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Iowa yes absolutely, probably our most likely loss left on the schedule. UW can’t stop anyone to date, IMO they’ll have a punchers chance, but they would need to play an A+ game.

We should be proud of being 7-1, and in particular rushing the ball for 203 yards when you needed to in the rain, and with a backup QB. I maintain that anytime you rush for 200+ yards on anyone--it is great. But Wisconsin was especially tough to run on in the first half, and getting it done in the second half was noteworthy. Then I looked at the wins-losses of past opponents, and the final four opponents of Our Beloved Ducks... Past Opponents: 30-33 Upcoming Opponents: 22-9 Crap. Future opponents are going to be MUCH tougher than we thought at the beginning of the season. The Bastard-Huskies continue to improve, and playing them in Seattle is going to be very, very tough. We all know about the TFLs (Tackles for Losses) we gave up against Indiana, but we gave up seven TFLs, and four sacks against Wisconsin? And upcoming opponent Iowa got nine TFLs and four sacks this last weekend?

I think teams sell out trying to stop our running game. At times, our play calling gets predictable, and we rely on DM to complete a lot of third and long plays to keep the chains moving. If he misses, we probably struggle against a good offense. We have a good run game, but against better defenses we probably need to use our offensive tool box a little “Moore” effectively. That’s as good as it gets for my advice. Goes along with outscoring your opponent is the best way to win.

Hmm previous week we had 700 yards and all was well. I’m going to go with it was really wet, we don’t look as focused at home…and yet we still doubled the rushing yards UW usually gives up. Long season and we are 7-1.

Bo Nix just hit Franklin for a TD in Broncos v. Cowboys. Either the third or fourth connection between the two for the day. For me it's CBS on Comcast.

My thought when I saw him warm up but then Brock go into the game was that they were getting him ready but then realized Moore could go back in if needed so Brock would just fill the gap until Moore was ready. But then Moore never went back in...maybe because we scored again and they decided he didn't need to.

I'm glad UW and IA are on the road because the Ducks seem to play better on the road lately.

Well articulated post Mike. A quick synopsis of my original take would be that OBD seems to be scheming as a cautious underdog not as a talented favorite.

This. I recall mentioning on this forum that Brock Thomas probably had the best spring game performance. Perhaps he is actually better than everyone other than Moore. It was odd to see Novosad warming up. Maybe he was trying to show the coaches he was ready to go too.

Did we ever actually learn what Novosad's injury was? I have been dealing with rotator cuff issues for years. That has the potential to be a nagging issue for a throwing arm. If the rehab is not complete, or marginally unsuccessful, it can be a nightmare in throwing situations. I don't know what the issue is, as I honestly have no idea what the injury was.

It’s becoming ever more clear that rankings mean nothing. I believe it’s what the powers that be want in the end. Just grab the top 3 teams from each Power conference. Then grab the 4 highest ranked left overs for the ‘At Large’ spots and be done with it. Well represented and Anotre Lame team gets its shot as well.

HMMMMMMMMMM? Isn't this the same team that put up 750 yards of offense the week before in Jersey? Wisconsin, with a run D that has played decent football all season, could not have asked for better weather. The critiques of this game, I get it. But OBD's defense played great, and in a deluge, the Ducks rushed for over 200 yards. Iowa will be a B1G test. For Iowa not to be in the AP top 25, ditto UW, is male bovine excrement. The Ducks stayed at No. 6, which IMO is spot on. Put the Hurt on the Hawkeyes!

Bama won by 2 points over an unranked team, still at #4 so there's nothing wrong at us being #6.

I’m sorry but that is no longer the world we live in. With the transfer portal, once a QB gets beat out they are going to transfer. The best you can hope for is for your backup QB to be serviceable if your starter is injured (which Brock was) and beat some average or below teams.

SSecDD - Nine SEC teams are ranked, including 2-loss Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, and Texas. And five B12 teams are ranked? Both 2-loss Iowa and 2-loss UW should be ranked. At least USC is back in the rankings. Georgia Tech No. 8. UVA No. 12? Memphis No. 25? Big disrespect for the B1G conference. On Tuesday night, I hope the PO Committee has Iowa and UW ranked. If not, if the Committee follows this ranking, Tony Petitti's AQ PO plan is spot on. After back-to-back titles, this sure looks like B1G hunting season. The conference is being treated little better than a G6 conference.

Could be injury(as in saving a medical redshirt), attitude in practice, or Brock’s ability, as the reason that his number get’s called. The coaches send in players that have talent, and a team first attitude. Those are the guys that you want on the field. All others are waiting for their opportunity to contribute. The team is showing growing pains, and ranked #6 in the country, not bad. All I expect is for the team to be prepared for the next opponent, and put the players that deserve to be on the field in a position to be successful. The problem with sports, success is never guaranteed.

Maybe the Browns should have kept Sanders activated. Today would be a good day to see how he does in a regular season game.

You didn't come across whiney at all. You said what I've been thinking and been unable to articulate. I believe you have said better than most of us so far. For me, they are concerns, but they are correctable. Moore is effective both in the pocket and out of it. I believe he needs more reps outside the pocket-whether that be a moving pocket, max protection that gets him out of the pocket, or simple roll outs. Another aspect I see is missed assignments. The coaching staff is bent on running the ball, and I've seen far too many missed assignments (and I am not talking about getting beat at the point of attack, I am talking straight up not being where one is supposed to be when they are supposed to be there). This is happening in both run blocking and pass protection. What I really appreciated about this game is I saw adjustments much sooner than usual. FishDuck pointed out the formation changes in order to unleash the running game. Lanning also decided to just get the victory-no style points needed. He read the flow of the game and simply put pads on pads instead of just continuing what they wanted to do. Lupoi did the same. They recognized strengths and just went with them. There is nothing wrong with struggling in a game. And in my opinion, the struggle against Indiana was more lethargy than their ability. They didn't dominate us. People said the same thing about Auburn in the Natty. Remember, Cam Newton limped off the field. OBD were the more physical team, and the refs stole a sack/fumble/TD from us. Indiana is a marvel right now because they are boat racing the bums. They didn't boat race us. They didn't boat race Iowa. They are going to have to do more to win in the playoffs because they are NOT that physical. Long story short. This is experimentation time. This is a time to throw things on the wall-and I mean find out everything QB Moore can do and WHY. We have two blazing fast guys that can outrun every good corner and safety in the country, and we need to get them the ball downfield. We want to spring explosive running plays. Well, that requires setting a defense up to spring them. Bill Walsh used to script the first 15 plays on offense. That was in order to decipher what his opponents were planning to do and uncover what in his game plan would work. I believe we saw some aspects of that last night. I am hoping we don't fear what happens, rather we observe it and hope OBD handle it putting their best effort and brains into being successful.

Something is off for sure. I have my own theory of how to fix some things but I'll save that for my Monday article. I do think it comes down in part to the offensive line and not pairing early game plays with getting the offensive line settled. The line did better as the game wore on and leant on the lien's strengths. Pass protection is certainly a worry especially at the tackle position as both tackles were retting worked early on against Wisconsin. They were consistently out worked against Indiana and struggled at times against Penn State, though against Penn the refs really didn't throw many flags where they have been more flag happy in the other two games. I want to see the coaches work on some strategies to settle the offense early on in the game. That might also include rolling Moore out of the pocket more, he did a lot of it against Penn State to avoid their good edge rushers. (Yes, Penn State still has good edge rushers who are getting drafted).

Dont the QBs have earpieces these days? Maybe its the play callers that are confused?

Only championship caliber teams...which is kind of the point. Preseason the narrative seemed to be that Novosad was pushing Moore and really competing for the QB1 role. If that was truly the case I would expect him to be able to step in and potentially win a big game against a top opponent. The new narrative is that Brock earned the playing time at practice. So does that mean that Novosad isn't really the QB1-b that we assumed he was? Or is that not the full story and there is more going on? I personally think it's the latter.

Absolutely. Need time for the vertical passing route to develop AND time for Moore to see it. Against teams with good defensive lines we are seeing Moore's eyes get dragged down and he isn't looking at the deeper routes. Establishing the run will force the defense to back off a little bit and give the vertical passing game time.

Charles, I was very suprised that the Ducks held at #6. Expected a,couple of teams to jump them. Glad they didn't..... I feel that Iowa, SC and udub would beat the 5 BIG 12 teams that are ranked. Or at least split with them. The upper middle section of the BIG is not getting a great deal of respect. Not that it matters in the toilet bowls. However, it does for a CFP bound team to have wins over ranked opponents. GO DUCKS......

Oregon should be one of them with the amount of NIL and nationally ranked recruiting classes.

Brock Thomas was a 3* walk on out of Sheldon High School. Justin Herbert would have been a 3* walk on Sheldon High School if Oregon had not offered him a scholarship at almost the last minute. I don't think we should think of Brock as "just a walk on". I think we should look at him as a very talented young QB that is on the rise and capable of leading this team.