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Still too stunned to be in mourning. I was angry yesterday and cant really bargain, cause there is nothing to bargain with. I am getting past denial, and almost to acceptance. Then I will mourn. Unless crying in my beer is mourning, then I mourned yesterday to drown my anger ! But I still love my Ducks!

I think the last time I won the Ducks lost too. Good thing I dont win very often.

2022: 10-3 Holiday Bowl champs (not bad considering first game against UGA). 2023: 12-2 Fiesta Bowl champs (lost to the NCG runner-up by a total of six points). 2024: 13-1 B1G champs (lost in quarterfinal to eventual national champion). 2025: 14-1 Orange Bowl champs (won 1st round and quarterfinal, but lost semifinal). If I’m a CEO and Dan Lanning is my sales team lead he and his team are getting bonuses every year for constant improvement. The trophies he brought home may not be the right color right now, but he has added something to the trophy case every year he’s been in Eugene. Keep in mind this year’s team returned one starter on offense (Pancho) and three starters on defense (Boettcher, Uiagalelei, Tuioti). Could Oregon regress next season? Sure, but I think the reason for that would be because of a change at QB and uncertainty with the new one.

I'm more in shock than mourning. I felt going in that if we brought our A game we may have a 40-45% chance of winning and was looking forward to a 4th quarter battle that could go our way with a history defining play. Instead we got a bad pick six on thirst play of the game. Then a few minutes later, we had yet another self induced backfield fumble and the game was over just like that. As pointed out on another post. Indy only had to go 30 yards to collect 28 gift wrapped points. It was a complete and utter collapse. It's like stepping in to the ring against Tyson, tripping on the ropes, falling flat on your face and knocking yourself out. It wasn't that we lost it was in the unbelievable and continuous way that it happened.

Hard to over come his built-in advantage. His team culture is built on developed, no name portal players who see an atmosphere that fits hand in glove - a comfort zone for “the misfits” who can then bond together to show the world what it really takes to play football. And, it ain’t stars.

Thanks Charles, for putting up with all us misfits. I won in each of the 2 prior years. This year I tied twice for second place. 3 points off and only got second. I did accurately predict the Yards Moore would pass for. I had a quiet day, dejected, disappointed, depressed but not totally despondent. I let the air out of my blow-up Duck and packed him away till next season. I'm a proud season ticket holder for 32 years and making payments on next season. I'll see you at the Spring Game.

Wow, only 5 didn't drink the Kool-Aid. Good on them. Good on them 2.0 missed by 28. Without TOs, would have been bang on.

Absolutely true. The problem is, we’re all getting a bit tired of saying that.

Yep. Actually, went to a celebration of life today and it wasn't for OBD. Reminded me "it was only a game" and the sun did come up today.

Three of the Canes titles have come in their home stadium. Of course those being at the old Orange Bowl. That place actually had an atmosphere, the stadium they play at now has no aura to it at all. It's just a huge NFL stadium. Hurricane fans have never filled that place, there are plans for an on campus stadium. It sticks in their crawl that USF is going to have an on campus stadium, before them.

In 2019 (2020 NCG) I thought the Clemson Tigers had the talent to take down LSU. However, they tried to score with them and it didn’t work out so well. When teams have similar styles of offense the more talented offense wins. When they have opposite styles it can lead to upsets although the examples are few. The 1986 Nittany Lions, 2002 Buckeyes, and a couple of Stanford/Oregon games come to mind (2012 for them and 2015 for us). Miami and Indiana have one common opponent in OSU. Both played them tight and held them to two scores.

No coincidence I felt like wearing black today, and not as a Duck color. Crushing defeats are hard no matter what the circumstances or when it happens. But as Steven A. pointed out--we lost three times in two years, and all to the No. 1 team in the nation. No dishonor in that! We were the No. 5 national seed, and beat the No. 4 seed 23-0, and thus confirmed Our Beloved Ducks as one of the best teams in the nation. It was still an Outstanding Year...

We had five who picked against Our Beloved Ducks, and none of them were close--compared to prior games, but GODUCKS15 was the winner with a total spread of 28 points off as the winner. He predicted 30-20, and thus he is the final prediction contest winner of this season. Hey--thanks to you all for being a part of this, as it is fun throughout the season. And Congrats to GODUCKS15 for the win! Really....I'm fine with him winning this way.... (Wait for it)

I don’t think Fat Mac approves.

Thank you, Doctor, for providing more of your champ game thoughts. Yes, Miami has a fearsome pass rush, but Mendoza has a quick release and is en fuego. Back-to-back games against quality Ds where Mendoza has thrown more TDs than incompletions. Indiana's O-line will be the best Miami has played against in the postseason. The Ducks' DBs had Indiana's receivers covered, but with the quality of Indiana's receivers, you can't stop a passing attack when the QB is making perfect throws. I think Indiana is better than Miami at every position on offense, including QB. Texas A&M was exposed late when it played its only SEC opponent that finished with a winning record and lost when its offense struggled. Ryan Day played with a slow tempo on offense in the first half, just what Miami wanted to see. Ohio State did not run the ball that well all season; the O-line was the Buckeyes' weakest position. Ohio State's QB was up for the Heisman Award, but his inexperience showed in the Cotton Bowl. Miami played undisciplined football against an Ole Miss team not talented enough to take advantage of the miscues. Of course, Miami, playing on its home field, could win it all. But Indiana is on a roll and just blew out two teams, Bama and OBD, that I think would defeat the Canes. It's a fascinating champ game. Indiana fans will show up in droves and will be loud. And I do not see Cignetti and friends being outcoached.

This is what made the game so painful to watch….OBD were fighting the good fight….outside turnovers they were a hell of a match for Indiana. Youth….and I wonder if we missed our RB’s pass blocking…not going to watch again for couple months.

HMMMMM. No. 1 portal picker to date is ... (I'm getting tired of this Cig) ESPN.comThe 10 teams that have gotten off to the hottest portal s...These programs are already positioning themselves well for the 2026 season

I was watching an interview on how Ohio State beat Miami in the 2003 national championship. They cited their ability to get four yards on first down and lean on the run to slow the game to a crawl. Fortunately, they had the talent and personnel to do that. This caused Miami’s prolific offense to get out of sync which was aided by Ohio State’s very underrated defense. The knee injury to McGahee didn’t help Miami, but the Buckeyes defense was playing well anyway. The reason why I have such a hot take on the national championship game is because of the following reasons: 1) I believe Miami has the running game to slow the game down and keep Mendoza on the sideline. I think if they hadn’t tried to get cute on a couple of drives they could’ve closed Ole Miss out without much drama. Their lack of composure needs to be remedied as well. 2) Miami has a great pass rush. It’s better than any one I’ve seen in the Big 10. Bain and Mesidor are a DC’s dream. This will be the best pass rush Mendoza has faced. Now, the double digit prediction win is a huge guess, but when a favored team is down at the end of the game they might try to make plays they normally wouldn’t when trying to come back. For example, a run blitz on 3rd and short with under two minutes left and down 3 points. It’s a great opportunity to break through the line for a long run (remember Oregon/Stanford in 2010?). Keep in mind, a ten point win is double digits.

Maybe he hurt his NFL evaluation enough to drop in the draft and now he can be picked up by a good team in need of a backup. Backup QB is a pretty good job with less chance of being broken for the rest of your life. Dose he have that killer instincts to get the Ducks to the promise land? Some QBs just manufacturer the will to win and some have all the arm talent in the world but can't lead a team effectively. Bo and Herbert where leaders and you could just tell the team was theirs can Dante make that jump?

I always appreciate Solar's comments. I have been thinking along the same lines. The reasons for last year's fiasco and this year's are different. DL "can't win the big one" is simplistic. Early in the game, the Ducks were winning on first down on offense and defense. Mendoza is so good at converting on third down, that sometimes that was not enough. His ball placement defeated good coverage. However, Wyatt's strip and sack was very encouraging. If this had been sustained, we would have had a reasonable chance of winning. The reason that it was not sustained was turnovers, which not only led to easy scores but eventually demoralized our defense. The miscue with Hill was the turning point, and I don't know if that was Dante's fault. It may be that Hill did not do enough reps because of the RB situation. Regarding the OL, Duck Territory said that Iuli was playing hurt. I also noticed that World disappeared (a rather bizarre concept) and was replaced by Crader at some point. Longer term, I wonder whether it would be better to develop our OL in house rather than plugging in portal guys every year, allowing them to play together more than one year, even if there are some growing pains. The incoming linemen may be multi-year starters. I expressed some thoughts on Dante in another thread. PS Solar's advice yesterday was good. Be grateful for the 13 wins.

No matter who wins, Lanning has only lost to championship game participants for 75% of his four year career. He's also had the miss fortune of playing a participant in all four years. In fact only two of his eight total loses we're not to championship participants. Pretty amazing record really.

An unqualified yes. Can we even imagine how quickly things would go south with the Jets or the Browns? It seems that the main purpose of both franchises is to ruin promising QB careers. NIL makes this an easier choice as well.

That’s the difference between a low budget, blue collar program like Indiana whose coach(es) has a keen eye, and depends upon under-valued portal talent looking for a chance to prove themselves on the biggest stage, and high budget programs wallowing in entitled high schoolers that require time to mature into ‘no stars’ before coaches can often really see who wants to play.

We say Dante had only 20 starts, but Mendoza only had 19 to start this year. Dante 100% needs another year, and to improve his field vision dramatically in the face of pressure. I hope he can.