Oregon wants to become road warriors

Oregon coach Chip Kelly recently groused about how hard it is to get elite teams to sign a home-and-home series with his Ducks. While money, as it often is in college football, is an issue, the biggest reason is teams don't want to get their butts kicked. Kelly's crew has won 18 in a row at home, last losing to Boise State on Sept. 20, 2008.

So when you ask Kelly about what he's learned about his team during a pair of home blowouts after it lost to LSU in Cowboys Stadium, he doesn't make any sweeping pronouncements of newfound skill, confidence or maturity.

"We're a good team at home," he said. "What we've got to learn now is how do we play on the road?"

[+] Enlarge Matthew Emmons/US PresswireChip Kelly's Oregon squad will try to regain their momentum by beating Arizona on the road Saturday.That's a fair point. Though Oregon has lost only five games over the past two-plus seasons, each has been outside the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium.

And the numbers show a decided difference, too. The Ducks averaged 59 points at home last season and 36.7 points on the road. They averaged 41.6 points at home in 2009 and 29.7 point on the road. On defense, the Ducks held foes to 14.8 points at home in 2010 and 22.0 points on the road. In 2009, it was 20.4 at home and 27.7 on the road.

Of course, every team is better at home, and the quality of the home and road schedules matter. But when your team is trying to join the super-elite, those are numbers coaches notice and point out to players. For example, Auburn last season played better defense on the road, and averaged 45.8 points at home and 36.3 points on the road. In 2009, Alabama averaged 32.7 points at home and 31.4 points on the road. Those are the last two national champions.

So Kelly wants his team to take its A-game -- its Autzen-game -- to Tucson to face reeling Arizona.

Speaking of the Wildcats, a lot has been made of their seven-game losing streak to FBS foes. No one likes a seven-game losing streak.

But some perspective, folks. Four of those games were against top seven-ranked foes, and a fifth was against an Oklahoma State squad that finished 2010 ranked 13th. The Ducks will be the Wildcats third top-10 opponent in three weeks.

"This has been a perfect storm and we've got to weather it," said Arizona coach Mike Stoops (a visit to No. 23 USC is next, by the way).

Further, Stoops is a defensive coach. His most infamous sideline frowns and gesticulations come when his defense is not doing what he wants it to do. And that's been happening a lot of late, seeing that his defense ranks 111th in the nation.

Oregon, by the way, will be bringing the nation's No. 6 offense, the third consecutive top-20 offense the Wildcats will have faced, which is also a good reason the defense has looked so lousy. You might be surprised, however, that the fiery Stoops has become philosophical, preaching the power of positive thinking and learning from adversity.

"You have to look at where it's exposing our weak areas, where we have to get better," he said.

Stoops then is probably noting his run game, which ranks 116th in the nation with an anemic 55.7 yards per game. The Ducks defensive weakness, at least thus far, has been against the run, see 214.3 yards per game, which ranks 11th in the Pac-12. So that's an interesting weakness-on-weakness matchup.

It's more likely, though, this one will come down to a showdown of strength on strength: Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles versus a good Oregon pass defense, which ranks No. 1 in the conference.

Kelly is a big fan of Foles.

"I think Nick is one of the top quarterbacks in the country, not only in this conference," he said. "I don't think he gets nearly enough credit."

Of course, we could have another barn burner. The last time the Ducks visited in 2009, they won a thrilling 44-41 decision in double-overtime, a game that it looked like the Wildcats had in the bag. Until they didn't.

"I remember Jeremiah Masoli just running around making plays," Stoops said. "He made some incredible plays down the stretch. We couldn't come up with that last play to win the game."

Oregon doesn't want that. It wants to come in a take care of business -- like Stanford did in Tucson last weekend -- and look like a team that shouldn't yet be written out of national title contention.

Stoops' team is just trying to weather the storm. But he sees "speed everywhere" with Oregon. And he knows no team brings an offensive maelstrom like the Ducks.

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Palmer Wants Out of Cincinnati; Will They Let Him Go?

Well, I was holding out small hopes that this whole “Carson wants to be traded” thing was either overblown or an out-and-out fabrication.  No dice. Unfortunately, both Mike Brown and Palmer’s agent David Dunn have seperately confirmed it. Brown stated that he and Palmer had met last week and that number 9 had requested a trade, but Brown turned him down flat.

Brown:

“He’s key to our plans. He’s central to us. He was told that. We count on him going forward. He was told we were in no position to trade him. It would not be something we would consider doing … we are not looking for offers.”

Once that news broke, Dunn was quick to issue a polite but unambiguous statement on behalf of his client.

Dunn:

“Carson met with Bengals owner Mike Brown recently. They both expressed profound disappointment in how the team fared last season, and in how it has generally performed during Carson’s tenure with the team. Because of the lack of success that Carson and the Bengals have experienced together, Carson strongly feels that a separation between him and the Bengals would be in the best interest of both parties. Carson could not respect the Brown family any more than he does or be more appreciative of what the Browns have done for him and his wife Shaelyn and his family.”

The Bengals need Palmer to come back, and appear willing to discuss concessions that might make staying a viable option for the former Heisman Trophy winner.  ”We’ll reach out to him, try to understand what’s in his craw,” Brown said. “Maybe there are things that we can do that will appeal to him. We’ll certainly try to do that. We’ll see whether we can get it fit back together again in the future.”

Judging by Dunn’s statement, it looks like Carson has no desire to do so.  There’s plenty of time between now and when anything is final, and the uncertainty of the CBA only complicates matters for both sides to make a seperation happen.  Nonetheless, this looks like its getting ugly fast.

Cam Newton anyone?

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Titans RB Johnson wants more carries

Published: December 8th, 2010 | Tags: Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans

It was just a year ago we referred to Chris Johnson as “CJ2K.” But Johnson has just 58 yards rushing the last two games. He told NFL Network the problem hasn’t been opposing defenses but rather that the Titans have lacked execution, and openly lobbied for more carries as part of the solution.

“I won’t put it on those defenses and say that they really stopped me,” Johnson said. “It was just a thing where we were one-dimensional and I didn’t really have the opportunity to run the ball. It all goes back to, as an offense, we have to stay on the field and complete third downs and get drives going.

“If the ball is being handed off to me, and I’m given more carries than I’ve been given, then we should have a successful game and we should be putting up points. The whole thing is that I’m not pointing out one person or one group on the offense. I’m pointing out the offense as a whole. We just have to stay on the field and execute the plays.”

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Owens wants another season with Palmer

You can’t blame Terrell Owens for wanting to return next season to the place where he’s had so much success.

It’s just that none of us guessed that place would have been Cincinnati, or that it would have happened at this point in the career of Owens, who turns 37 next week and was considered by many to  have very little left in his tank. 

Owens is having his best statistical season since 2007 and it’s paid off, earning him $1 million in bonuses. He’s on pace for 95 receptions, 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns, which also puts him at or very close to a second tier of bonuses that kick in at 100 receptions, 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns, potentially earning $333,333 for each category.

Owens, who didn’t sign with the Bengals until right before training camp, said he can be even better if he gets another run with QB Carson Palmer.

“If you factor in what I’ve done this year, and obviously with more time and us getting to know each other, you can only imagine what would happen with this year under our belt,” Owens said.

Owens has been a model citizen this season, and it will be interesting to see what market bears for him during the offseason. Of course, if he does return to Cincinnati, there’s no guarantee Palmer will be there. As Jason La Canfora has noted, there are rumblings indicating Palmer and head coach Marvin Lewis are among the Bengals who might not be back next season.

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Thigpen wants to prove he’s a starter

Published: November 16th, 2010 | | Tags: Miami Dolphins, Tyler Thigpen

In an exclusive interview with NFL Network, Dolphins QB Tyler Thigpen says he badly wants to prove he’s a starting-caliber NFL quarterback and make a believer out of everyone, including himself.

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