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This might be why Oregon had a slot receiver hit the portal.

Jon Wilner wrote an article that said "What's next for Oregon after another playoff collapse: The leadership and structure are right, but something's missing. (I was going to provide a link to this article but it's behind a paywall). He goes on to say it's time to whack the button in Eugene. But which one? The eject button, the panic button, the snooze button, the reset button? The Ducks are a CFP regular contender that's far from championship caliber. How far? 54 points. They were beaten by Ohio St. and Indiana by that much. Oregon losing to Ohio St. and Indiana in the CFP isn't the issue. It's the fashion in how they lost in the Rose and Peach Bowls. Only coach Lanning can uncover the glitch in his system that left Oregon embarrassed in the biggest games the past two years. He mentions how Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi have departed for their head coaching positions and who their replacements will be. To win games deep in the CFP, to beat opponents with comparable talent, you need equivalent expertise. Are their replacements up to the task? It's believed that Oregon needs older, wiser coaching staff at the coordinator level. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers staff that sliced and diced the Ducks had decades more experience at the head coach and coordinator levels. Lupoi's replacement, Chris Hampton has never called plays at the Power Four level and Stein's replacement, Drew Mehringer has one year of coordinator experience at the Power Four level, in 2016 at Rutgers that finished number 127 in the country in scoring. The Ducks appear so close and, at the same time, so far.

Yeah but UO are the traitors, according to beavis fans. Like any other conference wanted Them...

My thoughts, Money doesnt buy experience unless it does. Stars means nothing.

I'd bet 2/1, best choice or not, that we would not pay Sam as much as LSU has.

Didn't see this on my bingo card!🫣

Here are some highlights of this young man.

Go Hooo, Oooo, Ooot Owls!

For what it’s worth - if anything. On-Field Performance & Criticism High expectations vs. production: As a former five-star recruit, Raiola entered Nebraska with a lot of hype, but some analysts say he didn’t consistently “elevate the situation” as many fans hoped, especially in key Big Ten games. Critics point to issues like holding the ball too long and taking too many sacks. Pressure and sacks: Raiola was sacked at a high rate in several games, which drew scrutiny from commentators who saw it as a sign of slow decision-making or lack of pocket mobility. 🦵 Injury & Season Impact Broken leg: Raiola suffered a season-ending broken fibula while playing for Nebraska, which required surgery and sidelined him for the rest of the 2025 campaign. 🔄 Transfer & Team Situation Entering transfer portal: Following his injury and changes in the Nebraska program (including his brother decommitting and his uncle being let go from the staff), Raiola decided to transfer to Oregon for the next season. Fan reaction: Some Oregon fans have reacted negatively online to the news of Raiola’s commitment, questioning how he will impact the Ducks’ success. 📈 Other Public/Media Topics NIL valuation changes: Due in part to injury and shifting narratives, reports suggest his NIL (name-image-likeness) market value dropped significantly during the 2025 season.

And, a new safety. https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/01/12/oregon-football-carl-williams-iv-transfer-portal/88146493007/

When we are facing a team with equal or better talent levels (1-2 games per year) and that team is mentally locked on to us, we can't seem to get over the hump. No doubt Lanning has the team motivated. But it takes more than motivation and talent to win it all. It takes coaching X's and O's and recognizing what the other team is doing. I'm convinced we don't have the right coaching experience in the room to get us over the hump which is why I'm also disappointed that we didn't go externally for new coordinators, especially if Lanning knew in advance that Stein and Lupoi were looking to take off. I'm also convinced that it takes a perfect storm to win the national title in the CFP era. Ohio St. had a boatload of experience, a chip on their shoulder and generational players on both sides of the ball in Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs. Indiana is unlike anything I've ever seen in college football and will lose a massive amount of experience next year. Maybe next year will be our perfect storm with all the players returning. Will it be enough to overcome our lack of coaching experience?

I guess there was no persuading Harris to stick around. https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/01/12/oregon-football-jay-harris-transfer-kansas-state/88145724007/

They just changed that in the past two years. Use to be the last word in that chant started with an ‘L’ instead of an ‘H’

I am still in denial, I have not reached anger yet. I had a nightmare last night that Oregon turned the ball over three times in the first half inside their own thirty, spotting Indiana 21 points. Funny, how your drowsy mind plays tricks on you. What time is the game today, anyway?

Thanks for your thought-provoking assessment. Why did the Ducks play no better or worse in the second game in these three cases. I am going case by case, and draw conclusions empirically. The score was nearly identical in the second game against UW because the Huskies were a good offensive team that made it to the final, because we had kicking issues, and because of injuries in our secondary. I also thought the play calling on crucial downs left something to be desired. Ohio State had an abundance of talent, and was problem for everyone when they played their best game. I do think their coaches got the best of us on both offense and defense, but the injury to Stewart, who was critical to our previous success, was damaging. Oregon had the bye, which was a curse of death until IU broke through. I thought Oregon was winning on first down on both offense and defense early in the game. Without the turnovers, it looked as if the game would have been competitive. Our QB was responsible for the first and third. He took responsibility for the second, but that may have been good character. (Possibly the mistake was Hill's.) We did not have a bye, but our two coordinators were both burdened with their new duties. It is plausible that this affected practice and preparation. Oregon did look sharp on the successful early drive, however. I think the loss of control at the line of scrimmage may have been caused by the demoralization induced by the repeated offensive errors. In each case, there were confounding factors: injuries, the bye, and the departure of the coordinators. An alternative explanation would be that Oregon was good, but the opponents were better. a. In Washington's case, better because of our injuries at corner and our kicker's struggle. b. In Ohio State's: their receivers were better than our secondary; and their DL and LB Downs were better than our relatively good OL. c. In Indiana's: their QB may or may not be more talented, but he is more highly developed; our corners were close to their receivers but defeated by ball placement; one of our safeties was beaten repeatedly; Geoff Schwartz suggested on X that our tackles this year were not championship caliber (my phrase not his). Apart from QB play, Lanning needs to recruit safeties who can defend championship quality receivers (the incoming guys look promising) and OL men who can play together for more than a year to build teamwork. Again, the recent recruits look promising. Thanks to anyone who persevered for your patience in reading this.

Sam L. Signed with LSU

Boise, SDSU, and Fresno in shock. Not the bill of goods they were sold and now they have enormous exit and lawyer fees to continue to deal with. Well played you 3.

I think we are all rooting for Akili Smith Jr. to be out star quarterback as soon as possible and for as long as possible, but we have so little information on his progress.

May Lono, the Hawaiian god of music, fertility, peace, agriculture, & rain, smile down upon you during this sacred time of Duck emotional and psychological healing. And may you rock the uke... always.

I know he hasn't reached his ceiling. But I will be honest.... with the way this season ended I am questioning his promoting the two new coordinators from within. I think Hampton is up to the task as he had a lot of control at Tulane but I am questioning maybe the scheme Lanning is running at this point. Probably a point for a future article as I don't really want to go into it right now. But as for the offense.... I don't know if Mehringer is the right man for the job at the moment because the offense needs a kick in the butt. The athletes are there but when put up against the top defenses it fails to perform. Is it a Dante Moore problem? An offensive line problem? A receiver getting open problem? A schematic problem? More of the same doesn't feel like it will get us to where we are demanding to go... Going to be honest... I'm far more upset by this loss than the loss to Ohio State last year and Washington the year before that. That is three years and three failed rematch games. That is a pattern. Something needs to change. Furthermore... the Lanning defense has struggled against strong passing teams. Which are the three teams we have failed to beat in a rematch. Run heavy teams seems to be something we have figured out... but pass heavy is a problem.

Boy, I know I am trying to mentally catch-up, and adjust to the new approach to roster management . The strategies and the overall philosophy has changed dramatically in the past three years with the emergence of the transfer portal and NIL. Below is from a post by HDuck in another thread that illustrates my point: "Why is Ohio State losing so much? Keeping depth players sidelined for multiple years doesn’t work anymore when they can get money and playing time elsewhere. But Ohio State’s commitment to developing high school players, which has been the Buckeyes’ philosophy for years, is being overhauled right now." "Losing 29 players to the transfer portal is never good. That’s the equivalent of losing an entire recruiting class." In the last two years...I have written FishDuck.com articles warning Oregon fans to savor this year, because next year is a major rebuilding year. Yet, by the time Dan Lanning was done in the portal--we ended up with a great teams that finished in the top ten--again. I look at how so many great young defensive linemen have left in the last two days, and I feel a twinge of, "Dan is sacrificing the future years, to make 2026 a great one with the Defensive Line starters returning." And boy...those starters must be getting some tasty NIL numbers thrown at them to remain, but it worked. No, Charles. Roster management is now looking at next year only. Why? Because if you are Oregon, you can massively rebuild each year, just as the other elite teams are. The new philosophy is, "Forget Next Year and Beyond," and assemble a great team for this year, and worry about next year--next year.

"If the Big Ten and SEC leaders can't come to an agreement by the deadline, the playoff will remain at 12 teams. The field will now guarantee the Power 4 conference champions spots, along with the highest-ranked conference champion from the Group of 6, which now includes the revamped Pac-12."

Oh gosh who could have seen that coming?!🤣

Group of Six? Oh No!

How my nostalgic heart yearns for the Pac-10 days.