quick pass a lot. When we did get some pressure Mariota scrambled for several yards. It is hard to judge our d backs because Oregon makes USC and UCLA d backs look silly so ...
There was one hit by our safety that, think number 8 or 9, that was sportscenter worthy ... even the Oregon fans around us were impressed. Their speed was impressive ... it was relentless and at all positons ... including the backups. the punt returner - wow was he fast.
Special teams - even though we gave up the punt return for a TD, I would actually say they improved from last year. Well, I guess they couldn't get worse either. But other than the punt, the coverage wasn't bad. We squib kicked a lot, which gave them good field position at times, but also short returns.
Considering we hurt ourselves twice inside the five yard line and didn't score (which by the way other than the fumble lost was the only times we hurt ourselves) I was happy walking out of the stadium. The score could easily have been 62-27, they will beat Pac 12 teams worse than that. I recognize coulda, shoulda, woulda, blah blah blah, just saying there were a lot of positives from this game.... especially on offense.
Earl getting hurt sucked, he walked right in front of us flexing his hand ... it was obvious he was in some pain. #90 was hurt too, not sure on his name. Haven't heard about him yet.
Overall:
It was a great weekend, fun crowd and game atmosphere, and we represented ourselves well. The announcer was classy to get the crowd to cheer when asked to thank "South Dakota for coming out here and hope they enjoyed their trip" I flew out last night from Portland so I didn't see, but I heard the USD fans gave the team a standing O at the airport. Lastly, I'm sure glad we have a tune up game in William Penn to give Ryan S some reps to prepare for Montana... GO YOTES! Probably more than you wanted to know, but thought I would paint a picture for those who couldn't attend in person.
