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If that happens (Yikes!) having to have to play them again early in the tournament? Would prefer not to, but if that happens, they better put out more bleacher space for the crowd.

I will begin to gather information about the B1G Baseball Tournament this week. They created "Pool" play, where you win your pool and advance further. The Ducks have Michigan State, who they play on Thursday at 4:00 PM, and Nebraska on Friday at 4:00 PM. The bad news? Michigan State has the only pitcher that I fear...but will they play him against Oregon? And...the rules state that if there is a tie, that the higher seed moves forward in the tournament. Thus some media entities report that OBD only has to win one of the two games to advance. I will be adding a ton more to this thread, and everyone is welcome to contribute information and their thoughts as well. We see a breakdown by 247 Duck Territory right here about it...and there is more from the B1G site right here... and this page shows who is in the Pools. If the Ducks win Pool A, then we face the winner of Pool D, which consists of Washington, USC and Penn State. Lovely. The Pools... If all followed chalk...Our Beloved Ducks would meet UCLA in the final on Sunday, May 25th. This means we need four pitchers, without enough rest for Grayson Grinsell to pitch more than once. At the present...we don't really have a starting fourth pitcher, unless you run Ian Umlandt, (Would not be available for relief) or do it by committee as we did by starting Julian Hernandez for three innings against St. Mary's a few weeks ago. For tournaments...nobody has deep pitching, and to give the other pitchers experience in advance of this...you risk losing games you needed to win to get to a No. 7 Seed in the nation...my "cope" with this is that everyone will be short of good, experienced pitchers, and I'd like to think our batting lineup can get to their pitchers better than they can to us?

Oregon OF Mason Neville named Golden Spikes Award semifinalist Mason Neville becomes the first Oregon baseball player to be named to the Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list since 2021. The nation's leader in home runs continues to draw high praise across the nation. Mason Neville, Oregon's junior left-handed hitting center fielder, was among 25 players named to the Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list. The Golden Spikes Award is handed out to the best player in college baseball https://247sports.com/college/oregon/article/mason-neville-oregon-ducks-baseball-golden-spikes-award-semifinalist-250062900/

In 2024, Nebraska ranked 10th nationally in average attendance. There were only 2 in the top 25 attendance that were not in mild climate locations though Virginia might be a third. The other one besides Nebraska was Oregon State which was 21st. But generally, if you draw an east-west line at Lexington, Kentucky, 22 of the 25 were below that line. Nebraska has a vey nice facility they share with a small semi-pro team, and the ballpark is surrounded by parking because it is in a close triangle with Nebraska's football and basketball facilities, close to campus and downtown Lincoln. But, fans do have to show up, and they do in Lincoln. Nebraska had to contend with the Texas schools baseball in the Big12, and have won just two titles in the Big Ten, but the fans are loyal regardless.

I read this morning that the Dawgs are unlikely to use their top arms at the SEC tournament any more that they need to in order to keep them limber. Moreover, they are unlikely to play their starters for any more than a few innings a game to keep them fresh. In other words, they are treating the SEC tournament as somewhat of an inconvenience that matters little in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather that they be fighting hard for a top 8 national seeding and maintain the momentum for a push to the World Series. Once that momentum slackens, for any reason, it is not always easy to regain it with a snap of the fingers.

I have never heard of these guys, but they have Oregon hosting a Super-Regional as a No. 8 Seed, with the Winner of the No. 9 Seed Regional in Corvallis coming to visit if both win their Regionals. Can you imagine THAT drama? Oregon would have to beat Beavis to go to Omaha?

I will shamelessly plug my most recent article here. Should the Ducks Host More Events in Portland? | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM A few years ago the University of Oregon acquired a home for their Portland Campus, the former Concordia... At the UO Portland Campus there are baseball facilities. A few series in Portland, maybe even against the Beavers in the future, could be a fun way to drive the attendance. Granted... I don't think they have much in the way of concessions but I'm sure they could take care of that. But great to see our Ducks have a great fan base and turns out for them!

Two things really stand out...1) how bad baseball attendance is in the B1G, and 2) how incredible Nebraska's following is. PK Park could improve a TON and not catch them. Thanks to sports fan for the time spent on research to learn this!

Our OBD member, sports fan, posted this below in a separate thread and I thought I'd combine them into the same topic thread. This prediction is by Baseball America, while mine above is from On3...and they both have us as a Super-Regional host! (For now...) 2025 College World Series Predictions: Picking Our ‘Eight For Omaha’ (May 16) WWW.BASEBALLAMERICA.COM Baseball America's latest "Eight For Omaha" prediction includes a trio of new teams trending toward 2025 College World Series berths. I find it interesting that...1) Oregon has an RPI with them of No. 18? And 2) three of the teams including the Ducks have RPIs worse than No. 8 among the predicted top-8 seeds and Super-Regional hosts... We gotta win the B1G Tournament...it might be possible to be a finalist in the B1G Tournament, not win, but retain the Super-Regional hosting? Thoughts? I think it is very iffy...

On3 released their NCAA Baseball Tournament Projections, and their predictions of what D1Baseball rankings will be in a day or so. First of all...they predicted the D1Baseball would rank Our Beloved Ducks No. 4 in the nation, and Beavis at No. 5. However--let's wait for the actual poll to come out, and D1Baseball is what the NCAA uses to assist their selections (along with RPI) for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. As HDuck reported last night, Oregon's RPI is the highest it has been all season at No. 12 in both ranking systems. This is crucial, as not long ago--our RPI was in the 50s, so I am grateful for the move. On3 NCAA Baseball Tournament Projections Granted things will change over the week with conference tournaments, but not too drastically. The actual NCAA announcement is on ESPN on May 26th on their usual selection show. But let's get to what On3 predicts... Oregon No. 7 National NCAA Seed: They predict that Our Beloved Ducks will make the final eight, and thus if we win the Regional, we would host the No. 10 tournament seed Clemson Regional winner at PK Park in a Super-Regional...if things continue according to form. UCLA is predicted to be a No. 16 Seed, and will host a Regional. Iowa and Michigan were predicted last week to be in the tournament, and today prediction has them out of the field of 64. USC is predicted to make the field, traveling to the Oxford Regional. Scheduling Works: At the beginning of the season, Coach Waz explained that many of our non-conference series were against teams that were predicted to win their leagues, and On3 predicts that both Rhode Island and Columbia (The 36 runs scored?) will win their conference, and be in the tournament. While On3 notes that the Ducks are "surging," they also remind us that even with winning 14 of the last 15 games, and the B1G... they say that, "Barring an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, Oregon feels somewhat solid as a top eight." I believe we not only have to not exit early--I think we need to win the damn thing to be on the safe side. Field of 64 Projections: NCAA Tournament picture shaken up entering conference tournament week - On3 WWW.ON3.COM It's time to enter conference tournament week in college baseball, but not before some serious changes in our Field of 64 projections.

Here's a look at our 'Advisory Committee Buddies' portal rankings. Will the Portal King lose 3 games again? SEC Football Transfer Portal Rankings: Ole Miss' early work puts them in superb spot OLEHOTTYTODDY.COM It feels like yesterday when the winter transfer portal was opening, but now the spring transfer portal has also closed. This means that no more players can ent

Here's an update on PO format discussions. Report: Power Conference commissioners meet again to discuss College Football Playoff future - On3 WWW.ON3.COM Power Conference commissioners met again on Saturday to discuss the College Football Playoff's future, Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reported. The Power 2 will decide what the final format looks like. The ACC, with eight conference games and its enabling of Notre Dame as an Independent, does not deserve three automatic places in the field. Going 0-2 in the PO last season does not help the ACC's argument. In a conference with ZERO Blue Chip Roster teams, the B12 should be happy to have two participants in the field.

Here are the final attendance results for the Big Ten Conference baseball games. I did not include non-conference games. Hats off to the Cornhusker fans. They really support their team. And what has happened to UCLA. I was shocked to see such low numbers for them. They were in a tight race with our Ducks for first place and nobody bothered to show up to watch them. 1. NEBRASKA 5,458 2. OREGON 2,962 3. IOWA 2.052 4. INDIANA 1,591 5. PURDUE 1,533 6. USC 1,417 7. MICHIGAN 1.394 8. WASHINGTON 1,217 9. MARYLAND 1,156 10. PENN ST. 1,083 11. ILLINOIS 1,029 12. OHIO ST. 981 13. MICHIGAN ST. 857 14. MINNESOTA 681 15. UCLA 660 16. RUTGERS 602 17. NORTHWESTERN 485

I remember way back when all Duck games (and I think most, if not all, PAC games) started at 1:00 pm., which I thought was great. (I know not everyone would be happy about that start time, but I loved it.) Yes, that was before all games were on TV, so there's the hitch. But still, I'd be happy with noon, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm games and getting home before it is dark.

It's High Noon between the O-HI-O legislature and a Fox. You took the money, you spent the money, too bad you didn't read the contract. The Tennessee Legislature has passed a law telling the NCAA that the House settlement terms cannot be enforced in the Volunteer State other than for its share of House damages. According to the legislature, the Vols and Vandy can exceed the $20.5 million year one cap on direct payment to athletes with impunity. And, any and every NIL deal is kosher and cannot be found to be out of line with 'market value.' The above two pieces of legislation evidence the need for college sports to find relief from the federal government. The House settlement does nothing to curtail 'creative' state legislative activity. If I were Greg Sankey, I'd tell the Tennessee legislature it's all good, but Tennessee and Vanderbilt are not included among the SEC defendants settling with the House plaintiffs.

Oregon Ducks' Matayo Uiagalelei Reveals Recruiting Choice, USC Trojans' Tight End Plans Oregon Ducks outside linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei appeared on the "Ducks of a Feather" podcast with Oregon great Kenjon Barner, and Uiagalelei revealed that USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley wanted him to play tight end at USC. In fact, Uiagalelei played some tight end in his first spring with the Ducks. Oregon Ducks Matayo Uiagalelei Reveals Recruiting Choice, USC Trojans' Tight End Plan WWW.SI.COM Oregon Ducks outside linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei led the Big Ten with 10.5 sacks in the 2024 regular season, but as a high school prospect, Uiagalelei was heav

Wow, what happens if 49 more states adopt such a rule? Ohio General Assembly member authors bill to prevent state schools from playing home football games at noon SPORTS.YAHOO.COM The bill includes an exemption that would allow Ohio State to continue to play Michigan at that time.

1 game at a time as the saying goes, win the first game today the momentum is back for the Ducks...of course who knows when Stanford will have Houston back in the circle.

Spotlight on NFLPA rookies features quite a few Ducks. Dillon Gabriel, Tez Johnson, Terrance Ferguson Featured In NFLPA Rookie Premiere WWW.SI.COM Three former Oregon Ducks were featured in the NFLPA Rookie Premier class photo shoot; Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Los Angeles Rams tight end T

For Penn State to be top 5 and stay top 5, they have to have better receivers. Who replaces Warren? their WRs last year were abysmal, Harrison Wallace was salvageable, but that's all they have returning (aside from Evans who had 3 catches their last 4 games) unless they brought in new talent from the portal? That seems like a glaring weakness to me especially when Drew Allar is only an OK to good QB...

I agree, Freeman, Sarkisian and Lanning all were signed as HCs the same year. Now Sarkisian did have his failed years at USC and Washington, but I don't get the "longevity" excuse. My assumption is its more recency bias since ND and Texas made in farther in the CFP than Oregon... Oh well, not that this really matters.

I'll give you Ohio State as they have the highest collective group of five stars and cumulative grading outside of the SEC. But Michigan has been right in the same neighborhood or slightly below Penn State. Oregon really hadn't recruited at the rate they have until Lanning. Under Chip it wasn't about five stars, it was about quickness and a style. Mario Christobal got Oregon into the Penn State and Michigan range which is top 15. Under Lanning it's jumped to Ohio State level, so I'll give you that as well. But Penn State has brought in top 15 classes nine times under Franklin. I don't look at that as a sisters of the poor by any means. Franklin should have more than one career win against Ohio State. He's blown ten point leads going into the fourth against them four times in this recent 8 game losing streak and only beat them the one time off a blocked kick six in 2016. That was an Ohio State team that lost by thirty and went scoreless against Clemson in the playoff. Mario Christobal is clowned on appropriately, but he took an Oregon squad into Columbus and beat them by double digits with a roster loaded with Penn State level talent. I dog on Franklin because he blows double digits games like he's mowing a field full of dandelions with those annoying white seeds. Notre Dame was at or below the Penn State talent level and Freeman was capable of beating him. Freeman led a Notre Dame team into a stretch where he beat Georgia, Penn State and made a comeback against Ohio State. When has Franklin done anything like that? Franklin is a very good coach, but he's known as an elite recruiter. Is he even that if he has considerably less talent every year? How do we judge him fairly if we can't hold him accountable for blowing big game after big game? Where does Penn State football's 2025 recruiting class rank on National Signing Day? WWW.YDR.COM See where Penn State football's 2025 recruiting class ranks across the country and in the Big Ten on National Signing...

Jon I think you’ve made a great point in your OP and I very much agree. While building a roster in this new era it’s even more obvious that a program’s success or failure is directly reflected by the financial strategy that is implemented and the ROI of said strategy. Furthermore, I believe that the O-line position group might best exemplify your point. IMO, the O-line is the most important catalyst for an offense. I have this opinion for many reasons, but for the moment I’ll attempt to touch on the reasons that most directly relate to the topic of this thread. O-line is most important bc fielding an elite O-line is the most sure way to attain a truly sustainable dominant offense throughout a season. The line is first and foremost one body made up of strong and talented parts that work so well together in a collaborative strategy that they perform as an elite unit in achieving goals. This elite unit can act as the heart and guide of the offense by creating the pathways that lead to greatness. So if one of the goals is to build an O-line that is capable of performing in such a way, what is the best strategy in the use of your NIL capital to achieve this goal? I believe that your estimate is likely somewhere in the ballpark and bc of that and a few other reasons, I think (especially in this case) that your type of strategy could prove the most efficient and beneficial strategy. As you stated, it’s highly unlikely that a freshman offensive lineman will be prepared to start in his true freshman season, no matter how talented or highly rated he is. To my knowledge there is no amount of NIL money that will magically provide him with the year or years of developmental experience that he will likely need to be the player the unit needs as it pursues greatness. Also, it’s possible that by the time he does become the right player, he may decide to hit the portal in an attempt to further maximize his earning potential. So it’s possible that you might pay him top $ just so you could develop him for someone else’s O-line. If so, this highly touted, highly talented, and extremely expensive recruit has given you a negative ROI, when you consider how that NIL capital might have been used. To your point, instead of taking this risk, search for linemen in the portal that have unexpectedly already developed into just what you’re looking for. Attempt to use your capital on 2 or 3 that look as if they might immediately fit right into your schemes and strategies. Players that you feel are already a few of those strong and talented parts that can become a part of that Elite Unit. Potentially maximize ROI as opposed to risking a negative return. This is just an attempt for me to think about this situation in a way that relates to your OP. I’m certainly not saying don’t go after those top recruits, but it might be worth thinking about it or considering what alternatives might be available or just talk about it. I certainly don’t know what is best but I do think it’s interesting. Some might say it would be very hard to expect an O-line to be able to work that effectively together that quickly, and perhaps that might be the case, but who knows? The right group might do very well together. I’m not exaggerating how strongly I feel about the importance of the O-line for an offense. I have similar feelings for the importance of the D-line for defenses.

When has Franklin had the same talent as the teams he consistently lost to? He has had a QB like Allar only once- the same year he claimed the conference. Franklin gets bashed as if he had top five talent every year. That absolutely has not been the case. The guy didn't have a WR that could stretch the field and that's why he lost a ten point lead to Ohio State last year. That's what Franklin's offenses have been-less than elite. For ten years. Franklin recruited a QB with Diabetes at Vandy, that went pro. That's how he got the PSU job. He's had three elite QBs his entire career. That Franklin beats up everyone but Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon with a B to B plus talent level speaks volumes. He wins the games he's supposed to, and loses the games he's supposed to.

The good thing about the House Settlement is those NIL deals will sort out value per position, and like the NFL the schools will be rated in their scouting and development prowess. Seeing the details of each NIL agreement will be good disclosure for players as well. The greedy ones will go to schools like Miami, who doesn't develop players, and the savvy players (or better yet, their representation) will start evaluating schools for the entire package. Hence, USC, Miami, Florida and Auburn will need to show they can actually develop these players beyond their raw talent. It is also why developing Dante Moore AND Novosad is critical this year. For once, QB recruits will see what Oregon really has to offer when experience is limited. I also happen to believe this is a critical year for developing the secondary. Two years of burnt toast is not a very good look (some of that was talent, especially at the nickel position - and I hope Theisen holds down the position as he is a talented player). DL and his staff still recruit well, but USC and UW are going to start imposing their brands, which will loom large until OBD earn a title.